Posts Tagged ‘Wisconsin’

WFRV reports…

“Beneath the chants of people rallying for health care reform in Green Bay, were the voices of protestors.Yet most of the 400-plus people at UW-Green Bay on Wednesday, told Congressman Steve Kagen he has their support.” Source: Kagen holds ‘less heated’ session at UWGB – WFRV Green Bay: Northeast Wisconsin News, Weather and Sports

Yet WBAY has a different take…

“Hundreds of people packed a UW-Green Bay building for what was supposed to be a pro-health care reform rally with Congressman Steve Kagen. But many came to voice disapproval of the legislation, and emotions ran high at a rally drawing cheers and boos.Groups of protesters lined up outside UWGB’s student union at least an hour before the health care rally even began.

The protests remained peaceful outside but set the stage for what became at times a heated debate inside.

More than 400 people packed the student union — so many that organizers had to expand the room to let everyone in.” Source: Health Care Reform Rally Turns Into Noisy Debate – WBAY-TV Green Bay-Fox Cities-Northeast Wisconsin News:

The fix is in — Jenna Sachs at WFRV wins today’s Engebretson Award for Excellence in Journalism…

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• NBC-26 launches ridiculous attack on character (brvanlanen.wordpress.com)

Check out the entertaining email exchange I had with Kristoffer Engebretson, who had the unmitigated gall to lecture me on journalism and what constitutes a story. Evidently, his idea of what constitutes the story has changed dramatically since he decided that an ex-Republican housewife expressing her thoughts at a “listening session” was the makings of a big expose on Republican plants.

Last night I received this email invitation from President Obama’s “Organizing for America” (a mailing list that I stunningly have not been removed from since I was recently outed as a Republican town hall plant):

Heather –

I wanted to send you an urgent invitation to an important health care event with Rep. Steve Kagen tomorrow, Wednesday, August 26th.

He’ll be talking to constituents and gathering feedback on the need for reform. Whether you ask a question or show your support with a sign, attending this event is a powerful way to show where you stand and thank those in Congress who are fighting for reform.

I hope you can join us. Here are the details:

What: Health Care Event with
Rep. Steve Kagen

Where: UW Green Bay – Phoenix Room
2420 Nicolet Drive
Green Bay, WI 54311

When: Wednesday, August 26th
Arrival Time: 5:00 p.m.
Start Time: 6:00 p.m.

RSVP

Please arrive as early as possible to the event, and make sure that the most powerful voices in this debate are those calling for real reform, not angrily clamoring for the status quo.

RSVP here:

http://wi.barackobama.com/GreenBayTH

Thanks,

Dan

Dan Grandone
Wisconsin State Director
Organizing for America

P.S. — Before the event, please print off a flyer to display and make sure that your support is visible.

Assuming Kristoffer Engebretson would find evidence of people being influenced to attend these events (the only question he had for me, and one he repeated 6 times in hopes that my answer in the negative would change), I forwarded him the email, adding “Here you go, Kristoffer. You’ve got your story; I’ll look forward to seeing how you expose all the plants at this event tomorrow…”

My sarcasm is obvious, which is why I was so surprised that he responded. His response, however, is even more surprising:

Heather,
It’s a rally for pro health care reform and pro public option. This is not a listening session. There will be no question and answer format. There will only be speakers.
The people who will be there (from both sides) will be voicing how they feel loud and clear. And I know people from both sides will be going, check out our story from today.

By the way, an email asking people to show their support is not a story. Emails like this on both sides of this issue have been going out since the begining of the debate. It’s a way of letting people know what’s going on.

But if you have any concrete evidence showing the liberals are paying people to come or are trying to sabotage the event, please let me know. That would be a story.

Kristoffer Engebretson
NBC 26 Reporter

I couldn’t resist straightening him out on the facts. Again. (Why do I keep finding myself in the position of having to teach this journalist the basics of journalism?):

Kristoffer,

Nowhere in the “Organizing for America” invitation does it say anything about a “rally”. What it does clearly state: “He’ll be talking to constituents and gathering feedback on the need for reform. Whether you ask a question or show your support with a sign, attending this event is a powerful way to show where you stand and thank those in Congress who are fighting for reform.” Sound like a listening session to me. What’s interesting to me is how you know that it is a rally, and that there will be no question and answer format. I’d also love to have you explain how the Congressman plans to gather feedback when “there will only be speakers.”

And don’t you dare lecture me on journalism and what qualifies as a story. You’re right, emails like this are not a story; they’re nothing more than American Democracy at work. An ex-Republican housewife designing websites out of her home and networking online with potential clients wasn’t a story either, but you used spit and duct tape to patch together one Google search performed by another news crew, one screen shot, a portion of a private conversation between myself and a member of that other news crew, and my response to a question that was never aired, and made it a story anyway.

Now I’m actually handing you proof of a situation where people are being “influenced” to go (you remember that question? After all, you asked me that 6 times), and now all of the sudden you’re telling me it’s not a story.

Stunning. But then, you’re not one to allow the facts to get in the way, are you?

Heather Blish
Just a Mom From Down the Street

I’ll let you know if he responds.

Update: he did, and it’s a hoot! Read the second installment here.

Thanks to Charlie Sykes and Rebecca Kleefisch for helping to further expose the lazy, irresponsible, agenda-driven “journalism” of Kristoffer Engebretson and NBC 26 WGBA.

