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fastrock
Lt.Jg.
Joined: 03 Sep 2004
Posts: 122
Location: Union, KY
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 Posted: Sun Oct 31, 2004 3:56 pm Post subject: College paper reporter |
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This is reporter (student) from Kerry/Springsteen visit to OSU 10/28 Thursday. Good example of how Kerry's administration would operate, but that's another story. Writer states 30,000 attendance, he’s correct on remaining facts stated, but the South Oval can NOT hold 30,000. I was their Thursday nite in the month of the tiger. I”ve been to several 1/22 RTL marches in DC. The cattle pens at DNC conventions. Numerous rallies over the past 18 years – 30,000 is way off. The KerryLied Rally in September had a generally accepted number of 2-3,000. That’s what the numbers where that night. I wish I had my camera, but you never know where the thugs lurk.
The Student Republicans did disrupt his speech and threw “golden orator” off stride. BTW Coleman is the Dem mayor of Columbus, not well received even with Dems, he’s pushing a referendum to ban smoking in all public buildings, ie bars, clubs, stores, eateries – create an island of California.
| Quote: | | Don't know for sure, but I think I was the only Sentinel staffer in the crush of Kerry supporters last night. I know a few of you guys were among the Bush supporters who did an awesome job annoying the heck out of the Dems. I ended up about 50 yards away from John Kerry thanks to some aggressive crowd management techniques on my part. So what about the event? Well, it sort of sucked. I got there at 4:15, and finally, at about 5:30, the local Dems came on stage in quick succession. No one enjoyed these county commissioners and state reps, not even the hardcore Dems I was talking to. By about 6:15, these guys were done and people thought Kerry was on the way. After about five songs (some of which we had already heard once), the music and lights went out around 6:30. I figured this might be Kerry's unique WWF-esque way of entering the event, but it turned out to be an embarassing technical difficulty. For the next hour, there was no music or entertainment of any sort. A few times, people with bullhorns tried to come on stage, presumably to let the crowd know what was going on. It wasn't worth it. With what some claimed to be as many as 30,000 people clustered on the South Oval, the bullhorn technique didn't even come close to reaching my ears, and I was darn close to the stage. If I saw correctly, they also sent a sign language person out at one point...great idea. So for an hour, this huge crowd of people stood there and did nothing but complain. There were no updates from the Kerry people, like "John is on his way" or "The power is out." Nothing. Just a crowd of people, standing on top of each other, and whining. At last, around 7:15, things started back up again with the music back on. Then Michael Coleman came out, to a chorus of boos from a crowd of ardent Dems, and he was followed by John Glenn--kindly old man by day, compares Bush to Hitler by night. But last night all Glenn did was call Bush a flip-flopper. My favorite line, "John Kerry is a rock of Gibraltar compared to Bush." So are you saying John Kerry is a comparatively good flip-flopper? Anyways, John Glenn had the unenviable and akward task of introducing Bruce Springsteen, with a painfully corny script which worked in as many Springsteen song titles as possible. Finally, somewhere between 7:30-7:45, the Boss came on stage to great applause. He played two songs, and then introduced John Kerry a little before 8:00. At last, the moment was here. I think Kerry ran onto the stage, although I couldn't really see because, well, I'm short and there were a lot of "Boilermakers for Kerry" signs in my way. Eventually, the cheering calmed and the signs came down, and then I could see Kerry at last. His speech was nothing I hadn't heard before, except for a few cheesy "shoutouts" to Ohio and OSU specifically. Although I had spent four hours waiting for Kerry to show up, I just wanted him to finish so I could leave. The best part of his speech was his visible anger at the College Republicans for chanting "Four more years!" Kerry said something to the effect of, "I'm glad you're here, because we don't make people sign a loyalty oath to come to our rallies." Oh, come on, John! I remember you protesting the free speech zones at the DNC... Some time around 8:30, things ended, and the crowd emptied out en masse, although I think Springsteen might have been coming out for more. No one really wanted to stay any longer...standing for four hours straight was more than anyone needed. Assorted thoughts: 1. Until Kerry spoke, all of the other Dems had mentioned the war on terror and Iraq only a handful of times. The rest of the time was a big entitlement lovefest. And the Democrats aren't a 9/10 party? Stronger America my hindquarters! 2. There wasn't really quite as much super left quackery as I imagined. Maybe that's because Ohio is a relatively moderate state. 3. Worst Photoshop job ever: "The Boy King Must Go" bumper sticker I got. 4. Best old guy chant: Eric Fingerhut and his "I say 'FINGER,' you say 'HUT!'" 5. Not really much of a mention of abortion, gay marriage or any other moral issue. Must have been an accident... (10/29/2004 1:46:40 PM) |
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concernedgranny
Seaman
Joined: 17 Sep 2004
Posts: 162
Location: Ohio
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| Posted: Sun Oct 31, 2004 4:06 pm Post subject: |
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| You're right fastrock, the oval cannot hold 30,000 people at all. Also I had heard at the Bush/Cheney rally on Friday while standing in line that once Bruce was done, half the crowd had left. This was from a college kid that had went to see Bruce but is voting for Bush. No one that I could tell left Bush's rally and we had to stand in line for about 4 hours also. This kid also stated that Bruce wasn't worth watching as he didn't have his band, just his guitar and him. Said it was boring. |
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