Inside the Beltway

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By Jennifer Harper INSIDE THE BELTWAY

SCARE FARE

There are partisan vandals afoot, say those pondering their damaged property. They fret the worst is yet to come.

Town meetings devolve into arguments. There's finger-pointing, hollering - and now, a vandalized Chevy Cavalier.

"I'm worried, and I think more bad stuff is on the way. There are huge, right-wing operations behind this. They've got money; they've got corporate interest behind them. I think there are professional folks out there agitating people with doomsday scenarios," Michael Huttner tells Inside the Beltway.

The founder of ProgressNow Colorado has called in local police to help discover who ripped out the side mirrors and scraped up a staffer's car during a recent public event hosted by Rep. Ed Perlmutter, Colorado Democrat.

Michael Ditto was inside attending the event in the town of Brighton, only to discover his compromised Cavalier in the parking lot afterwards. Mr. Huttner theorizes that a pro-health care reform flyer on the seat of the car was "the motivating factor for the crime." He is now soliciting donations to cover Mr. Ditto's insurance deductible, assuring donors that any extra funds will be applied to the fight for "meaningful" health insurance reform.

"The thing that gets to me is this: The exact same people who are organizing tea parties are organizing these kinds of things, and stirring the pot," Mr. Huttner says.

THE COUNTERPOINT

And now, a word from somewhere inside the purportedDepartment of Agitation.

"The Democrats don't like their playbook being used against them. The 'thugs' the Democrats are talking about are showing up to peacefully exercise their First Amendment right to petition Congress and speak. The Democrats' noble activists - the Service Employees International Union and MoveOn.org guys - are then showing up to beat up the people at the town halls defending the American dream," Erick Erickson tells Inside the Beltway.