so i went to the berman thing. people are stupid. (his p2p bill didn't come up.)

most of the discussion focused on the middle east, particularly iraq, and social security and healthcare issues. (not shocking—i was clearly thirty years too young to be part of the audience.)

some tips if you want to ask a question at a town-hall event like this:

• be brief.
• be polite.
• have a point.
• know the difference between the federal, state, and local governments.

everyone who asked a question was polite, but nearly everyone failed on at least one of those other aspects, especially the first.

(and on the berman side, they could have anticipated the need for mics for the audience, and used staffers to pick people from the audience in a more streamlined, and probably equitable, fashion. and cut down the opening remarks—people are going to ask about the obvious issues again, anyways.)