As political rallies go, this one was pretty well organized. I had to pass through a metal detector just to get into Taylor Books, but dare I say the Secret Service people were very friendly.
There were a lot of young people in the crowd — much more than I’ve ever seen at a political rally around here. It was about a 50 / 50 mix of baby boomers and people in their early twenties. It was not the crowd of aging hippies I was expecting. There were also a lot of redheads. I have no idea what that was all about.
Rahall, Rockefeller, Manchin and Byrd each spoke briefly. Rockefeller sounded exactly like he does on Meet the Press, for better or worse (better, I think). Manchin gave a pretty good speech — not good enough to make me vote for him, but I admit that he does have “the touch.” And Byrd actually looked pretty good, all things considered. He spoke slowly, but forcefully. He’s old and slow, but still with it. And I was surprised to see that he has so much hair on his head. I’m sure Biden is jealous.
Which brings me to Biden. I’ll be surprised if Obama actually carries West Virginia, but Biden’s working class bona fides play very well here. His funniest moment was when he talked about McCain and Palin calling themselves mavericks: “You’re a maverick. No, you’re a maverick. No, you are!” I guess you had to be there, but it was funny. At one point, I think I could hear Senator Byrd yell out “yeah, man!” from off stage. After the speech was over, Biden spent a lot of time shaking hands. He even shook mine.
Yeah man indeed.
A couple more pictures after the jump.
Joe the Governor:
Biden again. But check out Joe the Secret Service Agent at center-right, looking very, very serious:
October 24, 2008 at 2:52 pm
It’s all part of the coming Ginger Revolution. Watch out.
October 24, 2008 at 2:54 pm
[...] H.K. posted some of his photos at Fifth Column. Check ‘em out. Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)Math is HardObama in West Virginia with eye on [...]
October 24, 2008 at 2:58 pm
It’s not the serious Secret Service guys you have to worry about. It’s the others you don’t see. I wonder how many guys they had on the rooftops?
October 24, 2008 at 3:04 pm
You mean Joe the Sniper? I saw at least 3.
But as best I could tell, they were only packing binoculars.
October 24, 2008 at 3:07 pm
The polls still show WV in the “pink” column and the NRA is hitting the airwaves and the telephones pretty hard. But there are a lot of young people voting who don’t show up in the polls. Mon County is reporting 300 people a day for early voting.
Obama has momentum in other states and the McCain camp is already playing the blame game. One of McCain’s advisers has now switched his vote and wants his name off the campaign material.
The story about the McCain worker who was attacked by a black guy has now turned out to be a hoax. The press is reporting that Palin’s make up artist cost $22,500 for two weeks in October. The campaign staff must wonder can anything else go wrong???
October 24, 2008 at 3:37 pm
I got into a squabble with the Secret Service once. (Surprised? Yeah, neither was anyone else.)
It was either ‘90 or ‘91 during one of Dan Quayles’ trips down the Gauley.
I pulled into the eddy after 3rd Drop Lost Paddle to bail before running Tumble Home (self-bailers were very rare back then) and a Secret Service agent came running down the ledges all “You have to leave, NOW! The vice-president will be here any minute!”. I told him no, it was unsafe to run the rest of the rapid full of water and that we were staying until the raft was bailed. Another agent came down and told him to let it go.
I felt…..Mavericky. I had ruffled feathers.
Got a big, fat tip, too.
October 24, 2008 at 3:59 pm
I love Joe Biden. He says some dumb things sometimes, but he is straight forward and passionate. He clearly loves his family and has suffered through personal tragedy. And he has the most wonderful smile.
October 24, 2008 at 4:21 pm
@Looselips: You are on point with Joe Biden. He knows his facts and how to present, not the same with Palin.
October 24, 2008 at 4:26 pm
Tom Ridge, the former PA governor, said the race would be a lot different if McCain had selected him a VP. He’s right but he’s pro-choice so the advisors said no, had to be a pro-life candidate because the base didn’t believe McCain was pro-life enough. Now Palin is a big drag on the ticket. Like Heather Bresch, there’s always a bright side :-)
October 24, 2008 at 5:08 pm
Oh, Lips you are such a good judge of character(s)! I think that he has had “work done” on the toofers, though: don’t you? They still look good anyhow.
