they call august congress summer recess but facing constituents armed with complaints and criticisms is not necessary a vacation for members of congress which helps to explain why as a new york times reporter congressmen and senators are pulling the plug on what has traditionally been an august recess staple. the town hall meeting. the set of unscripted questions and camera phones that have turned town hall into potentially career threatening events. opting for strictly controlled and boring phone conferences and e-mail correspondence. the town hall isn t dead yet so we decided to look closely at one that took place this week to show you what makes these things so scary for the average member of congress and what we will lose if town halls really do go extinct. john mccain who held an open meeting in tucson this week. we showed you a clip earlier of an animated conservative urging him to shut down the government over obama care.