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Indybay Feature

Face-Off at Demo in front of St. Francis: Obama in SF

by San Francisco Sites
Health care was the main topic of the day when the President came to San Francisco to attend a fundraising event for the Democratic National Convention. Single payer proponents overwhelmingly outnumbered public option fans. Ultra-conservative and confused, the right wing seems to have responded to a call to stand together, while various left wing seasoned San Francisco demonstrators showed up with little prompting. Besides health care, other themes at the demo were the war in Afghanistan, global warming warming, and (for the right-wingers) government control.





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Top Photo: *Actually On the Same Side* by R. Robertson.

A single payer activist held up a hastily made "Insurance Profits Make Us Sick" sign in front of a printed placard from the Billionaires for Wealthcare satire group. It reads "ObamaCare Will Kill Executive Profits".

People with views representing diametric opposite positions rubbed shoulders in the huge crowd outside the Westin St. Francis when President Obama spoke inside on October 15. It may have been hard to be heard in the crowd estimated to be over a thousand, but that didn't stop many people from staying for well over two hours.

The right wingers appeared to mostly come from outside the immediate Bay Area. They banded together to face the St. Francis en masse. Napa Valley Tea Party Patriots organized a caravan, others came from Pleasanton and even Carmel. They were identifiable by their identical unhappy "happy face" stickers, some also sporting on their lapels the location from which they came. Their cries included "No More Taxes" and "USA USA".

On the left, demonstrators rocked to the beat of the Brass Liberation Orchestra.
§Contrasting signs
by Obama Watcher
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Aging Hippie for Healthcare and Against the War stands near signs of the right wing claiming that "Obama is Judas"
§Right winger faces the St. Francis
by Obama Watcher
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"Patriot Mommy on the March"
Some of the Tea Party types brought small children into the raucous crowd.
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... a simple solution...Just BUY a Congressman like the wealthy do!
§Behind Billionair-ess...
by Obama Watcher
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...the omnipresent 9/11 Truth searchers
§Single Payer Cap
by Obama Watcher
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Guy in cap "got it" right away, the street actresses here are really strong supporters of single payer!
§Standing near the flag-waving Tea Party
by Obama Watcher
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Man with fangs apes the wealthy who control the nation's health care system
§Billionaires with satirical messages...
by Obama Watcher
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...stand side by side with tea baggers to wave placards towards the hotel as Obama is about to appear
§Both from the Left
by Obama Watcher
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Charming young "billionaire" and elderly Veteran for Peace
§An Obama fan kisses the hand of a billionaire
by Obama Watcher
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§Woman on left fears too much government...
by Obama Watcher
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...does she fear incarceration? The shape of her sign would seem to say so.
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They seem to display a certain anxiety level about what they term "creeping socialism".
§Anti-war and VERY specific
by Obama Watcher
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There was a large anti-war contingent at the demo.
§A doctor for Single Payer takes it all in
by Obama Watcher
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