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I'm certain this was from the Alexandria VA rally. Almost the same experience (although I split a bit later), although one side note: one volunteer claimed to have worked 5 rallies and never been admitted to see Obama yet. And I wondered about why Obama showed up an hour or so early- did he need that much of a makeup session?
quote:
Why will Obama not win, should he be the nominee, in November?
Because he has a disorganization.
1. Which failed to recognize the need for a Northern Virginia mass rally site. (To be fair, the venue Clinton booked was no bigger, another large high school)
2. Which tried to manage the limitations by emailing the invitations to their contributors at 5 pm on a Friday. Have you ever fought a major interstate on a Friday commute?
3. Which then leaked the event to the printed media press and
4. Which did not plan adequately how to handle the unwashed masses.
I showed up 3 hours before the announced showtime- only to find this was a ticketed event. After I went away and got over the anger, I came back and parked some distance away and trekked in, along with other people.
By then, the powers that be had organized enough to separate the sheep from us goats, and packed us on a torn-up path, shaded thus half-frozen, on the far side of the building. Occasionally being thawed by a you-can't-make-this-up moment, such as a teacher recognizing a pupil last seen in fifth grade. And the person peddling an Obama card deck with Bush and Cheney as the jokers.
There were occasional victories for the downtrodden, as a few people who had excess tickets (possibly due to sickness season) offered them up, so occasional roars arose from the head of the line as goats were transformed into sheep, two girls perhaps 17 skipping away in glee, a father carrying his infant (presumably a daughter) and a doll away, and so on.
But there were still us in a line, halfway down the block, after the anointed had been admitted and the volunteers (after saying we might be let into a separate room with a later tape replay of the sound) had vanished. (Some may have had to go inside; one young volunteer confessed to not having dressed warmly enough.)
Time passed, and we were still not admitted inside. It had been two hours in the wind and cold, and the scheduled showtime was over an hour away. I finally gave up and plodded my way past the less-many still standing towards my car, others in my wake begging and groveling for a spare ticket.
Halfway up the block, there was a noise and a calvacade of tinted vehicles, then two buses and the motorcycle troopers, sweeping by. The frozen few rushed to the curb and held up their signs, hoping against hope, one neon orange sign might even have caught the elite's attention before they pulled around the building.
So I didn't see the elephant, but I smelled the fumes.
I'm not sure if I'm mad enough to cross over and vote for an elephant, or to write in the name of the guy I picked in the first place.
I note that the Republicans took full advantage of timing and got CSPAN to carry the Thursday speeches from CPAC live, and also offered a chance for people to see the candidates in person if they walked up and registered for the convention.
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