None of us, I repeat, NONE of us should have been caught off-guard by the town-hall disruptors

We saw this coming when Bush's henchmen shut down all dissent at his fake town-hall rallies.

We saw this coming with all the racial, ethnic, and assorted smears hurled at Barack Obama during his '08 campaign.

We saw this coming when "Tea Parties," many of them underwritten by corporate hacks or FOX News, started popping up all over the country.

And we knew how the Clinton health care initiative was shot down in 1994 because of extensive Republican propaganda and activism.

So we shouldn't have been surprised by all these corporate mercenary mobs hitting the town halls. We should have been prepared for them.

But it seems like too many Congresscritters aren't taking the advice of those in the progressive community who have found workable strategies to shut down the astroturf protests.

I humbly suggest they get their heads out of the sand, plan their next town halls with a view towards keeping out the Big Insurance puppets, and get the people's business done.

We've been waiting since at least 1994. No more.

Then, of courtse, rethugs DO sink lower, because that is their nature.

I don't think ourside is really surprised at what they're doing. Just shocked.

Yes, there's a difference, and I hope you know what I'm saying.

A little foresight and preparation before all this happened, and the disruptors wouldn't have even made the local news.

through 1945, I have predicted the tactics of the right wing of the republican party more often than not. The Nazis established political control using mob violence and intimidation until anyone else was afraid to challenge them.

It's a wonder Hitler had the guts to fire the pistol himself.

For the weeks leading up to the break, I urged people here to go to the town halls and any opportunity to meet with their congresscritter. Of course there were going to be wingnuts and teabaggers there...these goons are not only tactless, they're transparent as well. We knew the insuarance companies and their K street cronies would be astroturfing and throwing money around in buckets...they weren't going to take the loss of their gravy train sitting still.

The big problem was we really don't have a bill. You can't rally around something that isn't solid. These town halls were our input in the process...good and bad. Those who still have hopes for single payer have their opportunity as much as those who want to stop the whole process. Since there are few real specifics, the rumors, the lies and the misconceptions get the attention.

Hopefully this is a wake-up call for some that this battle is just being joined...the real hard part is ahead as bills move through both houses and then has to be reconcilled. Their noise is being hear now, our voices must be heard in the end.