AFP Hypocritically Rebrands Luetkemeyer Event

This weekend, it was reported that Congressman Blaine Luetkemeyer would not be holding any town hall meetings to talk about health care reform.  According to Luetkemeyer's spokesman, that was because his office had not received "specific requests to host health care town halls." Instead, Blaine would be sharing his thoughts about health care "at regularly scheduled events."

Given the selective outrage from conservative organizations about the alleged hiding from the public by other Congressmen, that didn't look so hot. Thankfully, Americans for Prosperity -- which has been helping coordinate and stoke the flames for the hysteria at town hall meetings held by Democratic Members -- has come to the rescue.  How?  By rebranding today's "We the People Forum" in Westphalia as a 'We the People' Town Hall for Luetkemeyer.

This renaming of the "Forum" by AFP's Carl Bearden wouldn't be an issue if the same Bearden and AFP hadn't manufactured a hissy fit last week when Ike Skelton held discussions about health care that weren't called "town halls." In fact, Bearden said:

"When you talk about disrupting people's lives and their access to quality health care...I think that's the time to make an exception" and host a town hall.

Or, Bearden could have helped rename an existing event, even if the Congressman's staff doesn't think it's a town hall.

Honestly, I don't care what Luetkemeyer calls his events. In fact, I think it's best if people don't get their information about health care reform from the Congressman, given his demonstrated record of misleading the public about the issue. But this friendly rebranding effort strikes me as wee bit hypocritical.

It's also worth noting that when proponents of health care reform delivered a petition in support of more affordable, accessible coverage, and asked for a meeting with Luetkemeyer or one of his staff, it was explained that Luetkemeyer had already made up his mind about the issue, and that he didn't really need a meeting with the public. 

"We wouldn't have anything to discuss" about health care reform, Luetkemeyer's staffer explained last month.

I have to believe that if a Tea Partier was told there would be "nothing to discuss," with, I dunno, any of their recent targets, we'd be hearing a lot about it.