Two very different takes on the same idea:
An admittedly highly partisan site:
E.J. Dionne on town hall-generated legislation:
Health-care reform is said to be in trouble partly because of those raucous August town-hall meetings in which Democratic members of Congress were besieged by shouters opposed to change.
But what if our media-created impression of the meetings is wrong? What if the highly publicized screamers represented only a fraction of public opinion? What if most of the town halls were populated by citizens who respectfully but firmly expressed a mixture of support, concern and doubt?
There is an overwhelming case that the electronic media went out of their way to cover the noise and ignored the calmer (and from television’s point of view “boring”) encounters between elected representatives and their constituents.
It’s also clear that the anger that got so much attention largely reflects a fringe right-wing view opposed to all sorts of government programs most Americans support.
Take out the “what if” and Dionne nails it.
Somewhat of a “different take” by the “Insta B.S.” site itself: “E.J. DIONNE SAYS don’t listen to people like E.J. Dionne.”
Who is right? Read Far Right Jonah Goldberg’s interesting spin. (We say interesting, because the idea of paying attention to the town halls is FAR DIFFERENT from then conveying to the country that there is nothing but angry and even hysterical opposition at these things. Goldberg seems, conveniently enough, to completely miss this somewhat defining point. Now we see why “Insta B.S” so readily linked to it. But there are some things the acknowledgedly partisan site missed too. (And it never made sense why the site would take this openly partisan stance — but maybe it has something to do with why they are always struggling to get their message across beyond their own choir. It also has something, a BIG SOMETHING, to do with the parenthetical immediately below.)
But much more relevantly, here is what they both miss: (Particularly the Donkey Party — see, in particular, paragraph in bold.)
People hate this health care proposal. It is government getting in the way of their health care. Why does the government have to be making these decisions for us?
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