President Obama was in Portsmouth, New Hampshire yesterday conducting a town hall meeting on health care "reform" at the local high school.
Outside, approximately 1,500 people were protesting on either side of the issue and the street. I drove out to Portsmouth to lend my voice to the opposition.
I arrived around 9:30am and there were already at least a thousand people there. The people on the Right drove themselves to Portsmouth in their own vehicles. Many of the folks on the Left--including Union people, Greenpeace and Planned Parenthood--were brought in by as many as six buses by some reports.
The Left engaged in their usual chant ("What do we want?" HEALTH CARE! "When do we want it?" NOW!), while the Right engaged in chants of "Live Free or Die," "No Government Health Care" and "USA! USA! USA!"
I had the pleasure to meet past Republican candidate for Congress (NH-2) and current radio talk show host Jennifer Horn. Jennifer was broadcasting her daily program on WSMN live from Portsmouth and was kind enough to have me on for a few minutes to talk about the event.
The Portsmouth PD did a great job of keeping the situation under control. They kept what could have been a really volatile situation as peaceful as they could. The biggest problem with the event, however, had absolutely nothing to do with the protesters.
At one point during the morning, the protest site was being monitored from the air by a New Hampshire State Police helicopter. They viewed the protest while hovering from several different vantage points. Then, the helicopter moved over to the other side of the high school where the other entrance was and stayed there for quite some time.
It was at that point I realized that this protest was nowhere near where the President was going to be--the motorcade would never drive by it.
Was the protest effective? Yes, I believe it was...however, the White House orchestrated the entire event so it couldn't ultimately be successful and then bussed in hundreds of Obama-friendly supporters to attempt to squelch the other side.
They can tuck the protest away in a corner...they can keep the President's motorcade from driving by it...they can truck in supporters by the bus load, but they will NEVER be able to quiet the voices of dissent.
I managed to take some photos with my phone yesterday and I've put some of them below...
The Portsmouth Police Department kept the road leading to the school clear. The people protesting on the left side of the political spectrum were on the left side of the street. The folks on the right were, as you might guess, the folks on the right.
The Lefties were protesting in front of the local LDS church--which I found to be thoroughly ironic. It's safe to say that nearly everyone on that lawn eschews and vilifies everything that organized religion stands for, yet...there they were.
Below is the vehicle of the only arrest at yesterday's protest. According to WMUR in Manchester, NH, Richard Young tried to get in to Portsmouth High prior to the event--after it had been locked down. Mr. Young allegedly had a loaded firearm locked inside his vehicle. He was detained by the Secret Service and the local police had his truck towed away.
LOTS of home-made signs on the Right...
The Union drones from the New Hampshire AFL-CIO were in attendance with their mass-produced signs.
People from Planned Parenthood (under the blue tent-top) and the Massachusetts Nurses Association were also brought in by the Lefties...with more mass-produced signs.
Greenpeace was also in attendance...protesting global warming?!? I really have no idea what relevance that has to health care "reform," but...then again...Greenpeace hasn't been relevant in years. (The Greenpeacers have the large white banner near the center of the photo.)
"Keep Your Laws Off My Doctor..." You know, the Left used similar signs 35 years ago to demonstrate in support of Roe v. Wade. Now, all of a sudden, we're an angry Nazi mob. Go figure...
Another non-mass produced sign on the Right...
More home-made signs...
The shouting matches between the sides of the street went on all day.
Skip from the blog Granite Grok was live-blogging the event from a ring-side seat.
Some carried more than one sign...
This was probably my favorite sign of the day--and it had nothing to do with health care. This guy wanted Obama to bring back the cancelled FOX television series, "Arrested Development." I'd say that 90% of the people there had no idea what his sign meant, but I had a really good laugh.
The LaRouchePAC people were also in attendance. The people on the Right wanted nothing to do with them and they had to move across the street to a space not occupied by either side. Odd, odd folks.
There were frequent chants of "Read The Bill" yesterday, something the other side of the street didn't seem to think was important.
I've become really weary of the tendency to invoke Hitler...by either side.
Amen! Exercising my rights under the First Amendment was exactly why I showed up in Portsmouth yesterday. This is what America is about!
Chuck Todd of NBC News/pMSNBC interviews people in the crowd.
Some who didn't have signs used markers on their t-shirts to let their voice be heard. "Obama lies Grama Dies!"
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