October 24, 2008 at 5:26 pm
Jolene, it isn’t just that the teeth are very white and even. It’s the way his eyes crinkle up when he shows those teeth.
October 24, 2008 at 5:48 pm
Yes. The sign of a good man.
October 24, 2008 at 6:05 pm
OMG looselips……then let me buy you a drink
October 24, 2008 at 7:20 pm
USA look out if ( god forbid ) that bHo gets elected
we will be a sitting duck
October 24, 2008 at 7:49 pm
Jay, I’ve said it before and I’m sure to say it again: you’re my weirdest hero.
Looselips: couldn’t agree more. Yeah, he’s in the tank with (or was, I guess) MBNA, but at least we fucking know it, right? He’s my favorite pol: the happy warrior. Can’t get enough of the articulate pissers. Of course, that might be the Barbour jacket wearing, PMQ addict side of me coming out.
October 25, 2008 at 7:42 am
But in summation, if any of you think either one of these guys are going to save the day, you’re in for a surprise.
October 25, 2008 at 9:46 am
Golly! Really, Mr. Whorfin? I thought Obama would fix the credit markets, rebalance every bank’s debt to asset balance, and help Jerry Lewis realize that, seriously, using the word “faggot” on television is a terrible idea, no matter what continent you’re on.
October 25, 2008 at 12:33 pm
…if any of you think either one of these guys are going to save the day, you’re in for a surprise.
Well, now, that tears it!
I come here after finishing reading the white paper on Obama’s “Comprehensive Day-Saving Initiative” only to find out that it’s just more Obamboozlin’!!
Thank You, Thank You, Thank You, Mr. Whorfin, for opening my eyes to this IslamoCommieGayAbortionistTerroristPallinEmptySuit Fraud’s treachery!
October 25, 2008 at 12:34 pm
That was mine.
October 26, 2008 at 5:57 am
WV’s in play. I posted this on Daily Kos last weekend, and can vouch for its authenticity:
“We’re votin’ for the n***er!”
“We’re votin’ for the n***er” appears to be an increasingly common cri de coeur in West Virginia and elsewhere in Appalachia these days.
As I wrote here yesterday, an Obama supporter who’s leading the effort to get his buddies at a sawmill here in rural West Virginia explained to me (I’ve been supplying him with Obama bumper stickers, “See, back last summer the guys didn’t want to be seen as linin’ up with a n***er. Now a lot of’em are sayin’ they’re gonna vote for the n***er.”
Add to that this from Sean Quinn of fivethirtyeight.com (though a friend tell me this may be a folk tale that’s getting passed around anecdotally in Appalachian parts of the Obama campaign):
So a canvasser goes to a woman’s door in Washington, Pennsylvania. Knocks. Woman answers. Knocker asks who she’s planning to vote for. She isn’t sure, has to ask her husband who she’s voting for. Husband is off in another room watching some game. Canvasser hears him yell back, “We’re votin’ for the n***er!”
Woman turns back to canvasser, and says brightly and matter of factly: “We’re voting for the n***er.”
At least they’re honest, I guess, and saying it seems to provide a needed redneck irony, a Larry the Cable Guy racial catharsis making an otherwise taboo political act permissible.
Anyway, Obama is scheduled to speak in Harrisonburg, VA, on Tuesday. He’ll be at the JMU Convocation Center. No tickets required. Doors open at 3:15. Program begins at 5:15.
October 26, 2008 at 7:19 am
It’s Blazing Saddles, Mr. Johnson.
October 26, 2008 at 7:50 am
The Harrisonburg visit’ll help in WV, too. The Harrisonburg paper (staunchly conservative and still owned by the Harry “Massive Resistance” Byrd family) is the daily newspaper in some parts of the state where the Gazette does not circulate. The Gazette gets as far as northern Pocahontas County and Elkins, but is not available in eastern panhandle counties like Hardy, Pendleton and others. Also, Channel 3 Harrisonburg is the local TV news station for many West Virginians in that part of the state.
One of the reasons I concentrated heavily (though not exclusively) this fall on volunteer work in the Harrsisonburg area was that “turning the Shenandoah Valley blue,” as they say, could have a needed bleed-over effect in parts of WV where there are Democratic registration majorities which have turned deep red in recent years. Deep red.
