Contrary to rumors that every Tea Partier and and Glenn Beck devotee in a 500-mile radius would converge on a small medical clinic for the homeless in downtown Denver today for a rare chance to yell at Nancy Pelosi herself, things didn't turn out quite the way protest organizers in D.C. expected.

Per discussion at Colorado Pols about the off-putting rhetoric in use by these protesters, although reduced in numbers they didn't disappoint (right). I'm pretty sure "arsenic for seniors" means they would die, but who thinks of arsenic at the first choice for poison anymore? It's all about ricin in the 21st century, Fox News did its number on this one some time ago--I digress.



As you can see the ubiquitous "dead fetus guy" made his inevitable appearance (offensive material blacked), and this time he had a friend: "put term limits on politicians not seniors." Separated they kind of are what they are, but together they have this whole new kick-ass message: "Obama kills babies and seniors." Noted!



This bashful fortysomething (in pink, ducking behind innocent senior citizen) definitely gets the irony award for her sign, "is Botox covered under commie care?" OTOH, maybe she just wanted to know? Answer: it's probably not, but I don't think my health insurance covers Botox either.

There were some other signs that most well-adjusted people would characterize as over the top, and the right-wingers present were mostly pretty agitated and looking to yell. And for a good while, yell they did. To that extent, these protesters lived up to the image they're quickly building for themselves.

But it was different, too--they couldn't disrupt the press conference inside the building, so their primary measure of success was never obtainable. And over time friendly "Health Care Now" signs began to fill in the crowd. Eventually the pro-reform crowds at least equaled the Tea Party/912ers. That to me is significant since, as every progressive in Colorado knows after turning this state from red to blue, it's a lot more fun to be on the offensive.

The growing problem for the Tea Party/912/"Anything Obama proposes is EVIL!" crowd is that their extreme rhetoric didn't make sense to Americans over the stimulus, or clean energy, and it makes even less sense on an issue like health care. Yes, there probably is a percentage of Americans who hear "public option" and immediately think "Soylent Green," but that's why they're on the fringe.