The war over health care reform is being taken to the streets in Colorado today. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Colorado Reps Jared Polis and Diana DeGette, all Dems, are touring a medical clinic for the homeless in Denver today, and the folks who have been mobilizing anti-health care reform turnout at Congressional town hall meetings are mobilizing big time for this one, reports the Colorado Independent. Anti-reform rally participants are being bused around the state on a 13-city tour by the group Americans for Prosperity on what it is calling its “Patients First Bus Tour.”
The Denver Post’s Michael Riley warns that the controversy will yield “the political version of trench warfare: brutal, mud-filled and bloody.” Callers to Rep. Jared Polis, D-Colo., have accused him of promoting euthanasia, and Rep. Betsy Markey had 400 anti-reform protesters show up at her office last week, while pro-reform marchers staged a demonstration across the street.
It’s happening in Pelosi’s home state of California too, reports the San Francisco Chronicle. More than 500 people packed a Napa town hall this week hosted by Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena, some shouting down panelists by yelling “This is America!” and “What’s wrong with profit?” the paper also reports that three upcoming town halls on tap by Rep. Pete Stark, D-Fremont, one of the health care legislation co-authors, are the targets of one Tea Party group calling for a “counterprotest.”