From the Washington Post: "The president called randomly on three audience members. All turned out to be members of groups with close ties to his administration: the Service Employees International Union, Health Care for America Now, and Organizing for America, which is a part of the Democratic National Committee. White House officials said that was a coincidence"
The Washington Press Corp seems a little concerned over the way the Obama administration is "Staging" town hall meetings. Where have they been for the past six months? Preselected question per Gibbs (listen to the video) are a surprise from the President that selects reports' questions from a reprinted list, regardless of whether or not the reporter is actually at the press conference, mind you! Can we expect to get anything even remotely resembling complete and in dept political coverage from these clowns? But at least they are catching on, finally
Did you ask this question when Bush was President? Tom Maguire and Mary Katharine Ham both take the mainstream media to task on how they framed Bush’s “orchestrated” town hall meetings versus Obama’s, the latter of which took part in a town hall “discussion” on healthcare earlier today in Virginia. “It’s in keeping with the media’s narratives about Dubya and Obama, though, the former shifty and stupid and therefore dependent on softballs, the latter “open” and ingenious and no longer required to prove his ability to handle tough questions.” or On March 21, Bush addressed a “town hall” meeting in Denver, Colorado, organized by the White House as part of Bush’s nationwide “Conversation on Social Security”—a series of media events staged to promote his plan to partially privatize the government benefits system for senior citizens. As with virtually all of Bush’s public appearances, these events are meticulously vetted. Nobody is allowed entry who has not been approved by Republican operatives and given a ticket, and the softball questions lobbed to the president are generally rehearsed in advance. But as the Denver event revealed, even possession of an admission ticket does not suffice to shield one from the Republican thought-police. Three of the ticket-holders at the Denver “conversation” were removed from the venue an hour before the president arrived. They had obtained their tickets in advance through the office of Colorado Republican Congressman Bob Beauprez. Want more examples?
I really feel bad for this woman: "The most dramatic moment came from Debby Smith, 53, of Appalachia, Va., who was near tears as she described for Obama her fragile health, including a recently discovered tumor for which she cannot get treatment." She didn't say whether or not this was treatable if she had insurance but President Obama suggested at a town hall event Wednesday night that one way to shave medical costs is to stop expensive and ultimately futile procedures performed on people who are about to die and don't stand to gain from the extra care.
In a nationally televised event at the White House, Obama said families need better information so they don't unthinkingly approve "additional tests or additional drugs that the evidence shows is not necessarily going to improve care."
How do you make that choice? If it was your child, spouse, sibling or parent would you want everything done even if there was no guarantee? If the person is of mind where they can make their own decision than it is up to them but I don't think I could sit there and tell them not to do anything. I think that it is interesting that Helen Thomas questioned Robert Gibbs on "Controlled" Town Hall Meeting. She has been in Washington forever and she has been for Obama. She is now accusing the White House of "controlling the press." She said almost all White House/Obama events are "prepackaged." She accused the White House of not "having any answers." She is saying that this is the worst administration for openess and transparency. All presidents do this to a point but it seems that they get caught a lot sooner because they are paying more attention to it. I think that they have been protecting Obama so far but I think that we are going to see it changes with the press coverage. The news media is finally starting to wake up.
LOL, that's a good one. Tell me, where was your righteous indignation during Bush's famously staged town hall meetings? At least Obama isn't hiring gay prostitutes and giving them white house press passes so they can ask friendly questions at news conferences.
Well, especially for the here and now you can't blame Obama because more Americans are becoming disenchanted with his administration. The last thing the President wants is a hot question where he will again get caught up in lying.