Irregardless of the fact that they “packed” the crowd, Dingell knows that his pre-arranged audience was vastly outnumbered by opponents of Obamacare. He had to come and go the same way as everyone else and he saw the cars parked along the road. He knows that at a routine town hall, he gets a few dozen people and that this was overflowing.
Despite all their tactics, the message is not lost on them.
At least Dingell showed up. My congressman (Mark Schauer - D) has turned turtle, cancelled his live town halls and is going to a phone-in style.
The most important thing about making a massive, angry showing at these townhall meetings is that the politician gets the message that we are paying attention and we vote.