“Impeach Obama” protesters are being blamed for causing a traffic jam on a perpetually jammed Southern California freeway this weekend.
An overpass along Interstate 5 in Carlsbad was the site of a small tea party demonstration Saturday, for which one tea party organizer has been forced to apologize. Local media claim the protest backed up traffic for 10 miles, though video shows traffic moving normally in both north and south directions.
The 5 is the third most heavily trafficked freeway in the United States according to the federal Department of Transportation, with the stretch of the freeway in Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego Counties being the most crowded section.
Saturday’s protest, which was billed as the nation’s first “impeach Obama” event since a rash of Obama administration scandals broke last month,reportedly contributed to a ten-mile traffic jam stretching from the overpass back to the Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Base.
The protesters, some of who were tea partiers, cited the Benghazi cover-up, the NSA’s spying on private citizens and the IRS’ targeting of conservative groups among the reasons for their peaceful protest.
An organizer of the protest apologized for “any small inconvenience” his protest may have caused, but noted that Obama has caused a good deal of inconvenience for the country.
“But it is also inconvenient to the entire nation to have a lawless president in office who murders American citizens without judicial process; wages illegal war without congressional approval required by the Constitution, including a terroristic drone war, which has killed about 5,000 people including many children and innocent bystanders in allied countries; dictates law by executive order and generally trashes the Constitution. It is not even clear that he is eligible for the office he holds,” said tea party organizer Roger Ogden.
Protesters held signs urging the impeachment of the president and asserting that Obama is actually a cult leader. One sign suggested waterboarding the president to “find out what he knows.”
An “Impeach Obama” march is also planned in Washington, D.C. for June 14, or Flag Day, on the steps of Capitol Hill. The Facebook page for the planned protest has been liked more than 1,500 times.
