Huckabee says disruptions at town hall meetings caused by ‘organized supporters of the Democrats’

Mike Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas and contender for the GOP nomination for the presidency, says disruptions at two town hall meetings which “got out of contol” were caused by “organized supporters of the Democrats.”

Huckabee wrote the observation on his blog, HuckPac.com:

I have watched the news clips of many townhall meetings. At only two of the hundreds of meetings held, have I seen situations get out of control. Both of those incidents were caused not by the average Americans wanting to be heard, but by organized supporters of the Democrats trying to stop the free speech of people opposed to the proposed bill.

Now what exactly out of control means, is unclear. But Huckabee defends the right of protesters to shout people down, as they did during a town hall meeting with Michigan Congressman John Dingell last week.

An American voicing their opinion at a meeting with their representative, even in a loud and raucous manner, is not disruptive. In fact, the right to freedom of expression is guaranteed by the First Amendment.

The protests against the proposed healthcare legislation sitting in Congress have gotten so bad recently, that a townhall meeting Tuesday in Kalamazoo will be attended by officers of the Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety. On Thursday, opponents of the legislation are expected to protest at Congressman Mark Schauer’s Jackson office.

To counter what it says is a growing amount of misinformation about the healthcare proposal the White House on Monday unveiled a new website to address what it says are inaccuracies in claims by protesters.