“Our web reporter, Rebecca Kleefisch dissects a breathless television station’s “expose” of those townhall hooligans.” Source: KLEEFISCH: PIN THE BLAME ON THE “OPERATIVE” | Newsradio 620 – Milwaukee, Wisconsin News, Talk, Sports, Weather | Charlie Sykes

Read the full story of how one private citizen was nationally demonized after speaking out a town-hall meeting. We’re calling for a boycott of NBC 26 WGBA for allowing this kind of tabloid journalism. Join our Facebook group at http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=logo#/pages/Boycott-NBC26-in-Green-Bay/116519111023?ref=ts

…are dismissing you!

“Sen. Arlen Specter says critics of the Democrats’ health care proposals are not representative of the public’s view on the issue.

The Pennsylvania Democrat says people who are angry at town hall meetings don’t reflect the broader public opinion of the proposed overhaul. Specter has faced tough town hall audiences in his home state.” Source: Specter: town hall ire not reflect public opinion – WBAY-TV Green Bay-Fox Cities-Northeast Wisconsin News:

The question is, how will you respond? Isn’t it time to consider voting them out of office and electing officials who WILL respond?

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“Vince Schmuki of Wisconsinites’ Interests Now just called from the Capitol where he and a small group from the Recall Doyle Team are protesting the State Senate All-Night Budget session. The team was interviewed by Milwaukee TV-4 and Madison TV-15. Per Vince, the interviews went great, but the reporters asked a question that only YOU can answer: “If this budget is so outrageous, why aren’t more people showing up to protest?”

So how about a REPEAT Tea Party?? Although the budget is being ramrodded through at top speed in the dead of night, there is a chance that we can still show up and stand up for what we believe in – Democracy and Representation– before it is a done deal!

If the Senate is still working on the Budget Thursday, the Recall Doyle Team will be there! How about you? We need YOU to bring your signs (posters only – no sticks ( or clubs allowed lol) ; wear your Recall Doyle T-shirt and Button – and prepare to PROTEST.

Recall Doyle will be there at 6 p.m. if the process continues tomorrow. Meet outside the Senate Chambers – second floor. Go in through the South entrance. Show the Press – and Doyle – that we have had enough!”

Why should you care? There are about 6 billion reasons! Oh, and next time? Don’t give all the power to one party — ‘checks and balances’ is a good idea…

Did President Obama pack the audience? Warner Todd Huston says yes…

“One of Obama’s first questions from the audience wasn’t from a mere concerned citizen, but from a former Democratic Party candidate for Congress that wants a socialist, single payer system to be implemented raising the suspicion that the administration knew exactly who was going to ask questions and what they were going to ask.

This questioner can be seen in a CNN video covering the Greenbay event. The woman is identified as “Paulette Guerin” and labeled as an “attendee” of the meeting on the CNN segment. In fact CNN got the spelling of the woman’s last name wrong, it’s not Guerin, but Garin. Additionally this “attendee” is far from just the average Wisconsin citizen just out for the day to hear the president’s ideas. Paulette Garin is far more than just another one of the folks.

Garin was a recent Democrat candidate for Wisconsin’s 1st Congressional District. Not only that but Garin is a proponent of a single payer plan, as Obama was when he was a Senator from Illinois. In fact, Garin says right on her webpage that Obama is a proponent of the single payer plan and she urges fellow Wisconsinites to flood Congress with calls to implement the single payer system.” Source: Dem. Shill as ‘Attendee’ in Obama’s Healthcare Townhall Audience — Where’s Media Finger Wagging? | NewsBusters.org

Go to the source and read the entire article…

Things are slowly returning to normal here in Green Bay and Paul Ryan already has a comment on the President’s townhall today…

I applaud President Obama for bringing national attention to two things I’m passionate about: health care reform and Wisconsin. I am eager to work with the President and Democrats toward a bipartisan solution to health care. However, the Majority has chosen to exclude such collaboration. After reviewing the President’s remarks in Green Bay today, I have one basic observation to make: the difference between the President’s rhetoric and the substance of his plans is nothing short of astounding. In fact, non-partisan experts continue to claim that the President’s “public plan option” will cause as many as 120 million of Americans to lose the health insurance they already have and like. This makes it difficult to keep the insurance they like, underscoring the growing divide between the President’s promises and his policies.

The President reiterated a false choice that is damaging the open, honest health care debate that we deserve. The President frames the debate as: The government must take over the management of health care OR continue with the failed status-quo of today. He continues to challenge his critics by asking, “What is the alternative?” He knows that there are alternatives – better alternatives where the patient, not the government, is at the center of health care in America. He knows that we have introduced the Patients’ Choice Act of 2009. He knows this, and is simply hoping that the American people don’t know it. It should be noted that Democrats haven’t yet introduced a bill – we have. The Patients’ Choice Act is a real proposal with actual legislative text, demonstrating that we can have universal health insurance in this country without the government taking it over.

Another favorite refrain of the President is that entitlement reform is health care reform. With health security threatened by the unsustainable growth of Medicare and Medicaid, serious reform of these programs is no longer an option. Last year, I introduced comprehensive reforms of both programs, and yet again – nothing but rhetoric from Washington. What’s worse, the Administration’s current strategy to fixing our entitlement crisis is to add yet another entitlement program to an already unsustainable fiscal future. You can’t create new government entitlements, impose trillions of dollars of new taxes, and call this cost containment. We already spend over two-and-a-half times any other country on health care. The problem is not that we don’t spend enough money, but that we don’t spend it efficiently or effectively. Source: Journal Times Online >> Paul Ryan Commentary

Please go the source for the rest of the article..

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