Lady Laura and the Lackeys
Well it’s true, I survived a Republican pep rally. Although I wasn’t one of the fortunate few to walk away with an autographed photo of Barney, or Miss Beazley, I did manage to come away with a bad taste in my mouth (and it wasn’t from the coffee earlier). I guess without getting too carried away, I’ll let you folks know what actually happened.
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I picked up a progressive pal (I’ll call her Karen for the sake of anonymity) at around 8:30 on Saturday morning and we headed over. At the door, we were ushered into a long line where they checked our names against a list of approved ticket holders. Even though Karen braved the Kuhl Campaign office and got us tickets, she was somehow not on their list… the first of many blunders. Fortunately they just wrote our names down and let us in (they didn’t even bother copying our contact info… HELLO, that’s breaking rule #1 if you’re trying to get more volunteers and donors). We were shepherded into a gymnasium for what promised to be an exciting event.
The first thing we noticed upon arriving at our spot in the crowd for the next two hours was the lack of chairs. I don’t mean we missed the chance to sit in the front, I mean there were NO CHAIRS. There was a poor old man right in front of me who must have been in his upper 80’s. Karen asked an organizer if he could have a chair, but she was told that nobody was allowed to sit down. He was all hunched over and wobbly, standing there for 2 hours. To be perfectly frank, I cannot even fathom why they wouldn’t have any chairs available when about 35% of the attendees were fairly elderly. I’d have to assume they wanted to make the gym look fuller than it was (probably about 150 people total I’d guess), even if it comes at the cost of their constituents health and safety… that’s just plain inconsiderate. So just for the record, the Reynolds and Kuhl campaign required that an old man stand for over two hours because it makes them look better on camera.
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And so we stood and waited… people watching and eavesdropping. Nobody mentioned how Reynolds protected Foley, or how he exploited their children in that shameless press conference. Nothing about how tasteless it is that Randy Kuhl is running an ad with a sniper scope on senior citizens. No remarks about Jim Walsh and his new Abramoffesque ethical troubles. Yup, all I heard was right wing comradery and speculation about which color Laura’s outfit will be.
Once the speeches got going, it was the same standard crap you’d get at any Republican rally (with slightly less uses of the word “Macacaâ€)… Our next governor this and stand with the troops that. Reynolds spoke about protecting our kids for a little bit, and Kuhl explained that Massa wants to privatize social security… I don’t think either of these statements is very valid. When they finished up, we were told that Laura Bush was on the way and we’d just have to sit tight.
I think this was the part of the time slot reserved for Congressman Jim Walsh, who didn’t bother to show up for the event. Walsh was too busy trying to distance himself from President Bush to show up for a rally with his wife. You’re going to have to try harder Jimbo, we know which team you’re on.
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When Laura FINALLY arrived, Kuhl and Reynolds walked back on stage with her. Lots of smiling, lots of camera flashes… not a lot of depth to her speech though. For the 5 millionth time, I heard how valuable reading is from the first lady. It never ceases to amuse me how Laura always encourages her audience to get involved in reading, but if half of them started reading real news, they’d probably would turn into Democrats. She went on for about 20 minutes, but in all honesty there isn’t much for me to report. She emphasized that we need these Repubs to stay in office to help Bush, so we can continue to “stand with the troops,†but that’s about it. When she was done, the Secret Service ushered her out and we were left to vacate the premises.
On the way out, Karen and I were solicited to do some phone banking for Tom Reynolds… it was tempting to take a list and call some of their supporters, but I think we can beat the Right without reverting to dirty tricks.
And no… Nobody was allowed to ask any questions… Rank and File Republicans to the core…
Related posts:
Citizen Journalism…
Area bloggers have been doing some original — and interesting — reporting on the race in the 29th. Rochesterturning has two recent 29th-related reports. The first is an in-depth study of Randy Kuhl’ s votes on Social Security. The second…
Great stuff, J. It’s nice to hear the other side of the story. Great pics too.
Wow! I’ve been to some local Republican activities, but sure nothing like that with the standing deal. Sounds like they don’t care about those who support them. And I have approached this with the old “It’s about good government” idea. It’s sound worse than what I thought! They just don’t care as long as the money keeps flowing in!
You’re a better man than I am. I had the chance to go (possibly on the ticket you got) and I turned it down in a New York femptosecond. My stomach couldn’t take it.
Hehe, thanks… I nearly couldn’t take it… I figured the anecdotes would make the suffering worthwhile though.
Tell me they didn’t say Faso will be our next governor.
Ha, actually they did… they had Mrs. Faso there too…
[...] You’ll want to read all about how they made people stand for 2 hours, including 80-year-olds who were hunched over and uncomfortable. It probably looked better on camera to have the people on their feet. Once the speeches got going, it was the same standard crap you’d get at any Republican rally (with slightly less uses of the word “Macacaâ€ÂÂ)… Our next governor this and stand with the troops that. Reynolds spoke about protecting our kids for a little bit, and Kuhl explained that Massa wants to privatize social security… I don’t think either of these statements is very valid. When they finished up, we were told that Laura Bush was on the way and we’d just have to sit tight. [...]
“I think we can beat the Right without reverting to dirty tricks.”
Thanks J.