|
.jpg)
Recent Posts by Rich GardnerRecent Similar Articlespresidential campaign: |
Governor Palin arrives in Philly
by
Rich Gardner | 10.12.2008
Governor Sarah Palin visits Philly, much to her dismay!  Hi everyone,
First of all, please don't miss the picture below.
I went to the Obama rally in our community (Northwest Philadelphia) yesterday. I can't tell you how many thousand people were there, but we had to stand in line for three hours before we got in the gates. Everyone had to go through a metal detector and that took some time. I was supposed to be a volunteer, but there were so many of them that by the time they reached me they didn't need any more. And we were there at 7:00 am !
Obama was exciting to see, but we were his third rally that morning, and by the time he got to us he was visibly running out of steam. But boy did the crowd go crazy. Governor Rendell, Senator Casey, Rep. Chaka Fatah, former Rep. Bill Grey and a few other locals spoke briefly and urged us to go out and vote (like they really needed to in Northwest Philly). They also assured the crowd that no one would be arrested for outstanding warrants, etc. if they voted.
The local office where I have been working broke a record by registering 1,000 new voters. Now I'm torn about working at the polls where I have registered voters for the past five years or being at the Obama campaign office (guess which one won out?).
Mary --------------------- Here's my followup on Mary Hathaway's report of the Obama rally & speech in Vernon Park, Philly, yesterday around noon. I won't add much to it. The crowd was very enthusiastic, some really great people to have conversations with. I didn't get the feeling that Sen Obama was worn out. He gave a great speech, drew a lot of applause and cheers--especially when he slammed Welfare for the Super-Rich--and called for a quick end to the Iraq War. I thought it was the most liberal speech I'd ever heard him deliver, with a lot of substance (but only a thick-headed politician would talk like a NeoCon to Northwest Philly and expect to get applause). A few of the adjunct speakers didn't get much of it, or somewhat lukewarm claps. Casey got some but he was booed by several persons standing nearby.
A friend, Alice, who also works at our HQ, got to shake his hand afterward--but I left as soon as Sen Obama's speech was over (thankfully it was to the point & brief!) and people started departing. Sarah "hockey mom" Palin was in town yesterday to send out the first puck in the Flyers opening game. I wanted to get to a pre-planned Anti-Palin demo downtown, and the bus & train schedules on Saturdays are, at best, infrequent. As it turned out, the bus I needed had been re-routed THREE BLOCKS all around the park because of the massive crowd, 10 blocks long in a wrap-around, and after a long walk it was still about an hour late.
Although I left with what looked like 2 hours to spare, because of delayed public transit I was a half hour late when I got downtown, had to grab some lunch, got some bad directions from the SEPTA help desk on how to get to Broad Street South, ended up climbing up & down stairs (a killer), taking two subways, and walking over 6 blocks--worn out by the time I got there at 4 PM, an hour late!
BUT WHAT A CROWD! Far, far larger than I'd expected, and what an exciting demo! Sign wavers were facing both directions all along the median strip on Broad Street between Walnut & Locust, lined up 6 or 8 deep on the sidewalk on the hotel side of the street, with a lot of others on the far sidewalk, too. The car-honks were so loud we could hardly talk, especially since everyone cheered the loudest ones. I was very impressed to see that the turnout for this rally was largely youth, with a few old fuds like me waving our signs, yelling, trying to be youthful, and having a lot of fun. The Obama rally was very mixed agewise. Lots of elders, lots of babies and kids, many middle-aged, many young parents. But this one, more raucous, seemed to be largely college students and those recently out of school and TRYING to find decent jobs.
We could get quite close to the front door Palin's lair, a vantage from which we were able to boo and cuss the well dressed fatcats who pulled up in their stretch limos and taxis. Some of the signs were great--and a few bore off-color variants of "hockey puck"! (Like "Puck Falin.") Palin didn't come out, and didn't come out--so we were there a lot longer than anticipated. I was hungry, exhausted. Finally, I decided not to wait for her, and she was probably sent out by a side door anyhow. After ANOTHER long walk underground finally got to Suburban Station and a train that, gloriously, came along only 20 minutes afterward.
What a day. I slept without dreaming all night, but my legs and back are still sore. It was worth it! Especially after I learned this morning that Palin was booed and hissed by the Flyers fans, and that she jinxed the Flyers. They lost. The idiots in the management office shoulda known better.
PS: Don't miss the "movie poster" below--if you can see it. Grr. There's no URL, so those of you in Yahoo groups can't see it.
Sandy Fulton
|
|
© 1999–2008 Philadelphia Independent Media Center |
|
Unless otherwise stated by the author, all content is free for non-commercial reuse, reprint, and rebroadcast, on the net and elsewhere. Opinions are those of the contributors and are not necessarily endorsed by PhillyIMC.
|
Comentarios
Enviar un comentario nuevo