A HuffPost reader sent in pictures from President Obama's town hall Wednesday in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, which brought out a veritable rogue's gallery of hard-right activists and conspiracy theorists. Though Republican Party leaders have defended the town hall protesters as citizens concerned about health care, many of those who gathered outside the president's event seemed to have other things on their minds. Signs touted conspiracies about Obama's birth place, compared him to Hitler, suggested his election was a terrorist attack, and came close to threatening him with death.
Take a look:
"By adopting the birthers and the deathers, Republicans are becoming indistinguishable from the black helicopter crowd," said a Democratic political strategist. "They may be getting some sort of short term satisfaction about the result last election in venting through the angry fringe this way, but they are guaranteeing to turn off independents in the next one."
The Secret Service is investigating a man who authorities said held a sign reading "Death to Obama" outside a town hall meeting held by Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) in western Maryland. The sign also read, "Death to Michelle and her two stupid kids."
On Wednesday night, Rachel Maddow tracked the disturbing death threats emanating from these events.
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy