Ask Republican lawmakers about the specter of protests in their districts next week, and they’ll likely shrug off constituent outbursts as “manufactured” or “scripted.”

The GOP is largely adopting the Democratic posture from the summer of 2009 that angry voices at town halls don’t represent a political threat. That may be true. The question is how Republicans now, and Democrats back then, arrived at that conclusion.

Even as some GOP lawmakers move to hold their constituent forums online or over the phone instead of in-person, they insist they’re not worried.

In a Wednesday letter to Republican chiefs of staff, Matt Gorman, communications director at the National Republican Congressional Committee, dismissed recent protests that have erupted at town halls across the country.

“Don’t be fooled by this incredibly vocal minority that is attempting to drown out the millions of voices that have — since its passage — called for Obamacare’s repeal,” he wrote.