Obama wants 'vigorous' town hall debate

WASHINGTON, Aug. 10 (UPI) -- U.S. President Barack Obama plans a town hall meeting in New Hampshire this week and his spokesman says the president looks forward to "a vigorous debate."

White House spokesman Bill Burton, speaking to reporters Monday aboard Air Force One, refused to be drawn in to whether healthcare reform opponents who have loudly, and sometimes physically, disrupted congressional town hall meetings are being financed by insurance companies or other business interests.

Democratic congressional leaders have called the disruptions "un-American."

"Well, I think there's actually a pretty long tradition of people shouting at politicians in America," Burton said. "The president thinks that if people want to come and have a spirited debate about healthcare, a real vigorous conversation about it, that's a part of the American tradition and he encourages that, because people do have questions and concerns ... ."

However, there are limits, Burton said.

"If you just want to come to a town hall so that you can disrupt and so that you can scream over another person," Burton said, "(Obama) doesn't think that that's productive. And as a country, we've been able to make progress when people actually talk out what our problems are, not try to shout each other down."

Burton said the 1,800 tickets to the Tuesday event at a Portsmouth high school were given out by congressional delegations and some organizations.