Over the next few days President Obama will be holding several staged events pitching his health care reform legislation disguised as town hall meetings. On Tuesday he will be in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. On Friday he will be in Bozeman, Montana. And on Saturday in Grand Junction, Colorado. All three sessions will be in front of crowds hand picked by the White House which controls distribution of the free tickets. (source) Expect manufactured support, planted questions and the usual applause on cue each time he says something he thinks is clever. Think a 3:00am infomercial without the "wow" factor.

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There are protests planned for outside each event by opponents of Obamacare and union members are being dispatched by the AFL-CIO to counteract the protesters so at least both sides of the issue will be represented in the parking lot. But inside will be the type of phony Q&A event for which this administration has become famous. Expect the usual softball policy questions, a few questions crafted to elicit some heartwarming story from the president's own life and at least one teed up opportunity for him to take a shot at those who dare to disagree with his ideas.

While attending his first North American summit Monday, Mr. Obama was asked about response to his health care reform efforts and he said, "We are having a vigorous debate in the United States, and I think that's a healthy thing." (source) How can there be a vigorous debate when only one side is heard? And how can any discussion be healthy when those in power answer reasonable questions for specifics with nothing but empty promises and platitudes?

The President and Congressional Democrats have become pre-programmed robots repeating the same useless phrases again and again: patient choice...if you like it you can keep it...bring costs down...cover all uninsured. It makes no difference how many times we ask how they are going to fulfill such promises or how it will be paid for or how such a system can be sustained. The response is always the same: patient choice...if you like it you can keep it...bring costs down...cover all uninsured. Throw in a couple "must do it now's" and "I inherited all this" and you pretty much have the recap in advance of those staged town hall meetings.

The only real variable is will the mainstream media finally start doing it's job by covering all sides fairly and pressing for the real facts or will they simply offer their distribution services for the infomercials? Kind of gives the term sham-wow a whole new meaning doesn't it?