The Real Town Hall Story


Regular citizens at a T.H. meeting is just not that visually (TV)
compelling.
\w/

By E.J. Dionne Jr.
Thursday, September 3, 2009

The Real Town Hall Story

.....................
Over the past week, I've spoken with Democratic House members, most
from highly contested districts, about what happened in their town
halls. None would deny polls showing that the health-reform cause lost
ground last month, but little of the probing civility that
characterized so many of their forums was ever seen on television.

"I think the media coverage has done a disservice by falling for a
trick that you'd think experienced media hands wouldn't fall for: of
allowing loud voices to distort the debate," said Rep. Mary Jo Kilroy,
whose district includes Columbus, Ohio.

At her town halls, she said, "I got serious questions, I got hostile
questions, I got questions about how this would work, I got questions
about how much it will cost. I also got a lot of comments from people
who said it's important for their families and businesses to get
health-care reform."

Rep. Frank Kratovil hails from a very conservative district that
includes Maryland's Eastern Shore and says it didn't bother him that
he was hung in effigy in July by a right-wing group. "As a former
prosecutor, I consider that to be mild," he said with a chuckle. The
episode, he added, was not at all typical of his town-hall meetings,
where "most of the people were there to express legitimate concerns
about the bill, wondering about how it was going to impact them" and
wanting "to know the truth about some of the things that were being
said about the bill."

The most disturbing account came from Rep. David Price of North
Carolina, who spoke with a stringer for one of the television networks
at a large town-hall meeting he held in Durham.

The stringer said he was one of 10 people around the country assigned
to watch such encounters. Price said he was told flatly: "Your meeting
doesn't get covered unless it blows up." As it happens, the Durham
audience was broadly sympathetic to reform efforts. No "news" there.

Rep. Chet Edwards of Texas is one member who did attend gatherings
dominated by boisterous opponents of health reform.

At a meeting in Waco, a man asked him what constitutional authority
the federal government had to get involved in health care. Edwards
replied, "Article One, Section Eight," which empowers Congress to
provide for the "general welfare of the United States." Then Edwards
asked the man if he opposed "the federal government being involved in
Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and children's health care." The
man said he was, and the room roared its approval.

"I will wear it as a badge of honor that I was shouted at by people
who oppose Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and children's health,"
Edwards said. The shouters, he added, did not speak for most of his
constituents, but for "the Ron Paul libertarian position that
represents 2 to 5 percent of the country."
.......................
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