U.S. & World

DARTMOUTH, Mass. (CBS) ― Tempers flared as more than 500 people crammed the Dartmouth Council on Aging building for a town hall meeting with Congressman Barney Frank Tuesday night in Massachusetts.

Across the country, similar meetings have drawn lots of people angry over the proposed healthcare reform bill.

• More: Health Care Town Halls Getting Ugly
• WBZ Video: Frank Catches Flak Over Health Reform
• WBZ Video: Frank Heckled After Town Hall

This meeting was no different.

"Let the private citizens do this," said Mary Kreider, a healthcare worker from Middleborough.

"This is not a federal government issue, this is a people issue."

The line of people waiting to ask questions stretched out the door.

Rep. Frank ripped into a protester who held a poster depicting President Barack Obama with a Hitler-style mustache during the heated meeting in Dartmouth.

"On what planet do you spend most of your time?" Frank asked Rachel Brown.

Brown had stepped up to the podiumto ask him why he supports what she called a Nazi policy, reports CBS station WBZ-TV in Boston.

"Ma'am, trying to have a conversation with you would be like trying to argue with a dining room table. I have no interest in doing it," Frank replied.

He continued by saying her ability to deface an image of the president and express her views "is a tribute to the First Amendment that this kind of vile, contemptible nonsense is so freely propagated."

Frank told the angry crowd he didn't regret his words.

"I did tell the woman standing there with the president looking like Hitler who compares us to Nazis that I thought she was out of her mind. I did put her down. If you want to be on her side, okay."

Frank, who chairs the House Financial Services Committee, sought to assure more than 500 people attending the rowdy meeting that the average taxpayer wouldn't be hurt by plans currently under consideration in Congress.

Some shouted and booed as Frank and others addressed the crowd.

At one point, Frank asked the crowd: "Which one of you wants to yell next?"

One man sporting a cowboy hat wanted to know: "How can we trust a government that is shoving things through without us having a reasonable discussion?"

Frank answered, "This is not being hurried through, it's being debated."

• The Web: RNC Criticism Of Government-Run Health Care Plan
• The Web: White House Touts Key Budget Points Of Health Reform

A man in the back kept calling the congressman a "liar".

Frank responded by saying "Disruption never helps your cause. It just looks like you're afraid of rational discussion."

Afterwards, Frank said he wasn't surprised by the tone of the meeting and was actually expecting it.

"Do you think I've been living in a pod somewhere?"

There was one humorous note.

When a man accused Frank of keeping secrets about the healthcare plan, the openly gay congressman said, "Sir, it's been 21 years since I had a secret."

Frank says he'll hold another town meeting next month.

Several people wanted to know how the government would pay for the reforms without worsening a growing federal budget deficit.

At least two dozen protesters gathered in small groups outside, handing out pamphlets and holding signs criticizing the overhaul, Obama and Frank. Some of the posters read: "It's the economy stupid, stop the spending" and "Healthcare reform yes, government takeover, no. Tort Reform Now"

Audrey Steele, 82, from New Bedford, said she does not want the government to get involved with health care because "they just make a mess of everything," referring to the $700 billion bailout of financial institutions that was used to pay for lavish conferences and hefty executive compensation.

Others at Tuesday's meeting were more supportive of reform.

Dr. Sheila Leavitt, a physician from Newton, said she hoped for changes that would support primary care physicians who aren't paid as much as specialists. She said some of the rowdy critics at Tuesday's meeting appeared to be using the same "talking points" as those who showed up at similar meetings around the country.

(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)