Matt Kibbe on Inciting Health Care Chaos: We're 'Not Nearly as Rowdy as a High School Football Game'

The head of the conservative group accused of inciting disruptive behavior at Democrats' health care meetings insists it's the Left that's to blame, not the Right. In an interview with Politics Daily, Matt Kibbe, the president of Freedomworks, contends that initially, his group's followers were "not nearly as rowdy as a high school football game."

But when Democratic leaders like Harry Reid "mocked" their grassroots as phony, he said, "people were aroused."

Democratic members of the House and Senate are being met by mob-like crowds whenever and wherever they try to organize a town-hall meeting. While Republican Party officials deny it's their doing, allies on the Internet as well on radio and TV stand accused of doing the dirty work of directing true believers to the meetings and whipping them into a frenzy before they go.

Now the other side is sending its own goon squads for "security" and it's a dangerous situation. Police officials worry it's only a matter of time before a confrontation gets completely out of hand.

Conservatives will lose the "You started it!!" argument: They began this slugfest over health care. They were the first to raise the cry and alarm their followers with often-distorted portrayals of mortal danger from the "Obamacare.'' And by the time the melodrama moved from the august stage of the Capitol to performances of the August roadshow, many watching from the far-right aisle seats were ready to act out.

Without any rules for maintaining order out in the real world, this theater is a puppet show where the characters are manipulated by those pulling strings from far away -- safely far away.

But for anyone contemplating or encouraging a disruption Tuesday when President Obama leads a town meeting in New Hampshire, there are two words to consider: "Secret Service."

You were thinking of another two words? We'll leave those to the inevitably rowdy demonstrators from both sides to shout at each other when they're herded by police behind barricades outside. In the process, they'll display the quality of the thinking that is sadly guiding the consideration of health care change in this country.

Kibbe, the Freedomworks president, bristles at the suggestion that his organization and others like it have done anything wrong. "It used to be," he told Politics Daily, "vocal participation in the process was celebrated when the left would do it. When conservatives do it, we're denounced as thuggish.''

Whatever it's called, any effort at dialogue is being completely drowned out by the shouting. The confused and frightened pawns of those with an agenda are scaring away everybody else -- the ones with real questions, who'd like to understand.