Why is Pat Meehan Afraid of Taking Questions from Senior Citizens?

Republican ducks out of first joint appearance with Bryan Lentz after disastrous debate performance two weeks ago

Springfield, PA – At the last minute, Pat Meehan refused to appear at a forum for Seniors at the Upper Merion Senior Center today, raising concerns about whether the Republican candidate in Pennsylvania’s 7th Congressional District is afraid to defend his positions in front of voters following his disastrous performance in a debate with Democrat Bryan Lentz two weeks ago.

Today’s Senior forum was going to be the first joint appearance that Meehan made with Lentz in front of voters since his now infamous performance in a September 21st debate at the Suburban Jewish Community Center in Havertown. Meehan’s poor performance answering foreign and domestic policy questions at that event prompted a Philadelphia Daily News reporter to write “Meehan, sweating heavily, often fell back on generalities and stumbled through his closing statement”.

At today’s forum, Seniors were going to ask Meehan difficult questions about where he stood on eliminating Social Security and Medicare as his campaign continues to reach out to local and national Tea Party groups that want to eliminate or drastically reduce both of those programs. Lentz, along with the other candidates at today’s forum, were required to take questions from the audience following their opening statements. The event was slated to be broadcast on the Comcast Network.

“For months, Pat Meehan has refused to hold open, public events to shield himself from having to answer difficult questions, but ducking out of today’s long scheduled, question and answer session with Seniors is a whole new low in those efforts,” said Kevin McTigue, Bryan Lentz’s campaign manager. “Its unacceptable for someone who wants to be a Congressman to hide from voters like this but its not surprising since Pat Meehan has had every job handed to him by Republican Party bosses.”

Meehan’s unwillingness to appear at today’s forum raised concerns about whether he would back out of his next scheduled joint appearance with Lentz – a debate slated to be hosted on October 14 by the League of Women Voters at Delaware County Community College. A press release on Meehan’s Web site dating back to June 9th notes that he is “confirmed” to appear at that event[1].