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ABC sent correspondent Jonathan Karl to attend one of those raucous town hall meetings to view the noisy protests against healthcare reform first hand. "What outrages them most is being called a mob," he observed of Democrat Tom Perriello's Congressional constituents in rural Virginia. NBC had Kelly O'Donnell cover the protests from afar on Capitol Hill; CBS used a similarly remote Chip Reid from the White House.
"Critics of health reform say it is genuine grassroots anger but Democrats say activists are orchestrating the protest," reported CBS' Reid, citing online coordination by Conservatives for Patients' Rights, or CPR for short. NBC's O'Donnell contrasted the Democratic National Committee's advertising claim that "desperate Republicans and their well-funded allies are organizing angry mobs" with the warning from freedomworks.org that politicians "should be careful about so easily dismissing this many people." NBC's O'Donnell did not tell us whether or not she considers freedomworks.org to be a well-funded ally of the Republican Party.
Both Reid and O'Donnell were presenting a false choice. Of course it is possible for political activism to be authentic and coordinated at the same time. In fact the most effective activists aspire to both. On ABC, George Stephanopoulos countenanced such an explanation: "This widespread anger you are talking about is really something…There are real questions out there."
CBS' Reid and NBC's O'Donnell both also pointed to the talkradio opposition to healthcare reform legislation from Rush Limbaugh. O'Donnell used one soundbite: "The Obama healthcare logo is damned close to a Nazi swastika logo." Reid used another: "Adolf Hitler, like Barack Obama, also ruled by diktat." From the White House lawn, NBC's Chuck Todd almost invoked Godwin's Law: "It is almost a way of ending the argument--and it could end up backfiring."
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