David Rodeback's Blog

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Media Coverage of Last Week's Town Hall Meeting

Also some mentions of the meeting in discussions of larger issues, and capers and potential capers on the parts of Congressman Jason Chaffetz and former Congressman Merrill Cook.

I wrote about last Wednesday's town hall meeting in American Fork with US Senator Orrin Hatch last week in a brief piece with a journalistic purpose, then held forth at considerable length on the audience and some larger themes.

Here's a quick look at some the other coverage, in case you're interested:

• In the Salt Lake Tribune Donald W. Meyers emphasized Senator Hatch's discussion of a potential third party movement's dangers and touched on some other themes. He estimated attendance at 300, which I think was low by 50 to 100.
• Paul Rolly's Tribune column mentions the meeting, a radio show, and even the possibility of a Merrill Cook candidacy, on the way to a larger look at conservatives and their villains. I thought Merrill Cook embarrassed himself out of a political future some years ago, and quite convincingly. I hope I wasn't wrong.
• Hatch dismissed the "birthers," but Congressman Jason Chaffetz (not my congressman) gave some fuel to the "truthers," then backed away from the resulting storm in a hurry. One of these men is not as bright as the other.
• A link to Barbara Christiansen's article in the Daily Herald will probably be live longer than the preceding links to the Tribune, and she offers a good picture of the meeting.
• In the Deseret News Erica Teichert has a different version of some citizen statements than I recall, but she could be right. And conservatives may have told Hatch to stand up, as the article's title suggests, but he told some of them to get a grip on reality.

I wonder, do any of my readers have thoughts, insights, reactions, impressions, etc., about the meeting and its issues?

Erica Teichert comments (2/25/2010):

Just wanted to let you know that some of the citizen's comments are different in my article because I interviewed them after the town hall meeting was over, and used their quotes from those interviews rather than solely quotes from the town hall meeting to write my article.

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