SwiftVets.com

[Bob Chamberlain]

Tomorrow, Saturday, 9 October, Redneckvet and I will be working in downtown Raleigh to inform voters about John Kerry's record. We need volunteers to work with us.

Where: The Fayetteville Street Mall (north of there actually) near the museums (foot traffic), the State Capitol and the State Legislative Building.

When: Saturday, 9 October from 9:00AM to 4:00PM.

I have plenty of handouts and some hand carry signs. I can make more if needed. I have built a large Operation Street Corner sign into the back of my pickup, which will be parked at the site.

If you can make it, email me at:
rlchamberlains@earthlink.net

Y'all come now, hear?
_________________
Bob

Useful anti-Kerry campaign material at:
http://www.betrayed-vietnam-vet.info

[Bob Chamberlain]

I have been asked to clarify my plans.

Basically, the plan is to infom people about Kerry's record by personal contact in the areas around the Museum of Natural Sciences and the Museum of History in the center of the legislative area in the center of Raleigh. I have checked out this area and there is a decent amount of foot traffic on the weekends, and many of the people appear to come from areas outside of Raleigh proper.

There is a large parking lot on the east side of the museum block, where most people park to get to the museums. I have a parade permit from the City of Raleigh for the sidewalks around the museums and this parking lot. I am trying to get a permit for the sidewalk down the center of the museum block, but that must come from the State Capitol Police - not yet in hand.

I will park my pickup with a big 4'x6' Operation Streetcorner Billboard in the parking lot, wherever I can to have the best advantage. I will have flyers/handouts available at this "Command Center". I have picket signs and plan to walk the sidewalks around the museum site to pass out the handouts and "business cards" that state:

John Kerry is unfit to be President
Learn about John Kerry’s record at:
http://www.betrayed-vietnam-vet.info

My real goal is to get people to read and view the information that is available at my Website. This information - and the links to other sites - provides pretty solid documentation of the things we have all been saying about John Kerry. My feeling is that a high percentage of the people who are exposed to this information (which the main stream media should have been covering), will realize that John Kerry really is an unacceptable choice for President.

So that's it. My plan is to be on site in the parking lot between Jones and Edenton and east of Wilmington by 9:00AM. I plan to stay on site until at least 4:00PM. Redneckvet is going to be with me and my wife has agreed to stay at the "Command Center" while we are out walking. I would greatly appreciate any other volunteers who can make it. If anyone can make it, please let me know by email so I can make sure to have enough signs on hand. I plan to dress in office attire - slacks and shirt. No uniform remnants. Although the signs all have a big "Vietnam Veterans Against Kerry" slogan, I don't intend to make this any sort of "Dewey Canyon III" protest. Just a few middle-aged guys trying to get the truth out to the public. No confrontation.
_________________
Bob

Useful anti-Kerry campaign material at:
http://www.betrayed-vietnam-vet.info

[Bob Chamberlain]

All told, things went pretty well. Judging by the number of cards we handed out, I would say that the four of us (my wife, Redneckvet, USMCCommGod and myself) contacted about 250 "discussion units" during a roughly 5 hour period. We were located at a pair of museums in the center of Raleigh that fill an entire block, with a "mall" down the center of the block between the two museums. It turned out to be a slow day, I suspect because of the NCState/UNC football game. I had thought that the game would pull in people from outside the city - and I'm sure it did - but it doesn't look like very many football fans made a side trip to the museums. In any case, I used the term "discussion unit" because the majority of the people we spoke to were not alone and a majority had children with them - mostly young children. I woudl say that about half of the "units" had two voters in the group. So I would estimate that we spoke to maybe 350 voters. Was it worth the effort? Yes, definitely.

First of all, kudos to USMCCommGod (who left his wife alone for the afternoon with three young kids. I wonder what that is going to cost him?), to Redneckvet (who drove two hours or more just to get to Ralegh) and to my wife (who stayed up all night with me working on the sign, printing flyers and hasn't complained about how badly all of this No Kerry! stuff has broken our budget). Also my wife stoutly stayed at the CP by herself while the three of us men were out on the sidewalks, usually at least two together. My wife actually had the worse end of it in some resepects, even if she could sit down - oh my aching feet. She was by herself about 75% of the time vs. maybe 25% of the time for the guys.

Facts and advice:
I think the most effective "aid" that we had was the "business card". I had 1000 business cards printed up at Kinko's in black and white for $48. The card text reads:

John Kerry is unfit to be President
Learn about John Kerry’s record at:
http://www.betrayed-vietnam-vet.info

People will take a business card from you even if they aren't all that interested - and I did not find even a single card on the ground anywhere when we were done (one of the rules in Raleigh - run a police call before you leave to collect any trash you are responsible for)

Our typical approach line:

"Excuse me. Would you like some information about John Kerry?"

