Kerry Rally - Medford - a Quick Synopsis
John Doty
Well, after much standing and cheering and wondering if I would ever get out of the parking lot and home from the venue, I have returned from the Rogue Valley Believe in America rally (and the after-party my campaign manager hosted).
A couple quick observations... (updated 8/13 for photo link and local press coverage)
Jackson County hadn't seen a Democratic Nominee campaign here since 1960. Apparently we only qualify when the candidate's initials are JFK.
The PRE-event speeches included a dynamo - keep an eye on Peter Buckley, who will be the next Oregon House member representing District 5 (Ashland, Talent, Phoenix, Jacksonville). He's a Dean Dozen candidate and honestly delivered the best material of the night, though seriously constrained for time.
Being on the VIP platform behind the stage is cool, but the candidate doesn't schmooze with you and you have to stare into the TV lights the whole time... plus the signage pretty much obscures any photo angles you may have thought you had, pre-event :) What photos I do have (a lot of the back of Kerry's head, and some good ones of the crowd) will go up on a yahoo site soon - check for a link in the comments can be found here.
The event itself was tremendous. Cheney was here recently, inviting 3000 GOP faithful to attend. The Kerry crowd was double Cheney's, based on conversations with press and law enforcement at both events. Mail Tribune coverage pegged the crowd at "over 6000", the Oregonian was more generous, citing 9000. The Kerry crowd was NOT screened in advance for loyalty, either... Local union members (huge cheer went up when the bright yellow IAFF shirted group came onstage), veterans, and county Democratic party activists were present and visible, but were a small part of the loud, energized crowd of ordinary Oregonians hungry for change.
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Aug 13, '04
Very fun and very informative to get a word-picture glimpse through the candidate's eyes of the view from the stage. Imagine living and seeing that, as Kerry does, every day. And seeing ONLY that.
Kerry takes it all in. His eyesight is his stongest attribute. And what he sees makes him think, and he reaches his own conclusions. It had to have worked that way from the evidence -- that he went to the Nam and fought as ordered and returned from the Nam and said he thought it was a mistake. His words at the time were the biggest breach in the political stonewall around the Why and What for conducting that war in Nam.
Now it comes again. Things are different today, (there's the internet), and things are the same, (a soldier's own views can let other people see, and conclude, it's a mistake, and to stop it).
The following is from my friend Danny Schechter, posted on his blog, (a favorite, recommended to your reading), MediaChannel.org:
<hr/>IRAQ VETS TO SPEAK
So far the Kerry Campaign has been consumed by attacks on their candidate's Vietnam record. Now MoveOn is trying to bring Iraq into the picture with a new ad campaign. Writes Wes Boyd:
Over the last three days, more than 100,000 MoveOn members have voted on the seventeen finalists in our Real People ad campaign. And we have a winner. The top rated ad features Lee Buttrill, a MoveOn member and Marine who has recently returned from Iraq. In this ad, Sergeant Buttrill simply and eloquently says:
"We were given these ideas that there were weapons of mass destruction...It was just a lie. That wasn't a proper use of American troops. It wasn't a proper use of my life, or my friends' lives, or the marines who I've seen die around me."
<hr/>Probably the key election crime Bush committed in Florida was using illegal absentee ballots from overseas military, (late, unsigned, unwitnessed, unpostmarked, misappropriated, falsified, etc.), pursuant to foisting a Big Lie through the media that military people are mainly rightwing robots. They're not. There are more Democrats than Republicans in the military. Working class Democrats who simply see, or are reduced in the Big Oil corruption of America to only having it left to see, the military as a worker's career option.
Of course, in 2000 the military had been subjected to years of Rush Limbaugh brainwashing with his drug-addict's view of political influence, on Armed Forces Radio piped into captive audiences on every ship and base worldwide. And in 2004, there's the internet, worldwide. And computer-savvy soldiers who can email, read, and are reaching their own conclusions. (Plus, Rash Lamebrain is being slowly choked silent -- see campaign, sign the petition, at MediaMatters.org).
I can't wait for the soldiers' legitimate absentee ballots in this election, now that they can know Bush is an AWOL deserter who betrayed the military. And Kerry is one of them, with a veteran's view and voice.
<h1></h1>2:54 p.m.
Aug 13, '04
Good man! Those photos of the back of Kerry's head may not be great examples of the art, but they have the visceral sense of authenticity. I just got back from the Kerry Portland event. Who knows how many people were there. It looked like half of Autzen, so 20k? The day apparently isn't as hot as it has been recently, but we were standing around for a few hours, so it seemed a little brutal. By the time Kerry spoke, the appreciative crowd was a bit woozy. Nevertheless, delighted to be there.
I can't wait to see the populist Kerry Krowd versus the undisclosed-location crowd of Bush. Whose do you think will be bigger?
Aug 13, '04
The comment about the brainwashing of America's military members by Rush is rather condescending of the capability of our military members to listen to folks and make up their own minds.
Just a bit of perspective...I spent a career in the military, several years of it overseas. I know personally that at Kunsan AB in Korea and at the bases in Latin America, Rush wasn't available. Even if he had been available, I wouldn't have listened. I'd tried him out in the States and wasn't sold, much like most military members...it didn't take the internet and other modern technology to do that.
So, please save the closed-minded BS.