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Matthew Freeman is a Brooklyn based playwright with a BFA from Emerson College. His plays include THE DEATH OF KING ARTHUR, REASONS FOR MOVING, THE GREAT ESCAPE, THE AMERICANS, THE WHITE SWALLOW, AN INTERVIEW WITH THE AUTHOR, THE MOST WONDERFUL LOVE, WHEN IS A CLOCK, GLEE CLUB, THAT OLD SOFT SHOE and BRANDYWINE DISTILLERY FIRE. He served as Assistant Producer and Senior Writer for the live webcast from Times Square on New Year's Eve 2010-2012. As a freelance writer, he has contributed to Gamespy, Premiere, Complex Magazine, Maxim Online, and MTV Magazine. His plays have been published by Playscripts, Inc., New York Theatre Experience, and Samuel French.

Saturday, August 08, 2009

Protest coverage

When the left protests the war in Iraq, in the largest anti-war rally in history, we are covered as a bit of unwelcome dissent against a generally unstoppable and popular war. The President at the time, unchallenged, calls it a "focus group."

When right wing insurance company operatives send people to scream at town meetings to try to kill health care reform, they are covered as a groundswell of populist anger against the President's agenda. The President is asked if he made a mistake in allowing for town halls at all. As if the fault lies with the individual who encourages open discussion.

On a different, but related, note...I was actually listening to a podcast from the New York Times political team, and there was a bit of back and forth that started with "Did Obama wait too long to go after health care reform?" (He just passed his 200th day in office, of course.) Then, after that was decided not to be case, they posed a different question: "Did he try to do it too quickly?"

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