7,000.
That was one security attendant's estimate of the number of people present for today's McCain-Palin rally at Lehigh's Stabler Arena. It was 10 AM.
When I left at noon, the estimate was more like 17,000 for a rally in a building that only holds about 7,000.
I positioned myself among the largest group of protesters, about 18 Obama and Nader supporters, who had positioned themselves right across what they called the "sidewalk to nowhere," along with McCain supporters walked on their way into the building.
I'll tell you about those interesting exchanges tomorrow.
Today's one-liner: "The shortest way to the distinguishing excellence of any writer is through his hostile critics." Richard LeGallienne
Local Government TV
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Wednesday, October 08, 2008
30 comments:
You own views are appreciated, especially if they differ from mine. But remember, commenting is a privilege, not a right. I will delete personal attacks or off-topic remarks at my discretion. Comments that play into the tribalism that has consumed this nation will be declined. So will comments alleging voter fraud unless backed up by concrete evidence. If you attack someone personally, I expect you to identify yourself. I will delete criticisms of my comment policy, vulgarities, cut-and-paste jobs from other sources and any suggestion of violence towards anyone. I will also delete sweeping generalizations about mainstream parties or ideologies, i.e. identity politics. My decisions on these matters are made on a case by case basis, and may be affected by my mood that day, my access to the blog at the time the comment was made or other information that isn’t readily apparent.
I see Ms McCain went to new lows about troop funding. Fact Check tells it all. So why did McCain encourage Pres. Bush to veto a troop funding bill and then applauded him for doing so?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/the_truth_on_troop_support.html
Bernie...
ReplyDelete"sidewalk to nowhere" could be one of your best lines EVER !
LOL
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0522-01.htm
ReplyDeleteMaybe someone should have asked McCain abot this missing $1,000,000,000,000 from the early 90s--it would have been known as the PEACE DIVIDEND.
The Pentagon lost it--surprise, surprise--$10,000,000 hammers, no doubt and McCain was there.
Why did commander-in-chief wannabe Barry state that US armed forces were, "air-raiding innocent civilians"?
ReplyDeleteTwenty months have gone by and not a single news source, left or right, has been able to verify his vicious charge. Twenty months and he's not been challenged. And this amateur wants to command armed forces? He needs to own his statement and apologize for slandering the troops he thinks he's qualified to lead. God help us.
I think I'll make like a typical Pennsylvanian (as seen from a left wing TV studio in San Francisco) and go cling to my guns and religion.
McCain is an idiot, but Obama is a dangerous rank amateur from a filthy political culture that rewards lying and scheming - and slandering troops.
I heard on MSNBC today from Chris Matthews that people started to leave after seeing palin and while McCain was still speaking.. That is sad if true. Time to hang up the spikes old boy! The fat lady is singing!
ReplyDeleteBernie,
ReplyDeleteHow many non-local people did you see? I heard there were many New York and New Jersey license plates in the parking lot.
BethDem, You are right. I was struck by that myself. NJ is just a hop away, but so many NY plates are a bit odd.
ReplyDeleteI am wondering why FOX NEWS Philly reported only 6,000 in attendance?
ReplyDeleteAre you suggesting there were 11,000 protestors?
Ah I know, the liberal media strikes again.
It was Shameful that McCain supporters chanted terrorist when Lehigh County GOP Chairman Platt referred to Barack’s middle name. What a dark cloud this has cast on the entire Valley.
I guess McCain camp learned a lesson from the character assignation from the Bush camp.
What can I say….more of the same.
God Help Us.....YES!!! As a lifelong Pennsylvanian I will cling to my religion and I will proudly vote for Obama on Nov 4.
ReplyDeleteThe WSJ has McCain doing a gaffe
ReplyDelete"My fellow prisoners" this afternoon in Bethlehem. Was there any barbed wire outside?
"Was there any barbed wire outside?"
ReplyDeleteJust around me.
Yes indeed, you are right people did begin leaving. The reason being that this evening began Yom Kippur and our friends who observe Hebrew law had to be home by sundown. If you lived more than 15 miles away, that could be a problem if you sat in the post rally traffic. I had several inquiries about the ending time of the rally for just that reason when they called for tickets and I made that suggestion to them to just leave a bit early to get home in time.
ReplyDeleteDottie, Thanks for the ticket. I had so much fun outside I ended up staying there while a friend went inside and took pics. I'll have more tomorrow.
ReplyDelete"I heard there were many New York and New Jersey license plates in the parking lot"
ReplyDeleteThat is odd. You usually don't see that around here until the Democrat "get out the vote" effort on Election Day.
Anon 5:15 -- the difference between the votes on troop funding is that Obama and other Democrats were told by many military experts, including Brent Scowcroft, who opposed the Iraq War, that setting for a timeline while troops are still in theater puts troops at unnecessary risk. Withdrawals are always based on specific actions, not deadlines. They voted for it anyway to check off their list of campaign promises, troops' safety be damned.
That kind of stunt is a luxury afforded a Senator, but not a Commander in Chief.
Anon 7:41,
ReplyDeleteFox got it wrong. It was a large crwd, closer to 17,000 than to 7,000. As one of the attendants explained, "We don't get this many people for a football game." I arrived at 10 AM and watched people filing in for two hours straight.
I suspect Michael Morrill is the man behind sidewalk to no where.
ReplyDeleteI could be wrong.
I would have made a "Sportsmen AGAINST Palin" but well thats more money than I need to spend these days.
Sensorship through Inflation.
"Anon 7:41,
ReplyDeleteFox got it wrong. It was a large crwd, closer to 17,000 than to 7,000. As one of the attendants explained, "We don't get this many people for a football game." I arrived at 10 AM and watched people filing in for two hours straight."
