Originally posted by: OrByte
you talk about viewing life through filters. One symptom of such a disease is speaking in generalities...which you managed to accomplish quite well in your second paragraph.
The crowds are in fact humorous, and lively. I felt nary a threat walking through the crowd a few months ago here in Sacramento...as a matter of fact...I think people in the crowd felt more threatened by me! But I'm used to that (I'm a large mexican with a goatee...I tend to make the old white people nervous)
I don't see how you come to the conclusion that the crowds were mainly of the "independant" sort...that seems like a bit of wishful thinking on your part. These people are GOP thru and thru. The events are sponsored by GOP groups. The speakers were all GOP politicians and "heroes"...there were no pro-choice contingents...no gun control groups. Nothing remotely attractive to the more "moderate" of the political spectrum...save perhaps those opposed to "government spending"....and amongst the anti-abortionists, birthers, Secret Muslim believers, and the hicks with the "Stars and Bars" there were a few anti-government spending people in the crowd
Nice "metrosexual" jab too btw. Yes the "heartland" loves Palin. But that is because she is simple like them...I know that sounds condescending...but you should be used to that by now.
unfortunately....the GOP has already tapped into the "simple" demographic. There is no growth there. If Palin and her "simple" ilk were so attractive to the "Independent" and the Indy voter, we would be calling McCain Mr. President.
I was not in the crowd as a participant, so my contact with people was in passing through the area for about 45 minutes, chatting for a while while waiting for my friend (Asian) to show up and then spending about an hour and a half after the movie to wander around with her checking out the event activities as they were starting to wind down.
Like you, I can be a bit imposing. But, I had about 20 pleasant conversations, mostly asking people how they came up with the ideas for their signs and having a few laughs and chuckles. Living here you get to see a lot of demonstrations. You always see the same old boring group think signs bought and paid for by the unions and other shills. This was different - everyone seemed to have made their own creative sign or poster (or even costume for the more flamboyant in the bunch!) There were some common themes, but the vast majority were expressing their personal opinion in a very personal way. That was way cool to me!
I asked most of the people I spoke with if they were D, R or I and it was about evenly split, as was the geographic spread they came from. I was also just listening to passing discussions and watching how people were acting, sometimes the best way to judge a group. Like I said, a very friendly, upbeat crowd.
These were people that felt that the government works for them, not the other way around. Their taxes, their blood and their sweat paid for this place and they gave an impression of being very comfortable with being here to express their views. Maybe not entirely comfortable with demonstrating, but comfortable in being in a place where they have a hard won right to express a desire for representative government.
there were no pro-choice contingents...no gun control groups. Nothing remotely attractive to the more "moderate" of the political spectrum...save perhaps those opposed to "government spending"....and amongst the anti-abortionists, birthers, Secret Muslim believers, and the hicks with the "Stars and Bars" there were a few anti-government spending people in the crowd...
I would argue that most of the people there were anti-government spending, at least that was my passing impression based on the signs that I saw. Following that were all of the secondary issues. Hmmm. Based on your characterization, maybe the crowd was a bunch of strict Constitutionalists. I like that.
I also did not get the impression that these were "simple" folks. "Simple" folks tend to be couch potatoes, don't they? Passive? These were people on a mission, way outside of their comfort zone, mostly reflecting a quiet determination and an exhilaration attendant with being with like minded people, not an unruly mob. Everyone I spoke to came across as thoughtful. That has got to be scary to some politicians and maybe even to the lemming left.
I could not tell if they were Christians, per se. They were obviously not hip hoppers, gang bangers or posers, they did not curse in public or trash the place, they did not dress slovenly or show off a whole bunch of piercings and self mutilations, though many did bear tattoos with military references. I thought this huge crowd represented a fairly diverse cross section of most of this country with little of the dregs present. (Sorry if I offend any of you dregs out there... not!)
Though I myself did not see any pro-Palin demonstrations I did see more than a few signs in her support. You should know by now that most of those who love Palin did not particularly like McCain, mostly because he represented a compromise of conservative principles. That is why the press and the Obama campaign had to neutralize Palin by any means possible and still fears her resurgence.