The Town Hall takeovers and Teaparty nonsense transformed the campaign for health care reform into a debate about a debate, rather than a discussion about how to care for sick folks.  Joan Walsh draws out the contrast pretty well: the debate at town halls has become more media friendly than the actual people who need health care.

For years, the Republicans kept a stranglehold on the national debate by effectively mobilizing values-laden language to frame how issues like health care were discussed.  Pro-public option folks had the opportunity to do the same thing by using the dramatic stories of Americans denied health care by for-profit insurers to force free marketeers to account for the damage wrought by a mainly private health care system.

Instead, the discussion got (intentionally) bogged down in a back and forth about ‘moving too fast’, ‘astro-turf’ and the disingenuousness of right wing claims about death-panels and the like.

The lesson?  Keep you eye on the ball, and you’ve more likely to hit a home-run.  Get distracted, and you’ll strike out.