Obama Denounces Media's Focus on Health Care Protests

President Obama today denounced the media's emphasis on angry protesters at health care town halls, the AP reports. "TV loves a ruckus," he said. Trying to sell his overhaul plan amid an increasingly noisy and partisan debate, Obama told a crowd of about 1,300 in Montana: "What you haven't seen on TV and what makes me proud are the many constructive meetings going on all over the country."

While hundreds demonstrated outside, there was no sign of protesters inside the hangar where the meeting was held. The crowd was civil, though Obama did get some pointed questions. "The only way you're going to get that money is raise our taxes," one man said. "You are absolutely right.…We're going to have to find money from somewhere," Obama responded. But he said there were other ways to fund the program, including streamlining the system and eliminating what he called subsidies to insurance companies. (More health care reform stories.)