Well… he wasn’t the only one, of course. But Frank Guinta‘s announcement that he’d be throwing a town hall because Rep. Carol Shea-Porter (D, NH-01) was too leery to was undoubtedly a primary factor in the way that she buckled yesterday.  The strong plurality of New Hampshire voters who don’t approve of her hiding from them probably helped, of course.  And the hostile editorials (including this one, from what I assume is a Democratic-leaning paper*).  Or maybe… no, that’s an unkind thought.

Anyway, Frank Guinta made a statement:

“While I am very pleased that Congresswoman Shea-Porter has finally given in to the wishes of the people and will conduct a town hall on health care, I find it very unfortunate it took a media and public backlash in order to do it.  Carol Shea-Porter, as we’ve been reminded over the past week, made a name for herself by attending and speaking out at town halls conducted by her predecessor.  She refused to offer the same opportunity when she got into office—what a difference a few years in DC made. Our representatives in Washington should make decisions based on what is in the public’s best interest, not simply cave under unexpected and intense scrutiny.

“That being said, I look forward to attending the town hall of my Congresswoman on August 29th and invite her to attend mine, on August 31st.  Let’s make sure we give all citizens the opportunity to voice their opinions, express their concerns and most importantly let’s hope our elected leaders listen to us.”

Given that Shea-Porter has apparently scheduled one of her town halls so as to interfere with an annual picnic held by people likely to disagree with her, I suspect that Frank Guinta‘s invitation will be neither accepted nor RSVP’ed.  It’s no fun coming to these things when you have to explain yourself, and can’t control who you’re explaining it to.

Moe Lane

*An independent and/or Republican-leaning one would have noted that Barney Frank’s outburst was against a LaRouche Democrat.  Those nutballs are portraying the President as Hitler because they want single-payer health care…

Crossposted to Moe Lane.