..Alaska Women Reject Palin' Rally is HUGE!
by AKMuckraker
Mudlfats - September 14, 2008
(Tiptoeing Through the Muck of Alaskan Politics)
http://mudflats.wordpress.com/2008/09/14/alaska-women-reject-palin-rally-is-huge/I attended the Welcome Home rally for Sarah Palin this
morning. Hooo. It was an experience. About a thousand
(maybe) hard-core Palin supporters showed up to hear
her speak at the new Dena'ina Convention Center in
downtown Anchorage.
After shaking it off with a good double shot of
espresso, and a brisk walk back to my car, it was time
to head to the Alaska Women Reject Palin rally. It
was to be held outside on the lawn in front of the
Loussac Library in midtown Anchorage. Home made signs
were encouraged, and the idea was to make a statement
that Sarah Palin does not speak for all Alaska women,
or men. I had no idea what to expect.
The rally was organized by a small group of women,
talking over coffee. It made me wonder what other
things have started with small groups of women talking
over coffee. It's probably an impressive list. These
women hatched the plan, printed up flyers, posted them
around town, and sent notices to local media outlets.
One of those media outlets was KBYR radio, home of
Eddie Burke, a long-time uber-conservative Anchorage
talk show host. Turns out that Eddie Burke not only
announced the rally, but called the people who planned
to attend the rally "a bunch of socialist baby-killing
maggots", and read the home phone numbers of the
organizers aloud over the air, urging listeners to call
and tell them what they thought. The women, of course,
received many nasty, harassing and threatening
messages.
So, as I jettisoned myself from the jaws of the ..Drill
Baby Drill' crowd and toward the mystery rally at the
library, I felt a bit apprehensive. I'd been
disappointed before by the turnout at other rallies.
Basically, in Anchorage, if you can get 25 people to
show up at an event, it's a success. So, I thought to
myself, if we can actually get 100 people there that
aren't sent by Eddie Burke, we'll be doing good. A
real statement will have been made. I confess, I still
had a mental image of 15 demonstrators surrounded by
hundreds of menacing "socialist baby-killing maggot"
haters.
It's a good thing I wasn't tailgating when I saw the
crowd in front of the library or I would have ended up
in somebody's trunk. When I got there, about 20
minutes early, the line of sign wavers stretched the
full length of the library grounds, along the edge of
the road, 6 or 7 people deep! I could hardly find a
place to park. I nabbed one of the last spots in the
library lot, and as I got out of the car and started
walking, people seemed to join in from every direction,
carrying signs.
Never, have I seen anything like it in my 17 and a half
years living in Anchorage. The organizers had someone
walk the rally with a counter, and they clicked off
well over 1400 people (not including the 90 counter-
demonstrators). This was the biggest political rally
ever, in the history of the state. I was absolutely
stunned. The second most amazing thing is how many
people honked and gave the thumbs up as they drove by.
And even those that didn't honk looked wide-eyed and
awe-struck at the huge crowd that was growing by the
minute. This just doesn't happen here.
Then, the infamous Eddie Burke showed up. He tried to
talk to the media, and was instantly surrounded by a
group of 20 people who started shouting O-BA-MA so loud
he couldn't be heard. Then passing cars started
honking in a rhythmic pattern of 3, like the Obama
chant, while the crowd cheered, hooted and waved their
signs high.
So, if you've been doing the math...Yes. The Alaska
Women Reject Palin rally was significantly bigger than
Palin's rally that got all the national media coverage!
So take heart, sit back, and enjoy the photo gallery.
Feel free to spread the pictures around (links are
appreciated) to anyone who needs to know that Sarah
Palin most definitely does not speak for all Alaskans.
The citizens of Alaska, who know her best, have things
to say.
compare:
Here’s the pro-Palin rally in a room with a capacity of 5000 people. If you don’t count security, secret service, staffers, and media, I’m guessing a maximum of about 800-900 people. Boots on the ground from the Ed Schultz Show that was in town, counted the crowd at about 500.
The first third of the Alaska Women Reject Palin rally.
The last third of the Alaska Women Reject Palin rally. There were also people on the other side of the street and a chunk between the two photos I didn’t get.
There were between 1400 and 1500 rally-goers, and about 90 at the counter rally according to an observer who went through the crowd with a counter. Anchorage police estimated “more than 1500″.