At last night’s town hall in Towson, MD, Ben Cardin sketched out his case for health care reform. Unfortunately, he concentrated on the “Why we need reform” aspect, and stayed purposefully vague about the “How we’re going to fix it” part of the conversation. I’m pretty sure the words “public option” never escaped his lips.

Cardin spoke of an “exchange” in which consumers could shop for health care, but he left more undefined than defined. In fact, throughout his speech, and the Q&A answer that followed, he frequently spoke of things he wouldn’t vote for – a bill that didn’t pay for itself would lose his support, for example – but he did not once tell us what he wants in a bill.

But to be fair, he never really had the chance.

We need to come up with a new name for these events that are hijacked by the desperate minority. They cannot be called town halls–not when the event is dominated by an unruly bunch of thugs uninterested in debate or exchanging ideas. These people came out to hate.

What a difference between Southside, VA, and Towson, MD. Seriously folks, when I decided to go to Danville to cover Tom Perriello’s event, I expected the worst. By the end of the night, I had been pleasantly surprised. The people were genuinely concerned, a lot fearful, plenty misinformed, but above all, willing to listen. Perriello’s town hall was a model of civics and democracy.

On the other hand, I went to Ben Cardin’s event unsure of what to expect. Hannity, Limbaugh and Beck have been encouraging disruptive behaviors, but Maryland is a solidly Democratic state, and Ben Cardin is a fairly popular Senator. Well, the wingnuts won this one. It was like they passed out licenses for senior citizen to act like four year-olds. From the beginning, the crowd was loud, disruptive, disrespectful and obnoxious. It was 90 minutes of unruly children screaming invectives about illegal aliens, taxes being too high, and Cardin telling too many lies.

Of course, virtually every one of the criticisms was without merit.

The room was packed to capacity. I talked with a few attendees after the event – and I’m pretty sure I found an Astroturfer, but that’ll be the subject of a later post – but the best action was at the protest across the street. That’s where I found the couple in this video.

I chose these folks for this post because they are exactly demonstrative of the ill-informed and gullible shock troops being deployed by the radical right. Compulsory abortion?! Is no lie too grand? Is there anything these people will not believe about Democrats and President Obama?

There is something wrong with our country when these folks aren’t recognized for barking-mad fringe elements that they are. Instead, David Broder will tell you that these folks are representative of “Real America.”

Sorry, but I’m ill now.