Just how afraid is Billy Long? Afraid enough to avoid any face to face contact with his constituents in a townhall meeting

Looks like Billy Long is, in spite of what he said last September ("I ain't afraid of anybody, anywhere, anytime"), afraid of somebody-- angry constituents who expect answers as to why he voted to "kill medicare".

Both The Turner Report and Bungalow Bill's Conservative Wisdom are reporting that, according aides of Long, he will not be hold any 'live' townhall meetings with constituents of the 7th district.

The Turner Report:

Anyone waiting for an opportunity to ask Seventh District Congressman Billy Long about the issues that affect southwest Missouri and the nation might as well forget it.

Long's aides are letting it be known that the Congressman feels he reached more people through his recent telephone town hall meeting than he could reach through in-person meetings.

Left unmentioned is the obvious: With the telephone meeting, Long may have reached thousands of people, but all they had a chance to do is listen to Long reel off folksy one-liners and take questions from carefully pre-screened listeners. I might add that in the one hour town hall meeting, Long only fielded five questions, with one of those being specifically about one man's problems with the Veterans Administration.

Since the most recent recess began, Long has made a point of saying what he has been told by the people of southwest Missouri. Since he only talked to five people during the electronic town hall meeting and has held no face-to-face meetings, who are these people and what have they told the Congressman?

Without the dealings with the public that are expected of all elected officials, how are we going to believe anything except that the only ones who have the ear of Congressman Billy Long are the ones who can provide sizable contributions to his campaign account?

Bungalow Bill's Conservative Wisdom:

Claire McCaskill has more balls than Billy Long. Doesn't it seem a little hypocritical that in August 2009, candidate Billy Long showed up outside of the Gilloz Theater to promote his own political career slapping Billy Long for Congress stickers on as many people as he could as Claire McCaskill prepared to face angry voters. I am no fan of Claire Mama Caskill, but Billy Long is beginning to impress me less, especially when you consider McCaskill is willing to give town hall meetings in the Republican dominated 7th District and Billy Long won't allow public town hall meetings unless they are in a controlled environment like the tele town hall meeting where voters can call in and listen to Billy Long answer the questions in a controlled environment.

Of course this means one obvious thing. Billy Long is afraid of the voters of Southwest Missouri. He fears accountability and tough questions that might actually show that Billy Long is a "fed up" hypocrite. No town hall meetings Billy? I thought you weren't afraid of anyone, anywhere, any time.

The voters of Southwest Missouri deserve better than Congressman Long and his rehearsed one-liners. Billy Long knows a live town hall meeting will confirm his own political incompetence. He is afraid of them knowing they would pose as the massacre that would end his political career.