Meeting the People Vol 28

From the heart of liberal-land, Sonoma County, CA:

Just outside the entrance to the Petaluma Veterans Memorial Hall was an older, bearded guy carrying a sign that read, "Love one another."

If he was trying to get a message across, it appeared to be lost on the crowd--estimated to be over 1,000--inside the hall where people screamed, jeered, cheered and spoke passionately about the highly contested issue of health care.

The main hall, an overflow room and a lobby were packed to the rafters with people carrying signs. Security and police officers were peppered through-out the crowd.

Marin and Sonoma Representative Lynn Woolsey bowing to pressure by constituents, both for and against the proposed health care reform bill, finally scheduled a long awaited town hall meeting on Monday evening.

The two hours set aside weren't nearly enough time to hear everyone who wanted to speak their mind.

But many did get a chance to have their voices heard.

(click photos to enlarge, more at bottom of story)

Inside there appeared to be as many supporters of the government plan as opponents and when Woolsey took the stage, the cheers were as loud as the jeers.

As Woolsey gave her opening remarks about the plan, she was frequently interrupted by laughs and boos from about half the crowd.

"I believe the best way to provide high quality health care is through a single payer system," said Woolsey.

That pronouncement was rewarded with a chorus of shouts including "No more lies!" One woman shouted "What crap!"

Woolsey went on to say that a public plan "would bring down the cost of care" and that was greeted with nearly deafening booing.

Having spent a fair amount of time in Sonoma County where my daughter is in college, this kind of opposition to a liberal political idea is pretty amazing. You can't swing a dead cat without hitting a Prius with an Obama sticker on it. And the fact they keep sending a near-communist like Woolsey back to Congress tells you how far left that area is.