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Subject: Beck vs Stewart rallies
I have a unique
perspective of the rally because I was inadvertently in DC during the
crybaby
Beck/media whore Palin rally. We had planned a family vacation,
and not being a big Faux News fan,
I didn't even know that nonsense was going on that weekend.
Anyway, I went down to DC Friday night from upstate NY with my spousal
unit and 3 of her coworkers.
We stayed in Virginia and took the train into the city at about 8:00
AM. Immediately upon arrival at the train station,
I noted a difference. At the Beck Rally, the Tea Baggers could
not figure out how to use the kiosks to purchase a ticket
for the subway, so the lines were backed up to the opposite wall.
At the Stewart Rally, people lined up, pushed a few
buttons, inserted payment and took their ticket. Even the old
ones, you know, the guys in their 50's. It seemed like it
took the Tea Baggers 10 minutes each to buy a ticket. While
standing in line, I repeatedly heard people say that the line
was long because "There's a million and a half people here today", a
phrase which was parroted everywhere I went.
There appeared to be a long line on the platform, but one train came
along and the line was gone, no one left behind
in the station. I can't tell you how many Tea Baggers tried to go
down the "up" escalator.
The Stewart Rally, the
train was absolutely PACKED, but people crammed on, leaving a lot of
people on the platform
for the next train. A big difference was that we were on the
train at 8 AM for an 11 AM Stewart Rally versus being
on a 9:45 AM train for an 11 AM dipshit rally.
The DC subway people (whatever) said
Stewart broke the Saturday record for most train rides.
Once
on the train, there were more big differences. Beck train, my
kids noted that Tea Baggers were
"old, fat and they all speak Suuuthuurn", my 11 year old daughter
exaggerating their inbred speaking style.
The majority were over 60, almost all desecrating the flag as they wore
Old Glory as shirts, stretch pants,
goofy hats and tote bags. Half had shirts which were racist or
expressing hatred of our duly elected President.
Many of these
uber-patriots were in bariatric scooters. The Stewart train, ages
ranged from 20 to early 60's,
and a few carried small flags in a dignified manner. On the Beck
train, conversation was about Muslims,
Mexicans and "taking our country back". They spoke angrily about
how "the lame stream media was ignoring
this rally of a million and a half people", and how Muslims were
infiltrating our country. On the Stewart train,
we had the pleasure of standing next to Eric Schwartz, a guy who played
guitar and sang, "Clinton Got a Blowjob",
to which people sang along.
(Here is a link of his studio version.) http://laist.com/2006/10/06/eric_schwartz_clinton_got_a_blowjob.php
As the train approached DC, people did not get off the Stewart train,
but there were a lot waiting to get on,
as we were shoulder to shoulder. Halfway to the Beck rally, we
had seats.
At the
mall, all the Tea Baggers headed toward the Lincoln Memorial, there was
foot traffic, but no more
than I see at a University of Florida football game, which is around
90,000. For the Stewart Rally, we got 200 yards
from the stage, and had to put our chairs down because people were
packing in FAST and this was 9 AM versus
10:30 at the Beck nonsense. We chose to sit next to one of the
huge screen TVs, which turned out to be a good move.
We attempted to walk around a little while later and couldn't get far
because the crowd was so thick.
I
can't comment on the Beck rally at this point because we went on a tour
of the Capitol, then went to the
Air and Space Museum. At the Stewart Rally, people poured in at
an absolutely astonishing rate, it seemed that in
half an hour we could not really see the end of the crowd, as it
stretched to the Lincoln Memorial, keeping in mind
that the stage was at the Capitol Building.
After the rallies, the Beck crowd was again very similar in size to a
Gator game. At the Stewart rally,
it took us over an hour and a half to get back to the train because the
crowd was so thick. We didn't even attempt
to go into a museum and the bars were packed, but we got lucky and
found a table at a sidewalk café where we
had grossly overpriced margaritas. After Beck, we had lunch at
McDonald's with no line, then went into the
American History Museum, which was as busy as any Saturday afternoon in
August, but no lines for anything.
I guess this is not a good
indicator, as Tea Baggers would go to a museum as soon as they would go
to a mosque
without a pipe bomb. At Beck, we got on the first subway which
still had some seats available, for Stewart, we got
on a train which was packed to capacity and left a lot of people back
on the platform. Subsequent stops no one
could get on the train because it was so packed, and this was a good 2
hours after the rally ended.
Sunday morning, I turned on the tube to see if there was any news
coverage. Those dreadful Sunday
morning shows were on, no mention of the rally. But when they
went to commercial break, they showed a
dozen Tea Bagger counter-demonstrators, proving once and for all that
12 is, in fact, greater than 300,000.
Wallet Size Reference Card Version
Beck
Stewart
Couldn't use
kiosk
Used kiosk easily
Old, fat and spoke
suuthuurn
20-60 spoke intelligently
Train handled crowd
easily
Trains packed beyond capacity
Desecrated our
flag
Showed respect for our flag
Anger
Had fun laughing and singing
90,000
300,000
Museums
empty
Fuggedaboutit
Any questions?
Thanks to John Rogie for that