White House makes its case

The White House asserted again today that the screaming at health care town halls all over cable TV is not representative of what's happening across the country.

To buttress that point, the Democratic National Committee sent out a list of reports in local newspapers about less heated events.

"Outside the echo chamber of 24-hour cable news, Americans all across the country are attending town halls, holding coffee shop conversations and engaging in respectful, honest debates about the best way to achieve health insurance reform. As the president continues to forge ahead, making historic progress in his effort to reform America’s broken health insurance system, please see below for coverage of the conversations you haven’t been hearing," the DNC said.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said today there are more reasoned discussions on health care going on in the town halls.

"I think people are getting the feedback that they're having very good conversations about what's in the legislation -- what people would like to see, what options they want to have, why they think it's important," he said.

"I said this yesterday, I'll say this again: while I appreciate that you all have decided that every town hall meeting ends in pushing, shoving and yelling...they're not completely indicative of what's going on in America."

Still, the administration will continue trying to rebut attacks on Obama's proposals, he said.

"I think he believes very strongly, as we talked about yesterday, that it is important to address misconceptions or misimpressions that have been left out there about the bills. I do believe that the president feels strongly that when he makes his case, it helps the case for overall health care reform," Gibbs told reporters during his daily briefing.

"So he felt very satisfied with what happened in New Hampshire. He was able to address concerns that people had."

Meanwhile, White House senior adviser David Axelrod sent an e-mail to Obama supporters listing eight reasons why an overhaul of the health care system is essential and listing what he called eight “common myths” about the overhaul effort. The e-mail asks supporters to forward the message to someone who “has a question about reform.”

“Let’s start a chain e-mail of our own” to counter “the viral e-mails that fly unchecked and under the radar,” Axelrod wrote.