Town Hall Meetings

Tuesday, because of a delivery delay, I had the morning off. I chose to spend my free morning catching up on the news on TV. As it turned out, all of the major cable news sources were covering Arlin Specter's town hall meeting in Lebanon, Pennsylvania. Specter actually deserves a lot of credit just for showing up, after the disaster the week before when he co-hosted a meeting with Kathleen Sebelius. At that meeting, the crowd was brutal, and the co-hosts quickly found out that the folks didn't show up just to have the hosts force-feed them a bunch of talking points from the administration's propaganda machine. The co-hosts came off looking like fools. At the meeting in Lebanon, Specter's people randomly handed out thirty numbered cards, and these lucky people were the ones that were allowed to voice their concerns to the Senator. There was a lot of passion, a few tears, loud applause, and some very vigorous points made. For the most part, Specter just listened and occasionally commented on his position on certain issues. There was no doubt that the crowd had gathered to voice opposition to the healthcare bill now under consideration. Only one of the carded people spoke out in favor of the bill - 29 to 1. In my opinion, this meeting turned out just like it should have, with a cross section of the Senator's constituents conveying to their representative the concerns they have regarding the proposed healthcare reform bill. To me, there was a crystal-clear message that Specter should go back to Washington and insist that the bill be thrown away, and resubmitted with the provisions that the people want. The crowd was not concerned only with healthcare; they want Congress to quit spending, NOW, they want the lawmakers to honor the Constitution, they don't want to be lied to anymore, and above all they want to have their voices heard. To me, none of this sounds unreasonable. Specter was only one of dozens who held town hall meetings, and from what I saw in subsequent newscasts, the messages were all the the same. It kind of puts the lawmakers in a hard spot, I would imagine. If they don't consider the wishes of their constituents and pass the bill as it is, they won't get past their next election. And if they change their stand on the bill, they won't be getting along with their friends Nancy, Harry and Barak back in Washington. One thing - they all know now that this is serious.

Well, the media had a heyday! But what did they cover? The real concerns of the people that made their wishes known? Not really! There was one poor soul at Specter's Lebanon meeting who was put out that he was not issued a card so that he could make his point. He made his point anyway, and accepted an invitation to leave the hall. This was disruptive, of course, but the media was all over it, like stink on poop. The clip was shown over and over again on all the channels. If you were to tune in after the meeting, wondering how things went, you would come away thinking that there was nothing but outrage and pandemonium. Nothing is further from the truth. There were a lot of valid points made in the meeting, but you wouldn't know about it if you tuned in late. I was so mad at the post-meeting coverage that I wrote to Fox News about it. They completely ignored an interview that David Lee Miller had with a guy just after the meeting. The guy was articulate, gave an accurate assessment of the meeting, and pointed out a couple of things that he wished had been brought up. But, no - that clip was evidently thrown in the trash bin so they could air the "disruptive" clip. By the way, this fellow who was asked to leave showed up as a guest on MSNBC. The poor guy was a bit challenged and had a hard time making his point. I think MSNBC was trying to portray him as the typical conservative hack that plays into the conservative game. I felt sorry for him.

My view is that there probably won't be enough momentum gained to make a lot of difference in changing the healthcare bill, much as I would like to see it happen. Too much inertia would have to be overcome. I hope I'm wrong.