The Times wants you to know that there are lots of serious, quiet people attending the town hall health care forums; the ones that right-wing mini-mobs have turned into shrieking free-for-alls. The Times wants you to know that not every health care reform critic is a crazy. Not everybody's hanging politicians in effigy, committing acts of vandalism, yelling “Heil Hitler,” showing up to Obama rallies with loaded guns, and waving Nazi posters around.

Actually, the Times never even bother to mention of that insanity. The paper simply concedes the town hall forums have produced “an endless video loop of high-decibel rants.” The fact that assembled critics appear intent on spreading as many lies about health care reform is of no concern. The Times ignores the deeply troubling details and glosses over another central premise of the mini-mobs, which is to make sure no debate about how health can take place at the public forums.

Instead, the point of the Kevin Sack article to highlight how, gosh darn it, smart, serious and “calm” people are also upset about health care reform.

For instance, meet Bob Collier. He's a quiet 62-year-old salesman who, according to the Times, has “built for himself a quiet life of family and church.” Collier recently attended a town hall forum and urged his Congressman to oppose reform efforts.

From the Times [emphasis added] :

On Thursday, Mr. Collier drove more than an hour down Route 19 to attend a health care forum in Albany, Ga., being held by his congressman, Representative Sanford D. Bishop Jr., a Democrat serving his ninth term.

To his wife's astonishment, as the session drew into its third hour, Mr. Collier rose to take the microphone and firmly, but courteously, urged Mr. Bishop to oppose the health care legislation being written in Washington.

He told Mr. Bishop that his wife of 36 years had survived breast cancer through early detection and treatment, and that he feared that her care would be rationed if the disease returned.

"She'd be on a waiting list," he said.

“This is about the future of our country as we know it,” Mr. Collier warned, “and may mean the end of our country as we know it.”

Were Collier's concerns based in reality? Did Collier do anything but spread more misinformation? The Times doesn't dare say. The Times' only function this day is to explain there are serious and “quiet” and “calm” people who oppose health care reform.

In fact, the Times actually holds up Collier as an example of “reasoned voices” debating health care reform. Keep in mind that Collier thinks the government would basically let his wife die of cancer if given the opportunity, and that health care reform would signal the end of our country as we know it. But Sack at the Times announces that's reasoned.

I'm sure the Times' larger point is accurate: That there are lots of health care critics who show up at town hall meetings and don't scream and yell. But the Times still misses the truly important story, which is that a huge portion of the town hall critics have no idea what they're talking about when it comes to health care reform, or do know and chose instead to push misinformation.

Just because people are “calm” and spread lies quietly doesn't mean the Times should give them a pass, let alone celebrate them in print.