Doc Holliday

Fear, racism at town hall meetings

August is the steamiest of months and normally a somnolent time in the US.

Vacations, county fairs, trips to the beach, days by the lake, grilling hot dogs on a stick - these are the happy trifles that Americans have come to expect at summer's end.
 
But this year August has been the month of rage.
 
In made-for-television "town hall meetings" across the country, grey-haired white men and women in t-shirts stand and hurl abuse at their Congress members and senators, snarling and shouting - their eyes popping apoplectically and choking with anger.

People have waved signs depicting Barack Obama, the US president, as Adolf Hitler with a toothbrush moustache, or with a hammer and sickle on his forehead.