October 31, 2013 03:40 PM UTC

Video: Tipton Confronted By Constituents In Montrose

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• by: Colorado Pols

We finally got a few clips of video we received a few days ago posted (above) from Rep. Scott Tipton's raucous town hall meeting last Saturday in Montrose. As the Huffington Post reported Tuesday evening:

Shouts erupted at Rep. Scott Tipton's (R-Colo.) town hall in Montrose, Colo., on Saturday, according to the Montrose Daily Press, with the congressman facing heat for the government shutdown.

"You don't hold America hostage," one attendee yelled at the congressman.

Resident George Schupe added, "No more shutdown, no more de-funding."

Tipton called Obamacare "broken from the start" and told anecdotes of insurance costs increasing as a result of the law…

The event grew so heated that audience members turned on each other. Attendees pointed fingers at one another and shouted their disagreements, according to the Daily Press. At one point, a Tipton staffer stepped in to stop the shouting and remind constituents to be respectful.

The Montrose Daily Press story referenced by Huffington Post (unfortunately behind a paywall) contains a great deal of narration from this town hall meeting, a few memorable exchanges from which are captured in the video clips above. Saturday's crowd was mixed, but many in attendance we not buying Tipton's oft-repeated line that the various bills passed by the House to "fully fund government" ahead of this month's government shutdown were signs of "good faith." Tipton was visibly angered by the suggestion that those bills were unacceptable due to "strings attached" such as defunding the Affordable Care Act, launching into an angry tirade over the Senate's "unwillingness to negotiate." Tipton claimed that the closure of the World War II Memorial was an "intentional effort to create harm." A question on background checks for gun purchases was turned back from Tipton with a bit more compassion, but not an inch of ground given on an issue overwhelmingly popular with voters.

Perhaps most interesting is the end of the town hall meeting, which reportedly was at least fifteen minutes earlier than had originally been scheduled. It's quite possible that the relatively hostile crowd motivated Tipton's staff to extricate him ahead of schedule. In any case, as you can hear, that didn't sit well with some in the crowd either.

All told, very interesting reactions in this town hall to Tipton's talking points, and plenty here to reinforce polling that shows Tipton's electoral vulnerability in this swingable district has grown since the shutdown. And judging by his defensiveness on display, Tipton knows it.