“Faiz Shakir is the Research Director at the Center for American Progress and serves as Editor-in-Chief of ThinkProgress.org and The Progress Report.”

On Monday he wrote:

This morning in Richmond, VA, the local newspaper — the Richmond Times-Dispatch — hosted a “public square” discussion on health care reform with Democratic congressman Bobby Scott and Republican Minority Whip Eric Cantor. While Scott has held three town hall meetings on health care during this summer’s congressional recess, “Cantor has not held any health-care town halls.”

At the outset of the event, Thomas Silvestri, publisher and president of The Times-Dispatch, made clear that today’s gathering is not a town hall event. “Unlike the town halls conducted by members of Congress, our Public Square isn’t about lobbying a particular position.” Nevertheless, the Republican Party of Virginia sent out an email today, claiming that Cantor was participating in a “Town Hall meeting.”

A constituent who was angered by his congressman’s refusal to host town halls asked the first question at today’s forum, which Cantor completely dodged:
CONSTITUENT: Eric, this question’s for you. For several months, over five months since April, many of us have been requesting for you to hold a town hall meeting to talk about many subjects including health care. Yet, you have refused and ignored our request. Why? [applause] …

CANTOR: Listen, we are here today to talk about health care reform –

CONSTITUENT: It’s not a town hall meeting.

CANTOR — uh, and this is, the purpose should be, to me as lined out, is we ought to be able to try and understand where the two sides are, to be able to bridge those differences. That’s why we’re all here. So I’m glad you’re here this morning.

CONSTITUENT: Well, I want a town hall meeting.

“Amanda Terkel is Deputy Research Director at the Center for American Progress and serves as Managing Editor for ThinkProgress.org and The Progress Report at the Center for American Progress.” Lest there be any doubt, Editor-in-Chief Faiz Shakir is Managing Editor Amanda Terkel’s boss.

You would imagine she’d pay some attention to what the boss writes, but no. Here’s what Amanda Terkel wrote on Tuesday about the exact same event, The Richmond Times-Dispatch‘s “public square” discussion on health care reform held in Richmond, VA on Monday:

At a town hall meeting in Virginia yesterday, Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) faced constituents who were upset that Republicans haven’t put out any real health care proposals:
Richmond resident Ben Ragsdale demanded to know how Republicans were going to expand access to healthcare if they have only a four-page list of bullet-points as their plan.

“What is your substantive proposal to meet these real everyday problems that people have? Where’s the beef?” Ragsdale asked, triggering applause from the crowd.

Marlise Skinner, a registered nurse who has dealt with medical insurance issues for years, also pressed Cantor. Skinner told him that “the public option seems to be the best that’s out there so far … what is the alternative out there that would truly control costs, because I’m hearing a lot of spin but I’m not hearing what you would do to control it?”

Practically everyone who blogs — even those who make a living at it — does so in no small part because he/she hopes to make a difference, to persuade and convince readers. So how sad is it when you can’t even convince your own number two?