Elected Officials Should Show Up to the Town Halls

I was disappointed that Sen. Marco Rubio announced that he will not attend town halls because the left will show up and scream at him.

It doesn't matter. Suck it up and go; it's part of the job. Not going looks cowardly.

Sen. Tim Scott gives a better example of how to handle the town halls:  show up, but be smart. Lay some ground rules. Scott prohibited the use of signs and asked for questions to be written. Scott is relentlessly polite even to those who seek to vilify him. Eventually, he either wears people down or wins them over.

I think it's also reasonable for the town halls to be limited to actual constituents who live in the district rather than astroturf that's been brought in from outside.

It's important for Republicans to understand, however, that not all of these protesters are paid astroturf. Some are voters who are still irate that their side lost. It would be a mistake to not recognize that this mindset extends, for example, to leftists here in Jefferson County.

Republicans better get cracking on the repeal and replacement of Obamacare, or else they will start to see protests at town halls -- from the right.