Massive crowds, missing MSM; Update: More photos added
The same Obamedia cultists in American newsrooms who didn’t miss an opportunity to tout The One’s ability to draw massive crowds are AWOL when it comes to showing America the massive crowds turning out for McCain-Palin. (Nothing on the front page of the WaPo website; no crowd shots included in the WaPo “Day in Photos” gallery. And, of course, zippo on the front page of the NYT website.)
Reader Norman Bercasio attended the big rally in Fairfax, VA today and has posted a beautiful gallery of pics here. A small taste to give you an idea of the rocking scene:
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More: Reader VT e-mails…
I am just writing to say that I was at the McCain – Palin Rally in NoVA today, and I think the pictures on your site don’t really do the crowd size justice. I was there and it honestly seemed like there were more than 23,000 people there.
I took shuttles from the mall to the site and we were told that the shuttles were moving 800 people to the site every fifteen minutes. They started running at 7:45 AM and continued to run until after the event had started.
The buses dropped people off at the end of the security line which was consistently between 2 and three people wide, and stretched along the side of the nearby roads for nearly a mile. (The line actually went down Lee Highway and then wound through the nearby neighborhood)..I heard some people never even made it into the park.
The pictures don’t really do the attendance justice. The crowd did reach all the way back to Lee Highway from the stage. I’ve attached a couple of pictures, which again don’t do the crowd size justice, but I believe show a more accurate picture of what the rally was like. BTW, the pictures are of only those people who stood behind me, and I did not make it past the first set of metal fences that surrounded the stage.
***
Byron York reports more on the scene you won’t see on the front pages:
If you’ve been to Barack Obama’s big public rallies, you know it’s not unusual to see lines of people stretched for block after block after block — seemingly mile after mile after mile — waiting to get in. That hasn’t usually been the case with John McCain’s rallies. Until now.
When McCain and running mate Sarah Palin appeared this morning at Van Dyck Park, in the city of Fairfax, Virginia, the people spilled out of the natural amphitheater, over the sides, out the back, and nearly all the way to the Old Lee Highway. The rally had originally been scheduled for Fairfax High School, but some school board members objected. With controversy brewing, the McCain campaign moved the event to the park. It was a good idea; the high school facility could handle 6,500 people, which would have been a huge crowd in pre-Palin days. But today, the school wouldn’t have been nearly big enough. After the rally, McCain officials told me 23,000 people had been there. Even if that estimate was a little high, it was still McCain’s biggest rally ever — and that, at mid-morning, on a weekday.
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The McCain Palin trip to Cedarburg, Wisconsin was under reported and the TV stations didn’t show the big crowd either. How do you spell bias?
It is over good people.
Governor Palin gave it her best shot, we all loved her Dearly but the Knower of Knowledge, Doer of Deeds and Thinker of Thoughts has weighed in and Governor Palin is not qualified.
Actor Matt Damon Condemns Sarah Palin
Brooklyn Red-
Yes, he has seen the situation in Arizona…but he hasn’t dealt with it and he needs to.
Our governor has dealt with it more than McCain has….and if he takes command of the issue now, it will make a huge difference to AZ voters.
I drive around Phoenix alot taking my son to school, going to work, etc. I have yet to see a McCain bumper sticker besides my own. I have seen a couple of Obama stickers and many Bush ’04 stickers still attached to windshields and bumpers even though they are old and faded.
I think if he comes here and really addresses the immigration issue, he could get BIG support from his state.
Otherwise….
So the Dems have issues with a political rally at a public school?
Why weren’t they complaining yesterday?
Picture #18 here.
The pitbull and the p*ssycat.
Picture #23 here.
…what, were you expecting a picture of Sarah Palin and Barack Obama?
I just read that McCain and Palin will continue to campaign together instead of splitting-up. I wonder if they are afraid Palin will out draw McCain on the campaign trail? Could be embarrassing.
I was there today and posted my photobucket photo’s there but let me tell you it was definitely 23+ to 27+ thousand it took 2 hours after the event to get back to my car….IT ROCKED!
I meant I posted the photobucket photo;s at Redstate….brain is still wired :-0
I was there too, my first political rally of any kind and I had a blast.
Definately more then 20,000 people. Got there about 9:30, took me to 10:30 to follow the lines in and thru security. Not sure the mile long line comment is accurate, but it did twist thru the neighborhood as described.
The comment that the pictures don’t do it justice is completely accurate. You had to be there, and it was well worth it to see it and two hear Fred, Cindy, Sarah and John speak.
Is it time yet for the liberals to produce some fake documents about Palin and have Dan Rather and 60 minutes do a smear job or does that come later? BO’s Arab heritage is certainly showing with his misogynistic attacks on Palin – when will he put out a Palin doll with her face on a pig’s body and then deny CALLING her a pig.
