When I got there the deck was stacked. My friend and I seemed to be the only two critics in what seemed like a carefully scripted love fest. Maybe I got the invite by mistake?

[UPDATE: There's a PR with her itinerary for today on nhinsider.com. It's dated early this morning. How's that for advance notice? Also Peter confirms he did NOT get a postcard invite as I did. Neither did Keith Stanton, another resident of my town.]

I grabbed video and I'll have a hell of a YouTube playlist when I get to it. [UPDATE: I got to it.] We messed up their script as best we could short of getting thrown out. We didn't deny anyone his right to free speech. But we sure didn't let them shut US out. We had a bunch of questions that others had suggested on various discussion groups. We weren't just there for us. We were there for all who would dare REALLY question this elected representative. And of behalf of them we did our level best.

[UPDATE: Peter expressed some concern people might think he "put me up to it". He did not. If anything I egged HIM on.]

For starters, I got her to admit to widespread ignorance concerning the situation in Iraq. That tipped her off I wasn't one of her stooges. When I tried to ask further questions I was denied access to the mic. So we shouted out from wherever we were. At just two of us we were substantially outnumbered. That's life behind enemy lines.

And if you doubt my word that the meeting was stacked I've got video of the bumper stickers on the cars in the parking lot.

State Rep Penn Brown was there, nodding approvingly at Shea-Porter's speeches. Speeches is what they were, not answers. She didn't actually answer questions, she responded to them. Her replies were well rehearsed, slick evasions. The crowd of stooges ate them up.

She blames everybody but the House for the horrible performance of Congress. She defended earmarks, especially hers. She explained away her rubber stamping of Pelosi dictates as a huge coincidence. She confessed her love for flourescent bulbs. She talked a lot about foreign policy but none of it added up to any kind of coherent statement. She blamed the rich for all the evils of the country without mentioning that her chum Nancy Pelosi is one of the rich.

At one point she said we need to beef up the Taliban. My guess is she misspoke but she didn't stop to correct herself. Freudian slip perhaps?

All in all it was a near total crock. It would have been a total crock if we hadn't shown up.

Is this more franking abuse?