Shocking revelation: Colorado Springs conservatives hate healthcare reform

Congressman Doug Lamborn, a Republican representing Colorado Springs, has found the key to keeping town halls about healthcare relatively free of rancor and ideological clashes: Stage them in districts where most people, including the star of the show, are metaphysically opposed to reform, and then let attendees spend an hour...

By Michael Roberts

August 19, 2009

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Congressman Doug Lamborn, a Republican representing Colorado Springs, has found the key to keeping town halls about healthcare relatively free of rancor and ideological clashes: Stage them in districts where most people, including the star of the show, are metaphysically opposed to reform, and then let attendees spend an hour or so agreeing with each other. The account of the get-together in the Colorado Springs Gazette points out that only a "smattering" of pro-healthcare-legislation voters even bothered to show up, and they sat quietly while Lamborn allowed one speaker to call President Barack Obama a "pathological liar" without chiding him for uncivil behavior of the sort he'd asked folks to avoid. Later, Lamborn himself launched into the widely discredited "death panel" topic like the infinitely less telegenic sibling of Sarah Palin. As he did so, he was no doubt confident he wouldn't be challenged by an audience whose members couldn't have been more simpatico if they'd worn matching T-shirts depicting Obama as Hitler.

Of course, some of them were probably doing so in their hearts.

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Michael Roberts began his career with Westword in 1990 as music editor. In 1999, he took on a new role, full-time media reporter, as author of a column called The Message. In 2008, he became the lead writer for Westword's news blog, The Latest Word, a position he held until January 2023. Michael continues to freelance for Westword, covering everything from business to sports and the media; he also contributes to Jazziz, a national music magazine. He holds a bachelor's degree from what is now Colorado Mesa University and master's degrees from the University of California, Los Angeles, and Northwestern University.

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