What is undeniable, is that B Heussain Obama is a CHAUVINIST PIG! BO stinks and pigs stink, so BO is a pig. This childish logic approved of by community activists.
Sorry but all the WaPO, NY Slimes, and other MSM reporters are all on another important project in Alaska now!
My drive to work this morning was wonderful!
No less than 10 McCain yard signs and one bumper sticker. Zero Obama stuff.
This is a drive from southern Milw County to the inner city!
My daughter is a senior at Fairfax High School. She was disappointed that the rally was moved from the FHS field house, but she and her friends had a great time! Sarah Palin totally captured the hearts of these young ladies! I have not seen this much excitement in the GOP since the Gipper hit the campaign trail against Jimmy Carter. McCain-Palin ’08!!!!
Matt Damon?
Yep, I hear you.
My question was rhetorical.
Which takes not a thing away from your excellent, accurate post.
I well remember the cut in the top marginal tax rate from 70% to 50% in the early 80s.
It frosts me when socialist demagogues feel non-taxpayers, or minimal taxpayers, are entitled to share in the benefits of tax decreases, when the nontaxpayers, by definition, are not paying tax in the first place; and the minimal taxpayers would be getting more money back than the total amount of tax that they are paying in the first place.
Have you guys seen Governor Palin’s image overlaid on the Rosy the Riveter poster? Tremendous display of a strong Republican politician/woman/mother/Governor/Mayor/Obama Slayer…..
Who else from the left can we recruit to criticize and insult Sarah Palin? One VP pick and the left has lost control. Keep on yammering. This is a Rove-ian conspiracy. Karl is beaming brain waves into the fools.
You are correct. The answer to Question D3 on the Battleground Poll tells you that it is based on the nomination of Sarah Palin.
This event was announced for Wednesday on Sunday night with details like where/time unknown. Monday afternoon I got an email saying it would be at the high school during the afternoon.
Obama spoke at his parties convention and got 75k people who traveled from around the country after making plans over several months to attend.
McCain/Palin dropped by for a visit with <3 days notice and got 23k of LOCAL people who had to take time off from work on short notice to be there.
Still think Obama’s numbers are more impressive?
How cool is it that Sarah-cuda turned Obama’s “mile high”
into a head-splitting hangover less than 24 hours later,
and Barack’s headache just keeps getting worse each day?
Why, yes! I do still think that 75K is more than 23K. Good luck with that abacus!
They’re one of my favorite bands, and yet, I can’t figure out what anything you wrote has to do with the absurd contention that they attracted 75,000 people (mainly because they didn’t) to hear Obama. So, thank YOU for playing (a game you obviously don’t understand) — and quite obviously talking out of your a$$.
Numbers over ideas? Why am I not shocked? The Presidency isn’t about celebrity it’s about leadership. Oh, and how has Obummer proven that he’s a leader? Because he’s drawn “big crowds?”
What is this? American Idol: Political Edition?
And you call Republicans superficial. Wow, the priorities of brainwashed young people these days.
Emjem, with Obama, it is American Idol, political edition. All he needs to do now is sing a song, and the whole bunch of them will fall into a dead faint. It’s not issues with him, it’s popularity and looks. I suspect, like all idols, he will lose ground as people get bored. I think Palin will replace him as the new “Idol”. Matt Damon should stick to reading scripts. Obviously, American history isn’t his forte. A lot of governors made national office. His probable hero, FDR, was one of them.
The MSM just shooting themselves in the foot again. GO SARAH!!!
More here.
And sure why not… the whole of the Democratic party is to govern by Gallup poll. They don’t do anything without a poll on it. Heaven forbit you have low poll numbers.
Pelosi more than likley thinks that Republicans are to blame for the low polling numbers on Congress.
Why take a stand for something when you have an accurate gage of which way the mob is moving…
Democrats are just political windsocks…
Thank you for that 30. The pics really choked me up. As a mother of a special needs child, it really gets to me when some one takes the time to connect with children like ours who are so often ignored or misunderstood.
Awww, c’mon, who was the free concert performer??? No one draws a crowd like that for a POLITICAL get together… I know, I bet it was ELVIS!!! AHHH, HAAA, GOTCHA!!!
Tragic. It’s the facts behind the numbers that make the VA event impressive, not a bean count.
Democrats planned vacations around going to the convention and travelled from around the country.
Republicans had to get a day off on one-day notice and the crowd was mostly local.
I’ll take 23K of locals on two-days notice over 75K from around the country with months of planning.
You know that these would count as “average size” crowds for Obama, right? I didn’t see you making a point of the 75,000 people in Oregon that gathered for Obama before he was even the nominee.
How many were last minute?
I would watch a really bad Disney movie anytime before I watched the crap movie(s) Matt Damon acts in. Hey Matt… Shut the F up and stick to your scripts.