June 30, 2012 01:38 AM UTC

"Hands Off My Health Care!" The Revolution Begins

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• by: Colorado Pols

Independence Institute President Jon Caldara speaks to 100-150 anti-health care reform protesters in Denver, Colorado. Anonymous photo

Eli Stokols of FOX 31 estimates about 100-150 protesters turned out today at the Colorado Capitol for the “Hands Off My Health Care” rally, sponsored by Americans for Prosperity in opposition to the Supreme Court’s decision yesterday upholding the Affordable Care Act–kind of a paltry turnout. But the story of even that small crowd begins earlier:

AFP protesters board a chartered bus in Loveland, Colorado, 6/29/2012. Anonymous photo

UDPATE: Another reader sends this photo of one of Americans for Prosperity’s chartered buses, perhaps the same one pictured above, on the east side of the Capitol today:

Anonymous photo

And here’s video of Americans for Prosperity protesters loading onto that bus after the rally:

Earlier in the day, Americans for Prosperity reportedly arranged chartered buses to pick up supporters in other areas of the state–the photo above is from Loveland–and drive them to Denver for today’s protest. It was a significant logistical effort to turn out only 100-150 people, a much smaller crowd than other “Tea Party” protests at the Capitol in recent years.

“End Medical Licensing”–a sign from today’s “Hands Off My Health Care” rally in Denver

“Obamacare Death Panel Mentors”–from today’s “Hands Off My Health Care” rally

But as you can see, the usual charm from the “Tea Party” set prevailed today, based on these photos of signage from the rally. “Obamacare Death Panel Mentors,” complete with Lenin, Stalin, Mao, and Obama, leaves little to the imagination. We’re a bit confused about the first sign, though. “End Medicare?” “End Medical Licensing?” That’s a bit more “free market” than we expected. We kind of doubt a majority of Americans are going to buy in to that idea.

So maybe we’ve got this all wrong, and these 100 bussed-in protesters are just the beginning!

But if the intent was to show spontaneous outrage from America’s “silent majority” over the Supreme Court’s decision yesterday to uphold Obamacare, it sure looks like a failure. They couldn’t even get the crowd they got on bad weather days in 2009.

In which case, so much for the “revolution.”