Impeach Obama Movement Draws Scorn, Support in Safety Harbor

One day after the city of Safety Harbor welcomed its new mayor to office, a political protest hit town that had little to do with local government.

Chris Sare and Kevin Pearl, members of the LaRouch PAC, are in the middle of a tour of southern states aimed at drawing attention to what they consider President Obama's unconstitutional practices in hopes of getting the newly rel-elected leader impeached.

The pair set a table outside of the Safety Harbor Post Office on Main Street Tuesday afternoon, where they were greeted with a mixture of support and ridicule.

"I drove here as part of an organized campaign to impeach Obama," Sare, who lives in New Jersey, said. "We're part of the LaRouch PAC, which is a bipartisan fight to impeach the president."

According to Sare the organization has roughly 400 members, and they are currently blanketing the country, setting up about 50 tables a day in hopes of drawing support to their movement.

While some people stopped and signed the petitions or donated money to their cause, other residents were not nearly as welcoming.

"They can do it, it's their First Amendment rights, but I don't want them in my town," Bobby Saltzman, who got into a shouting match with Sare, said. "Not in my backyard."

Others were happy to show their support for the movement.

"Where do I sign up?" Safety Harbor resident Michael Hassett asked. "This is like a breath of sunshine out here today."

Hassett said he was a longtime Democrat who voted for Obama in the first election.

But his own research, the LaRouch organization and continued displeasure with Obama's policies began to change his political viewpoints, to the point where he is now a registered Republican.

"I spent 15 years looking into this stuff," he said, "and when you learn your party is doing the same things your opponents are, it's a slow awakening."

Hassett's support drew the ire of one passer-by, who got into an extended shouting match with the 38-year-old right in front of the post office.

"I'm a Nazi fascist clown?" he shouted back at the man. "Welcome to America. Because this is America, you have the right to call me that here."

The incident occurred shortly after a Pinellas County Sheriffs deputy showed up after receiving a complaint about a disturbance.

After checking Sare's identification and telling Saltzman to quiet down, Deputy Mata left the group alone.

"We received a complaint and I checked it out with code enforcement and everything they're doing is according to code," the deputy said. "As far as I'm concerned, they're okay."

Sale and Pearl, who lives in Baltimore, planned to remain at the location for the rest of the day and stay with fellow supporters in town overnight before heading to their next stop somewhere in Florida tomorrow.

When asked if they had encountered anything similar to what happened in Safety Harbor at any of the other dozen or so stops they've made, Pearl said not even close.

"This is definitely the liveliest it's been. We thought this was a sleepy town."

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