Posted on 10/30/2018 1:22:18 PM PDT by Paul R.
You see, I have direct, personal experience to refute your ugly meme. My wife is a petite, quite brown skinned woman who appears more Hispanic than Asian. (Technically, she is a Hispanic-Asian Pacific Islander legal immigrant.) We live in the Mid-South: Generally, it is a quite "red" region. While at this rally, my wife "split off" from my daughter and me, to find a better vantage point, and we ended up being separated in the crowd for almost 2 hours. I asked her, the following evening, if at any time she felt uncomfortable, did anyone behave inappropriately toward her, etc. She said no, not at all. She even said she felt very much as "one" with the crowd. As we discussed this, she went further and said that in the 18 years she has been here, she has NEVER felt unwelcome or disliked or discriminated against for her race or sex, except in two instances, by, get this, black women. (There may be more to that, but, it is a somewhat irrelevant side issue. Our relationships and friendships with other black men or women are good, even great, in a few cases, including a black ex girlfriend of mine.)
My own observation beyond the above was that everyone seemed to be polite, friendly, and of good humor. The crowd was predominantly white, but there were a few blacks, a number of Hispanics, and Asians, and we even ran into another Pacific Islander acquaintance of my wife (who's husband and she had driven almost as far as we.) EVERY indication was that NO ONE in the crowd was valued or accepted as more or less than anyone else -- except for a few old disabled vets in wheelchairs who were, well, just "loved" is the best way I can put it. (I got the chance to assist a couple of the disabled fellows in a minor way, and got a couple "God Bless You's" from other non-disabled rally-goers, as a reward!) Everyone followed the rules and was basically a "good neighbor". Also, much as happened in the old Tea Party rallies, there was not even any trash left scattered around, so far as I could see. These are decent, responsible people.
Now, I am under no illusions. I have witnessed racism in person, on occasion, and that does not even count one of my Grandmothers, who was just awful about it. Certainly there are far "louder" than their actual numbers odious examples of human excrement on YouTube and the like, spewing their filth. And sadly, a very few (words I cannot use in public) individuals do more than talk. But... they are a tiny (under 1%?) minority, and certainly matched by just-as-bad people on the far left. Not every racist displays their racism in stereotyped ways, or fits into only certain political groups.
That is however, a different discussion. What is true here is every conservative I know, and I would claim over 99% of the people who went to President Trump's S. IL rally, have NO tolerance for racist based violence against anyone. Most, I think, would even try, if they could, to stop such if they saw it happening, even at risk to themselves. Kudos, I might add, to the WHITE GUY with a concealed carry permit, who took on that bastard in Louisville, back on Oct. 24. He may well have saved additional lives. THAT is who almost all of us would want to be.
Thank you for posting. Did you capture any photos from the event?
Thank you for posting. Illinois GOP is really pitiful! Shame they did not take advantage, because he went there for THEM, for those candidates.
Any idea of crowd size? I had wanted to go but just waaay too much traveling this week!
No, I just have a flip phone. My wife may have pics, but I don’t think we presently have a good way to post. (I’m pretty sure she would not want to use her Facebook acct., which she keeps private.) A couple other forums I belong to allow posting from HD, but, they are non-political forums. We never got in the rally hangar, anyway...
Chiraq makes IL Blue.
The downstate counties are Red but they’re outvoted.
Well, the airport management said 3k could fit in the hangar, and RSBN said 5k were inside. I had no way to get above the considerable “outside” crowd, and it was split into those beside the hangar and those on the side where Pres. Trump briefly spoke. So, I don’t really know. Maybe 6-7k — not bad for a modest pop. area, and (nearby) Carbondale itself is fairly lib.
Thanks for the report.
Perfectly safe, the Tea Partiers were a good bunch of people. Only ones that caused trouble were liberal disruptors. One that stood out in particular was some fool in a hood and robe yelling about the NRA and KKK. The cops hustled him out.
My beef would be with the local candidates’ organizations and the Jackson Co. Republican Committee in particular. It was as if they were non-existent. Bost spoke well, as did (local State House Rep.) Terri Bryant, but, damn, it takes a lot more than just short speeches at events like this!
Great report - thanks for taking the time.
So is Tennessee GOP. Especially the big cities Memphis, Knoxville and Nashville. DEM owned.
My experience at the Murphysboro rally wasn’t that different than yours.
One thing that you missed, that we didn’t, were the dozens of Bost campaign volunteers who were everywhere while we were in line. Since you didn’t arrive until 4, I’d guess that they had already entered to hangar by then. They continually walked the huge line, talking to everyone, and providing a means to sign up to volunteer for his campaign.
I’m happy to hear that the President stopped and spoke to the outside crowd. They actually opened the gate, and started screening folks at noon, instead of the advertised 1:30. I’ve heard estimates of 7-10,00 in attendance. I’m glad you were able to make it out of that ditch, we saw quite a few cars parked down there when we were on our way out.
Two other minor points:
The audio guys are not good enough. Yes, sound was clear right in front of the jumbotrons, and seemed ok inside the hangar when I got to it’s back entrance, but not much further, as security had a rear area blocked off. But, there was a considerable area between the rear jumbotron and speakers, and the rear hangar entrance, where there was a nasty effect almost like a single “slap echo”. This could be minimized (I won’t go into details here!): As it was, there was a large area near the rear of the hangar with people driven out of it because not much could be seen from there, and the sound (echo effect) was highly annoying and almost unintelligible. This had the effect of further splitting up the crowd / non-continuity, which tends to mute a crowd.
Also, that rear jumbotron needed to be mounted higher, so people in the middle and rear of the “rear-of-hanger crowd could see it better. The angle relative to the sun did not help either.
Thanks for this report. It occurred to me that possibly the MSM was involved in the poor communications about routes, parking, etc. Not that the area GOP might not be wholly responsible, but could have been sabotaged by the media.
Ah, well, that's good to hear! Too bad they didn't set up a little booth or something, where even post-rally people could stop in. Provide hot chocolate after the rally and they'd be swamped!
Was any effort for other local candidates visible, earlier on? P.S. We have an Outback w/ good snow tires on it: I think it'll go through just about anything if you don't exceed it's ground clearance. :-)
Well, KFVS (Cape Girardeau TV) and the airport manager said they were waiting for more info - my guess is that they never got it. KFVS reporter is very young / inexperienced - may not have thought to ask!
OTOH, MSM would have nothing to do with whomping up a few signs: That’s another place where the local pub committee should pitch in, IMO.
LOL I live in CHicagoland...I am aware
Hi, All - Thanks for the replies!
I have some work to take care of — will check back late this evening / possibly tomorrow early a.m. to answer any questions and such, later.
I’m very curious as to what recruitment for volunteers, dissemination of campaign materials for local candidates, etc., has been like, at other rallies.
I have been to 2 rallies...Had hoped to get to another—this one would have been good from crowd standpoint...I regret not going, but maybe next year :)
Not that I saw, it seems like everything was geared toward Mike Bost. They put out a call for volunteers early last week, and I'm pretty sure he was the only one mentioned. Lot's of folks were wearing Bost/Trump t-shirts.
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