Harry Turtledove writes alternative history novels that are always entertaining. Watching the disruption of Town Hall meetings and noting the death threats some Democratic members of Congress received, my own version of altered history story came to mind. Suppose that during the GW Bush Presidency it had been decided that since government intervention was bad. Medicare and Medicaid would be dropped. Suppose that ACORN was as influential as the insurance and BigPharma backed anti-health care organizatons. Imagine that Black radio stations were telling their listeners to get in the face of the GOP legislators supporting the change in health care. Black radio hosts would  charge that the GOP was trying to kill Grandma and Grandpa, Black activists would be enraged..

Would MSM characterize those Black protestors as grass-roots people with legitimate concerns about the impact on their health care, or would the protestors be dismissed as unpatriotic people who shout down other citizens trying to have a civil discourse? If Black militias were forming, how much time would MSM devote to educating the country about the threat?

If an African-American man arrived outside a GW Bush town hall with a visible weapon would the Secret Service have allowed him to remain, even if the state law said the act was legal?

I'll let you write your own stories.