I am writing today to announce the closure of the New Mexico Independent. After three and a half years of operation in New Mexico, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news…
While environmental activists played their part yesterday during demonstrations at the capitol building, going so far as to dress up as solar panels and to sing the tune of “You Are My Sunshine,” their counterparts, the anti-cap-and-trade contingency who has…
Roughly one quarter of University of New Mexico students are unimpressed with the state’s flagship public school, according to a survey that questioned college students about their higher education experiences.
Photo by Matthew Reichbach
The hundreds and perhaps thousands of people who were predicted to protest the credit card reform town hall by President Barack Obama never quite appeared. Instead, the crowd, at its peak, numbered around one hundred — and most of those were protesting Obama’s stance on abortion, not on spending.
One protester, who asked not to be named or identified, told me that “Obama is the worst thing to ever happen to America.”
Charlotte Salazar, organizer of the Albuquerque Tea Party, told protesters to show up at a.m. on the Albuquerque Tea Party Web site.
“I’m just here to say, ‘Practice what you preach,’” said Shirley Weldon to KOB-TV. “Our country needs guidance and I’m very concerned about our direction.”
Obama referenced the protesters during his speech at the town hall meeting in answering a question about health care reform.
I want everybody to be clear about this, because driving in I saw some folks who were saying, what are you going to do about debt, et cetera. Listen, by far the biggest contributor to our national debt and our annual deficit is the costs of Medicare and Medicaid — as well as the other entitlement, Social Security — defense, and interest on the national debt. That’s the lion’s share of the federal budget.
Obama said that by streamlining the “entitlement programs” of Medicare and Medicaid, money can be saved. And that by “emphasiz[ing] prevention and wellness programs” money can be saved on those who currently go to the emergency room.
Not all those gathered outside were against Obama today, however.
Others who were holding signs were there to show their support for Obama and some of his provisions. Kathy Chavez, the president of the Albuquerque Educational Assistance Association, was there to support educational funding in the stimulus package.
“We’ve been very concerned hearing that lawmakers have been saving the stimulus money, people putting it in the bank, because it’s only a two year occurrence,” she said. When asked if she was going to go inside the town hall, she told me she didn’t want to leave her people behind.
In a long line which snaked its way around the large Rio Rancho High School campus, Sharon Smith of Albuquerque said she was excited to see Obama.
“I’m glad to have a president that I am proud of after the last eight years,” she said. She was hoping to hear Obama speak about health care reform and “getting out of Iraq.”
The protesters were across the street from the high school, and those standing in line were behind the campus, out of sight and hearing distance from the protesters. But afterward, when attendees of the town hall began to exit, some tensions flared up.
Anti-abortion protesters had arrived (they were not there at 9:15 a.m. when I went inside the gym where the town hall meeting was being held), and were holding signs with pictures of aborted fetuses and signs that said “Abortion is Murder” and “Obama Lies and Babies Die.”
Some anti-Obama protesters chanted, “9/11 is not a joke!” and Obama supporters exiting the town hall countered with chants of “Obama!”
There was nothing out of hand, but the crowd was nowhere near the size of the April 15 tea party protests. In fact, the crowd was similar in size to a protest at a John McCain and Sarah Palin rally at the convention center in September.