Whhaaaaaaaa? Fox got facts wrong????
Nooooo!
You biased Liberal!
In response to all of the NoBama supporters......
ReplyDeleteThe Rally was great! I was enthused by the support that the Lehigh Valley has for this MAN!!! I believe that many of the Left Wing Liberals see the Man that has been broken down by the difficulties he went through as a prisoner of war.
This society is so caught up on appearances and political correctness that they don't see what is front of their face.
Obama is nothing more than a talking machine for his, or someone else's agenda! (57 states)
WAKE UP PEOPLE!!!!! HE WILL DESTROY THIS COUNTRY!!!!
SOCIALISM IS NOT THE WAY....that is what he is trying to do to us.
That is what is coming if he gets into office.
I want you all to think about how you felt when O.J. was found NOT GUILTY!!!
If Obama gets elected...I will feel the same way.....November 5th.....20 times worse....HOW WILL YOU FEEL??????
Bernie .... was Cyndy McCain as hot in person as on tv?
ReplyDeleteBO,
ReplyDeleteChannel 69 news reported 6,000.
Politico reported 8,500 tickets were handed out.
MSNBC reported 7,500.
The arena physically has seating for 6000 with room for several hundred on the floor.
Where were the other 10,000?
BTW, Obama rallied 20,000 today in Indiana while Biden rallied 4,000 in a capacity filled gym in Florida.
I sure hope votes cast follow a similiar trend.
Actually, the arena has a capacity of 7,300. Now I never physically counted the people, but I watched people filing in for two hours straight. I spoke to attendants who estimated the crowd at 17,000, bigger than a Lehigh football game.
ReplyDeleteNow my 17,000 figure might be off, but there were clearly much more people than the reports you are getting from the MSM.
Anon 9:29.
ReplyDeleteWith all due respect, this is the same scare tactics we heard in 2000 and 2004. They were partially right then. The problem then was that they were talking about the wrong candidate.
The only way things can get worse is following the same failed policies and philosophy of the last 8 years.
- Enron
- The greatest financial crisis since the Great Depression.
- 2.2 million jobs lost in the last eight years.
- National debt increased by $4.3 trillion
On and on and on.
Enron is a Bush issue?
ReplyDeleteThe actual financial irregularities of the Enron Scandal occurred in 1997-2000,they were only DISCOVERED in 2001. Please explain, what were the failed policies of the Clinton Administration that led to it?
Anon 11:05,
ReplyDeleteEnron may be a little unfair. It was an intrinsic problem lead by internal incentives and external pressures. I was like a gambler who kept gambling to get out of debt.
However, one could argue that it was energy deregulations that lead to rolling blackout and price fixing in the California markets.
One could argue that deregulation on Wall Street lead in part to this financial mess.
We cannot protect consumers from their own stupidity, however, the fundamental philosophy that consumer protection is bad for America is flawed, IMO.
Bernie,
ReplyDeleteAs a graduate of Lehigh, most students are from NY & NJ. Which was always fun back in the Joe Piscopo days on SNL when he would do the skit, "I'm from Jersey. Are you from Jersey. What exit?"
People I knew from Jersey would actually answer the question. Like, "25b on the Parkway."
These cars are probably from students. I would expect family may have driven in as well.
I'm voting for Obama because I just don't care any longer.
ReplyDeleteI want to see it all come falling down like the broken columns of an ancient temple that once stood tall and proud.
I hope Obama's the man to do it.
1.4 million abortions per year and Barry wants to make sure abortion survivors are quickly killed in the abortion room before any baby cultist tries to save their lives.
ReplyDeleteIt's the kind of change Germany got in the 30s.
I'm voting for Obama because I think we should also get rid of the elderly and disabled by sending them off on ice floes. It's the patriotic thing to do. Obama has a solid grip on whom should live in this country. If you're unwanted, yerouttahere! It's called choice. Choose humans carefully. Choose Obama.
Anonymous 12:05PM
ReplyDeleteIt is your rhetoric, somehow Republicans stage their rallys and are now insited mobs, that creates the likes of a stringent non-negotiating Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi who claim they want bipartisinship but really don't. We are on the verge of another New Deal that will take this nation into a very unpleasant world. It was FDRs massive bureaucracy that caused and deepened the Depression.Given the fact that we now know that when the US sneezes the rest of the world catches a cold, it would serve it well if we maintained our liberties. I believe that many in America have arrived at the point where we are willing to trade our freedoms for security and will end up with neither
As to the conservative icons that we listen to, let me ask a question, if they are so bad and so off base please tell me why the Progressives have attempted many times over the years to mimic them and are unsuccessful at it? They are so unsuccessful that they must go back to the FAIRNESS doctrine and enact it. Let me assure you that will bring across this land a chill unlike anything that you can imagine and we will be back to the days of listening to music on AM radio. No owner of radio will play the FAIRNESS doctrine game or "equal and balanced time" a truly fascist belief.
Mr. O'Hare,
ReplyDeleteYou certainly have read the various plans offered by both candidates, in their own words. Do you believe that Sen. Obama is a socialist? And by socialist, I mean in the truest sense of the word, not in that he may advocate more government regulation or intervention in a few areas. Many European countries have social democracies, which are a far cry from the socialism in Marxist theory of the last century, which envisioned this phase as a transitional stage into communism.
Sen. McCain supporters seem to be throwing this accusation about Sen. Obama out there a lot since the VP debates. I'm curious about your take on it.
By no means do I consider Obama a socialist. He obviously believes in more government intervention than most conservatives would like, but that does not make him a socialist in the Marxist sense.
ReplyDelete