October 26, 2008 at 5:22 pm
i’ll say it again ………… Lord help the USA
October 26, 2008 at 5:45 pm
Hey CC…Barack’s election IS God’s way of helping the USA. That born-again Christian, George W. Bush, has hurt our economy, been responsible for a war that now claims more than 4000 American lives and tens of thousands of Iraqis, and enabled the torture of innocent civilians. Sadly, John McCain, who was a heathen before he needed the Christian Right vote, has supported this administration more often than not.
WWJD: he’d bitch-slap this administation for what they have done in his name.
Even many Republicans are now openly supporting Barack. I love reading the online news sources now to see how many Republicans are endorsing him or pointing fingers at each other for such a disastrous campaign. McCain deserved better but he’s the man in charge.
Get ready for CHANGE. And when you call on the Lord for help, ask him to help Barack be a good president because we ALL will need him to succeed.
October 26, 2008 at 5:51 pm
Oh, and Barack pulled in another 100,000 people to a rally in Colorado today.
October 26, 2008 at 6:54 pm
you mean bHo look up his middle name The Heathen
October 26, 2008 at 7:04 pm
give it up CC. no one here cares what his middle name is. what’s in a name? nothing.
October 26, 2008 at 7:22 pm
The best teacher I ever had was unfortunately named Adolph. We judged him on his talents. Guess he couldn’t run for president although he would have been a good one.
Of course, CC, being so out of touch you probably don’t remember King Hussein of Jordan…big friend of US. So what’s in a name of Hussein?
October 26, 2008 at 7:38 pm
Lips: it means nothing.
Get a grip all you hypocritical rednecks.
You can’t stand it, can you? A good man, a well-educated man, an honest man, a man better than you, a black man, is going to win the Presidency. Are we not far along enough to ignore immutable characteristics?
Deal with it!
I fear for him once he is elected.
October 26, 2008 at 8:00 pm
don’t worry, Jolene. I am a member of the Secret Service.
October 26, 2008 at 8:49 pm
CC, I ask this with all seriousness — WHAT THE FUCK IS YOUR POINT?
Really.
Yes, Barack Obama’s middle name is Hussein. So what? So fucking what? Hussein happens to be a common name in oh, about 1/3 of the world. Do you think Barack HUSSEIN Obama is a sleeper cell agent or something?
I — make that WE — await your explanation.
October 26, 2008 at 11:26 pm
Especially me.
Signed,
Bundy Benendict Dahlmer Manson, III
October 27, 2008 at 1:43 am
I have not vetted the details, but a friend sent along the email pasted below. Now, educational pedigree is not everything, but this is interesting indeed:
******************************
How Racism Works
What if John McCain were a former president of the Harvard Law Review? What if Barack Obama finished fifth from the bottom of his graduating class?
What if McCain were still married to the first woman he said “I do” to? What if Obama were the candidate who left his first wife after she no longer measured up to his standards?
What if Michelle Obama were a wife who not only became addicted to pain killers, but acquired them illegally through her charitable organization? What if Cindy McCain graduated from Harvard?
What if Obama were a member of the Keating-5? What if McCain were a charismatic, eloquent speaker?
If these questions reflected reality, do you really believe the election numbers would be as close as they are?
This is what racism does . It covers up, rationalizes and minimizes positive qualities in one candidate and emphasizes negative qualities in another when there is a color difference.
You are The Boss… which team would you hire?
With America facing historic debt, 2 wars, stumbling health care, a weakened dollar, all-time high prison population, mortgage crises, bank foreclosures, etc.
Educational Background
Obama:
Columbia University – B.A. Political Science with a Specialization in International Relations.
Harvard – Juris Doctor (J.D.) Magna Cum Laude
Biden:
University of Delaware – B.A. in History and B.A. in Political Science.
Syracuse University College of Law – Juris Doctor (J.D.)
vs.
McCain: United States Naval Academy – Class rank: 894 of 899
Palin: Hawaii Pacific University – 1 semester
North Idaho College – 2 semesters – general study
University of Idaho – 2 semesters – journalism
Matanuska-Susitna College – 1 semester
University of Idaho – 3 semesters – B.A. in Journalism
Now, which team are you going to hire ?
October 27, 2008 at 5:48 am
yeunling……………”the one with the biggest tits”……your point is innane and one-sided
October 27, 2008 at 12:14 pm
It’s only one-sided because it’s right. There’s no wrong side to that argument.