Shot In The Dark: Kerry Visit

October 22, 2004

Kerry Visit

I didn't go to the Kerry rally yesterday - although I did drive past the Kerry headquarters on Wednesday, and thought briefly about grabbing a ticket. Work called, though.

Naturally, ">Nick Coleman went. Oh, his column is about someone named Mr. Fun, which given Coleman's predilections would have to be a juggler in a hairshirt.

But he did say something interesting.

Coleman:

Thursday night's rally produced a nice campaign turnout, but it also was proof we have reached campaign burnout: Thousands of Kerry supporters left before their man finished talking, scramming like Twins fans in the sixth inning of a blowout, going home glad to have seen their champion but feeling no need for another inning of stale lines about how Bush should've killed Osama in Tora Bora.

It was exactly as dull as a George W. Bush sound-bite festival, where the crowds stay polite and applaud each chestnut wearily, like you laugh when your kid tells you the same old knock-knock joke for the 100th time.

Wow. I've been to two Bush rallies; the crowd at each was just this side of frenzied; at the one I MC'ed, I checked for walkouts - there were almost none. I'm not a big professional journalist who knows "Stuff" like Nick Coleman, but the walkouts at the rally in Blaine numbered in the dozens, not "thousands", if you believe Nick Coleman (and I fully admit it is disingenuous of me to start now).

Still, I like the sound of that.

Posted by Mitch at October 22, 2004 05:32 AM | TrackBack

Comments

They are "frenzied" at Bush rallys because you have to sign a allegience pledge to Bush and they arrest you even if you are wearing a T-shirt that even comes close to looking like you don't like Bush.

Posted by: steve talbert at October 22, 2004 09:08 AM

And if you don't buy the party line, they hurry you off to a secret cave where Karl Rove will brainwash you into compliance. I heard this from a friend of a friend, so it's got to be true.

Posted by: Mary at October 22, 2004 09:58 AM

Steve,

Where do you get this once-processed bull feed?

There is/was no loyalty oath to attend a Bush rally. I know I went to the rally at Excel Center and there was no such thing.

Loren

Posted by: Loren at October 22, 2004 10:03 AM

I heard that reporters that interview Laura Bush, wake up the next morning in a hotel room. In a bathtub full of ice with a note taped to their chest!

Posted by: billhedrick at October 22, 2004 10:59 AM

Steve T: I've been to two Bush rallies. No loyalty oaths whatsoever. And I saw a variety of Democrat T-shirts at the Excel Center rally. Not MANY, of course, but several. Check your sources, bigfella.

Posted by: mitch at October 22, 2004 11:19 AM

> because you have to sign a allegience pledge to Bush and they arrest you even if you are wearing a T-shirt that even comes close to looking like you don't like Bush.

Wow, that certainly would make me want to jump up and down like a Golden Gopher.

Who said the Dems with their provisional voting and ten thousand lawyers strategy had all the good organizational ideas?

Posted by: Bob Kunz at October 22, 2004 11:33 AM

I think he means this loyalty oath:
"The three who attended the Bush rally in Central Point signed the requisite loyalty oath and agreed to remain silent during the speech and were admitted. But a volunteer wrongly entrusted to show good sense second-guessed earlier (and smarter) security forces and had them escorted off. Why? The three were wearing T-shirts that read, 'Protect our civil liberties.'"

Posted by: enzo at October 22, 2004 03:21 PM

Article link didn't go through -- sorry.
http://www.gazettetimes.com/articles/2004/10/22/news/opinion/1rsraz1022.txt

Posted by: enzo at October 22, 2004 03:22 PM

From the article:

"To paraphrase Freud: Sometimes, a stupid move is just a stupid move. Not everything is a political conspiracy."

And again - I've never seen a loyalty oath. But insinuating that they're de regeur at bush rallies is more or less like saying trashing a GOP office is an initiation rite for Democrat volunteers.

Posted by: mitch at October 23, 2004 08:54 AM