Bridge-and-tunnel crowd

Last night, AC 360 featured a report by CNN’s Gary Tuchman from a health care town hall meeting held that day by Rep. Steve Rothman (D-NJ), who faced a large, hostile crowd for three hours in North Arlington, NJ. After the meeting, Tuchman gathered a group of presumably representative attendees together and asked them why they thought all the “yelling and screaming” was necessary:

You’ll notice that during the interview, CNN displays a graphic that should have thrown up a red flag for Tuchman: One of the town hall protestors – who says the “yelling and screaming” is necessary because “If you were about to be hit by a bus and didn't see it coming would you like me to yell and get your attention?” – is captioned “Valley Stream, NY.”

Valley Stream is in Nassau County, between 52 minutes and two and a half hours away from North Arlington, NJ, depending on the traffic (and trust me, there’s always traffic).

And yet, Tuchman had no questions for the man about how he happened to end up in a town meeting for a different congressman in a different state. Because it’s not like there’s a wide-ranging campaign by national conservative organizations to pack Democratic town halls with protestors who oppose health care reform.