Of course we were holding big signs that said "Vietnam Veterans Against Kerry", so there wasn't much question about what kind of information we meant. About 90% of the people were willing to stop and talk. A majority of those (at least 4 to 1 if not 5 to 1) claimed they were already going to vote for President Bush.

But we didn't let it go at that. I suspect that many weaker Kerry supporters may have said they supported Bush just to avoid any argument. I always followed up with:

"Well, we appreciate that, but I would like for you to check out this website anyway (hand them a business card, and maybe a flier as well) because there is an awful lot about Kerry that the main stream media just isn't talking about. For instance, did you know..."

To back up a notch, the polls here in North Caroline put President Bush up by several points - anywhere from 5 to 9. But our unscientific sampling would put President Bush up by a margin of at least 4 to 1. So, either our sample was not representative (we had young and old; black, white and Hispanic; men and women; some college age; some WWII veterans; more families than singles), the polls are wrong or (as I suspect) the people we spoke to were not admitting to us the same intentions they are telling the telephone polling people.

This last point is where I think our activities may have had the greatest impact. If people are telling the polling organizations one thing, but telling an obviously anti-Kerry person something else, then their support for Kerry is weak - and maybe just a little bit of the personal touch is all they need to change their mind.

Most of the people who said they supported President Bush (literally 99% of them) said they had never heard of the main point I emphasized (Kerry's photo in the War Remnants Museum). And when I started talking about this photo, nearly everyone got interested. I had two (just two, but that is still a victory) Kerry supporters who initially tried to walk away, but were willing to listen for a moment, and when they heard about the photo really got interested. I won't claim I changed their votes (I never really pushed for that), but by their attitude, I could tell they were really thinking - maybe for the first time. And if you are willing to believe the polls, a lot of the "Bush" people we spoke to are really weak Kerry supporters. We gave them something to think about as well. I honestly feel our day's efforts made a difference.

But Guys and Gals, we've GOT to get more people out there on the street doing just what the four of us did. I truly believe the personal contact is worth a dozen TV ads. We've got how many thousands active in this forum. If each of us would get out every weekend between now and election day, we could personally contact at least a million voters. And if you consider the "ripple effect" of these people telling their friends and family about "what those guys down at the museum said", we could be affecting many more. Look, we only get one chance at this election. If we don't get it right on November 2, we could have to live with John F. Kerry for the next four years. God help us!! We have to get out from behind the keyboards and get out on our feet. It's a bit hard the first time you walk up to a stranger cold, but you get used to it. And being part of a 2 or 3 man "unit" helps. So plesae folks. Print up some busines cards, a handfull of flyers and a big sign. Don't forget a parade permit. Find yourself a good location and do what we did. We have got to get people talking about Kerry's record.

So what did we do exactly??

I mounted a big 4'x6' sign in the back of my pickup with all kinds of stuff about John kerry's record. We printed up flyers, signs and business cards. We parked the truck in a legal spot in the public lot near the museums and used it as a CP. I got a parade permit for the sidewalks around the museums. My wife stayed at the CP (and actually got a high pecentage of the people before they ever left the lot) and the three guys went out with signs on the sidewalks. We got the people who came from other directions or who did not exit the parking lot at the corner where the CP was set up. We talked to people. We handed out flyers. We tried to get people to go to the Website to read for themselves. I think we made a difference. You can too. I have made most everything we used available on the Website, and I will get the rest of it up ASAP. You don't have to create anything, just print it - and use it. Please give it a try.

Photos - sorry about the selection here. I failed to download all of our KerryLied Rally photos from Washington. I took some shots of the sign and the CP, and then when I started to take shots out on the sidewalks, the camera said "No More Memory". Oh, well. Next weekend.


The sign - basically the same on both sides. I'm going to improve the sign before next weekend. In both content and construction. It turned out that the plexiglas has a lot of "static cling". I had mounted the papers with just enough rubber cement to keep them from sliding around. But the plexiglas bows out maybe half an inch from the plywood in some places - and the "static cling" lifts the paper off the board. Still doesn't look bad - but I will make it look better for next time.


My better half and stalwart supporter.





Just another drug-crazed baby killer. Oh my aching feet!

The ice cream vendor was wearing a kilt, but there wasn't anybody who would say a word about it - his arms were the size of my thighs. He also gave free ice cream to any active duty military. Nice guy.
_________________
Bob

Useful anti-Kerry campaign material at:
http://www.betrayed-vietnam-vet.info

[depotoo]

I really commend you what you all did. It really means so much tath all of us get out there and let the world know.

Thank you all so much for all you have done.
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May God Bless us all and let truth reign.