Yesterday the President held a a town hall in Portsmouth, NH in which 1,800 people respectfully listened to his remarks on the success of the Stimulus plan and the current debate underway on health care reform.  They applauded when he called for a more civil debate of the issues.  Outside the hall were many demonstrators - over 1,500.  Some were there to protest against Obama, carrying signs like "Obamacare Makes Me Sick."  Others were there to support the President, carrying signs reading "Reform Now - Insure People, Not Profits."  I was not there but I did watch the raw footage of the demonstrators shot by CBS and posted on their website.  And you can watch it too - here.  But if you happened to tune in to the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric last night what you saw instead was this. 

When I watched them back to back I was stunned.  In the first Obama supporters offer sane comments about why they support health care reform now, balancing out the Anti-Obama demonstrators who seem cranky and crazy in comparison.  In the second link - the one watched by many more Americans who tuned in to the Evening News mind you - you will find only Obama inside and anti-Obama protesters outside railing against his socialist policies.  The pro-Obama forces present are nowhere to be seen - erased.  Why?  Because they don't fit the narrative the so-called liberal mainstream media is pushing - an embattled President struggling to get his message across - under fire from an angry mob.  Putting their slant right up front, the CBS segment was entitled "Anger Management."

CBS missed a chance to inform the American people on a critical debate raging around a complex issue - letting the sounds and sights of the protest line in Portsmouth speak for themselves.  On one side a woman interviewed spoke about why the Public Option makes sense to her as a way to keep the insurance companies in check.  On the other a man relayed how he pays for his own insurance and he is not about to pay for someone who has none.  On one side a drumming group sits in front of a sign reading Health Services for Women.  On the other a cute little girl holds a sign reading "Obama lies, Grandma dies."  Powerful stuff. 

Remember wen the Evening News covered the Civil Rights struggles or the Vietnam protests?  Imagine if the Portsmouth story was reported like that.  Americans could have watched what happened in Portsmouth and drawn their own conclusions.  But that was CBS then.  This is CBS now.
 
The CBS News team's failure to report the facts of what happened in Portsmouth would be a journalistic disgrace if what they were practicing was truly journalism.  But that word seems old, something best used in the context of Morrow and Cronkite - back when reporters fought to get the story right and called it like they saw it.

So what to do we need to do?  Show up with 10 times as many protesters as the other side?  100 times?  March on Washington?  How can we hope to get our story across when CBS outdoes Fox in the real-time revision of history department.  It is easy to fall into despair.

But hope trumps fear, remember?  We learned that in the campaign.  So let's hope the MSM can get the story straight if we begin holding them accountable for doing their job.

Let's start today by writing to CBS today demanding that they run a story on the Evening News on the rising chorus of voices in support of the President's Health Care Reform initiative.

Here is the email address for The CBS Evening News: 

evening@cbsnews.com

And a sample comment you can send to the Editors there:

Last night you aired a segment called "Anger Management" which covered the President's town hall in Portsmouth, NH.  Your images and narration highlighted those protesting the President's policies but, unlike the raw footage of the event posted on your website, completely eliminated any reference to the many supporters who were also present.  Please correct this factual error in tonight's CBS Evening News in a story on the increasing numbers of people coming out in support of Health Care Reform along the lines Obama has recommended.

August 11, 2009
Dateline - Washington, D.C.

Using the cover of town hall meetings held to divert the attention of patriots opposing the Administration's efforts to destroy the world's best health care system, a secret joint session of the House and Senate was held last week entirely via teleconference.  During the session the Obamacare bill was passed via the reconciliation process, effectively socializing medicine in America.

In a move to preempt an anticipated public outcry, black helicopters were immediately dispatched from secret bases across the country - rounding up dissenters who revealed themselves by speaking out at the Town Hall meetings.  Initial reports, though sketchy, suggest they are being removed to a unknown, secure location for reprogramming.  President Obama, speaking at a Town Hall in Portsmouth New Hampshire this morning said "Resistance is futile." 

Meanwhile, millions of Americans brace today for the letter expected to go out later this week informing them that their private insurance plan had been canceled as it is no longer competitive with the Public Option.  Kathleen Sibelius, Secretary of Health and Human Services assured the nation that "there is no need for alarm as the new Health Care Commission  is standing by to make any and all decisions related to who gets what care when."

In a related story, a handwritten list of Obama critics was found this morning on the news desk at Fox Friends - apparently left by Rahm Emmanuel following an interview in which the existence of such an "enemies list" was vigorously denied by the White House Chief of Staff.  Fox News analyst Glenn Beck, whose name appears at the top of the list, commented "As it is clear now that I have been selected to be the first to face Obama's Death Panel - I regret only that I have one life to give for this great country."  A representative of Sarah Palin objected to Beck's claim, suggesting the list - which includes the former Alaska Governor's name as well, was in alphabetical order, preserving the possibility that Palin would be taken before Beck.

As The Week That Was comes to a close, let us ponder its possible significance.

• Unemployment went down (surprise, surprise), not up
• $'s spent on "Cash for Clunkers" went up and # of gas guzzlers on the road went down
• # of stories titled "Stimulus Not Working" went down
• # of non-crazies at Town Halls went up and # of Town Halls disrupted went down
• # of stories in the MSM highlighting scariness of the right wing-nuts went up
• # of stories in the MSM pushing Republican talking points went down
• # of Republican Senators willing to talk seriously about health care reform went up
• # of stories about things returning to normal in Iraq went up
  
• # of Taliban leaders in Pakistan taken out without collateral damage went up
• Obama's poll numbers went up, not down

The way I score it, the good guys - you know, the ones who prefer hope to fear and facts to hate-based fantasies - won the week. 

A turning point?  Hard to say - but remember that the stimulus money has just started to flow, the Climate/Energy bill has yet to clear the Senate, the Health Care debate is still heatedly underway, and we are still fighting two wars.

And yet President Obama is back up to 58% job approval in the latest Gallup poll.

As Darth Vadr once said, "Impressive, most impressive."

And this week made clear that Obama is not daunted by the huge challenges he faces, nor by the powerful forces arrayed against him.  No, like Teddy taking on the Trusts or Franklin assailing speculators on Wall Street -  Obama is psyched. 

This week he began to strike a more populist chord, urging on the faithful to get fired up again - doing whatever is needed to win this battle for the soul of our country.  E-mails went out calling for those who campaigned so hard for change to show up again.  And they did. 

This morning I read of the Town Halls in Washington, Indiana, and Massachusetts where respectful progressives showed up in large numbers at town halls - balancing out the shouting crazies with thoughtful questions - changing the tone of the debate just by being there and staying cool.

Until I ready these stories I admit, I had my doubts that this all would work - that change can really happen in this mixed up country of ours.  But it is -and it will.

So allow yourself to dream a bit, fast forwarding to next August, 2010:

• Unemployment is down to 7% as the stimulus is creating thousands of jobs
• Affordable health care for all Americans is the law of the land
• Our carbon footprint has stopped growing as green energy is big business
  
• And our men and women are finally leaving Iraq - in peace

Wow,  I get teary-eyed just thinking about.

What will the race-baiting, hate-spewing crazies be saying then?
More importantly, will there be anyone left listening to them?

For now, civil discourse is winning the day and progress in remaking America is being made.

And that, friends, is The Week That Was.