Initial report on various activities associated with the Rally for the Republic (non-substantive)
Blog entry September 3rd 2008: Rally for the Republic part 1 (Sunday and half of Monday)
Just got home after spending the last 4 days of my life surrounded by the best, brightest and most unique group of politically active and aware people our country currently has to offer. My head is still humming, my brain still absorbing what happened - the experiences and feelings I had - and what it all means going forward. The following is not meant to be substantive - more like a diary entry so i dont forget things for later when i have more time to distill my thoughts into coherent thoughts.
The first day of activities for myself started with the rather mundane task of checking into my hotel and unpacking my stuff. I was happy to be there after seven or eight hrs in the car - and the prospect of meeting some people from BTM at the Pre-Party and having a cold beer (it was labor day weekend after all) had me in good spirits. The Pre-Party was not huge; rather, was rather small which made it better to talk and carry on conversations with people who just a few hours before, I had only known virtually. After meeting Shelly, Rick, Trevor and Kurt - and spending some time talking and just hanging out with a few others (teknotic comes to mind) i was once again convinced that virtual connections can never substitute for actual ones.
Highlights of party: Sat down to chat with Rick Williams about the rally and various topics and unbeknownst to me i was one of the first people interviewed on the alternative system that will soon be replacing the current mogulus based version. That new system looks great and is indeed a step up from the mogulus version. I know everyone who partakes in chat will really have their btm experience enhanced with solid connections and smooth performance. And for the hosts, it should be welcome news as well. Anything that makes their life easier will benefit us all as they can then focus entirely on content and not peripheral tech related matters.
In addition, I got to meet and speak with Glenn Greenwald and Jane Hamsher. Glenn is a personal favorite author of mine and a staunch supporter of civil liberties - i have his books and am delighted that he is an active force in the strangebedfellows effort. We both being lawyers, a good conversation about the destruction of the 4th amendment was nice motivation for the next day's anti-war rally.
Met Miss Teen MN and Miss MN while at the party. Had my picture taken with both along with others - an attempt was made (for woodman and bucfish and yourcarpenter and really anyone who enjoys beautiful woman) to have them interviewed live - but legalities got in the way (they had to get clearance from their agent). Also, while in the hotel lobby several busloads of RNC "pages" were coming in for training or whatever - and while they were queuing in the lobby I began speaking with them. Even talked one of them into being interviewed on BTM and conducted an impromptu interview/interrogation myself. It was a mission success as he volunteered on air that if he had to vote right then and there (literally) he would cast a vote for Dr Paul. The irony was not lost on the viewers that he was wearing a McCain for President button and was a RNC page as I made that emphatically clear. Further discussion off camera revealed that the McCain campaign hired a bunch of high school kids from various conservative districts to a free labor day weekend vacation to MN to be pages and sign wavers for the RNC. Contrived and thoroughly fake enthusiam is what you will see on the t.v. - because i am near certain that had the RNC not gone to such lengths to get people to attend, our rally would have shown them up considerably. Perhaps this was the motivation? We shall file that thought away for another day.
Dinner at the hotel was great as we had excellent conversation and liquid libations. An effort was made to recruit the waitress as a possible interview subject (she expressed interest) but I found out later it was a bust. C'est la vie. She was cute though, so that is always nice. Further reflection as I sit here typing confirms for me now that the people i was with at dinner are generally the type of people I consider as my friends here at home. Many jokes and laughs were had - much discussion about the upcoming speakers, the monday concert, music, life, philosophy, etc...
Monday: The campaign for liberty itinerary had a book signing, but I decided to go with my brother to the anti war rally in St Paul. (Note: there will be a longer discussion of the antiwar rally at a later date-this is just summary) There was a large crowd already assembled when she showed up 1.5 hrs before the official start of the march. Not as many Ron Paul people as I had hoped, and way more various forms of socialists and communists than one should ever have to bear in a day. They were sneaky too. I saw a "revolution" banner at one point, so i happily walked up to the middle aged lady holding the banner only to find out i was looking at only half the banner. The rest read "revolutionary communist party." It gets worse: The lady saw my brothers cubs hat and said she was from Chicago and wanted me to attend meetings at the Revolution bookstore in the city. As if Daley and Obama werent enough...
Generally, the march crowd was peaceful and the massive police presence was completely unnecessary and wasteful. All of the cops looked like darth vadar in their all black riot gear swat outfits and helmets, etc... It was 90 degrees, and i talked to a few, who confirmed to me that they would rather be at home having a BBQ with their families than sitting there watching college kids, old people, babies and unions along with various others exercising peacefully their 1st amendment rights. I was generally non-hostile until we got close to the Excel center where the RNC was being held. A bunch of alleged Republicans with McCain signs were lined up along the sidewalk (we were marching down the street) to boo us. I let into a few about them not voting for Ron Paul and called them fools - which was quite tame compared to what some of the more radical marchers were yelling at them. McCain signs were pro-war in nature, I believe the signs read "We can win the war on terror" or some such, which led to a loud discussion/argument about the impossibility of fighting and winning a 'war' against a concept. Some t.v. cameras caught that one and i had a large camera shoved in my face which made me uncomfortable - i didn't want to show Ron Paul people (i was wearing a legalize the constitution, Ron Paul 08 t-shirt) in a negative light so close to the RNC convention so I just walked away. My chance to besmirch the better nature of Ron Paulers came 5 minutes later, however, when i engaged in a spirited chant of "F**K Fox News - who were filming the march up above the street near the convention center. Some things just need to be done, regardless of how anybody else might interpret that behavior.
In contrast to the Obama/socialist sheep party that was the march, the Monday night concert was simply awesome. As soon as I walked into the Blaine Sports Arena (and walking in from the parking lot, more on that later as well) I felt instantly at home. There were thousands of us. This was my first real large Ron Paul event - i had missed the DC march - and I did not know what to expect. What I saw and experienced was very very uplifting. I met people from all over the country, listened to a lot of great music, fell in love with the musical stylings of Aimee Allen (she covered both Sublime and Bob Marley, what was a green team member to do?) and just really enjoyed the people watching and conversation. Creative minds lead to creative people - and the signs, flags, clothes, etc... of the attendees made for great eye candy. The weather was simply phenomenal which made it all the more enjoyable. The MC did a great job and was a very good speaker and candidate for Congress.
Not that this is a popularity contest, and I did not attend any of the RNC related events going on in the twin cities, but I can guarantee our people had way more fun. Everybody was so happy to be there. A few Ron Paulers from Ohio pointed out to me that they had never seen so many people smiling and just generally happy to be where they were at that moment in time. I noticed that too. In fact, my cheeks and jaw kinda still hurt from all the smiling i myself was doing. It was contagious. The good vibe was contagious. The feeling that our movement had strength, was growing, and was motivated was overwhelming. The drastic difference between the scene at the march and the scene at the Monday concert is still simmering in my head. It is almost surreal. I guess the only relevant comment to make at this point on it is simply that looking back on it - I think very little of the anti-war rally but cannot stop thinking about the experience I had at the concert.
(Cont'd later)
- windycityatty's blog
- Login or register to post comments
- 48 reads
****