Philadelphia town hall meeting is civil

Special to the Global Report Tonight I attended the Health Care Town Hall Forum with Rep. Joe Sestak, hosted by the Broad Street Ministry. While Democrat Sestak's 7th CD is in the suburbs, totally outside of Philadelphia, he chose the city to centralize the meeting in the most populous region of Pennsylvania, having recently announced he will oppose Arlen Specter in the 2010 primary. The meeting was promoted heavily in advance by advocacy groups, including Health Care for America Now and Democracy for America. Early arrival was stressed. Scheduled start was 6:30. I arrived before 5 and found the line already in the hundreds, mostly supporters. At start, the church sanctuary was filled, as was the downstairs community room which had closed circuit TV of the meeting. The Philadelphia Inquirer reported attendance to be about 650, diverse and mostly supporters. A few hundred more were shut out, as the Church was filled to capacity. Rev. Bill Golderer in his introductory remarks, pointed to the hundreds of folded paper birds suspended from above, as part of an art work that adorns the sanctuary. Inside the folds, he explained, are prayers of children, and asked attendees to be mindful of that and conduct themselves with respect towards their neighbor. Behavior was almost perfect. There was only one person, called "Chris", who suddenly jumped up out of turn, started waving his arms and bellowing, "when do we get our chance?". Cameras whirled, focused and flashed to capture that moment. Other than that, no "Town Hall Hooligans" at all. The Philadelphia Inquirer described the meeting as "a spoonful of sugar". That night, I decided to compare my observations with TV coverage. The Fox affiliate, WTXF 29, reported on the Town Hall, showing clips of outbursts at older meetings, preceding their clip of Chris's tantrum. The impression was this meeting was just more of the same. Nothing could be further from the truth. I know. I was there. So was the Philadelphia Inquirer. Their reporting agrees with mine.