Archive for September 20th, 2008
“Alaska Women Reject Palin”
September 20, 2008 in Barack Obama, Campaign 2008, Gov. Sarah Palin, Hillary Clinton, John McCain, Politics, Sarah Palin, Threat to America, Vice Presidents
In Alaska at the weekend, a Welcome Home rally for Mrs Palin was dwarfed by a demonstration organised by Alaska Women Reject Palin, which was held on the lawn of a downtown Anchorage library. [From The Independent – U.K.]
14 09 2008
I attended the Welcome Home rally for Sarah Palin this morning. Hooo. It was an experience. About a thousand (maybe) hard-core Palin supporters showed up to hear her speak at the new Dena’ina Convention Center in downtown Anchorage.
After shaking it off with a good double shot of espresso, and a brisk walk back to my car, it was time to head to the Alaska Women Reject Palin rally. It was to be held outside on the lawn in front of the Loussac Library in midtown Anchorage. Home made signs were encouraged, and the idea was to make a statement that Sarah Palin does not speak for all Alaska women, or men. I had no idea what to expect.
The rally was organized by a small group of women, talking over coffee. It made me wonder what other things have started with small groups of women talking over coffee. It’s probably an impressive list. These women hatched the plan, printed up flyers, posted them around town, and sent notices to local media outlets. One of those media outlets was KBYR radio, home of Eddie Burke, a long-time uber-conservative Anchorage talk show host. Turns out that Eddie Burke not only announced the rally, but called the people who planned to attend the rally “a bunch of socialist baby-killing maggots”, and read the home phone numbers of the organizers aloud over the air, urging listeners to call and tell them what they thought. The women, of course, received many nasty, harassing and threatening messages.
So, as I jettisoned myself from the jaws of the ‘Drill Baby Drill’ crowd and toward the mystery rally at the library, I felt a bit apprehensive. I’d been disappointed before by the turnout at other rallies. Basically, in Anchorage, if you can get 25 people to show up at an event, it’s a success. So, I thought to myself, if we can actually get 100 people there that aren’t sent by Eddie Burke, we’ll be doing good. A real statement will have been made. I confess, I still had a mental image of 15 demonstrators surrounded by hundreds of menacing “socialist baby-killing maggot” haters.
It’s a good thing I wasn’t tailgating when I saw the crowd in front of the library or I would have ended up in somebody’s trunk. When I got there, about 20 minutes early, the line of sign wavers stretched the full length of the library grounds, along the edge of the road, 6 or 7 people deep! I could hardly find a place to park. I nabbed one of the last spots in the library lot, and as I got out of the car and started walking, people seemed to join in from every direction, carrying signs.
Never, have I seen anything like it in my 17 and a half years living in Anchorage. The organizers had someone walk the rally with a counter, and they clicked off well over 1400 people (not including the 90 counter-demonstrators). This was the biggest political rally ever, in the history of the state. I was absolutely stunned. The second most amazing thing is how many people honked and gave the thumbs up as they drove by. And even those that didn’t honk looked wide-eyed and awe-struck at the huge crowd that was growing by the minute. This just doesn’t happen here.
Then, the infamous Eddie Burke showed up. He tried to talk to the media, and was instantly surrounded by a group of 20 people who started shouting O-BA-MA so loud he couldn’t be heard. Then passing cars started honking in a rhythmic pattern of 3, like the Obama chant, while the crowd cheered, hooted and waved their signs high.
So, if you’ve been doing the math… Yes. The Alaska Women Reject Palin rally was significantly bigger than Palin’s rally that got all the national media coverage! So take heart, sit back, and enjoy the photo gallery. Feel free to spread the pictures around (links are appreciated) to anyone who needs to know that Sarah Palin most definitely does not speak for all Alaskans. The citizens of Alaska, who know her best, have things to say.
Archives
Recent Comments
Blogroll
- Aaron Russo’s “America: Freedom to Fascism”
- After Downing Street
- Black Tygrrrr (The “Other Side”)
- Blue Girl, Red State
- Bring Them Home!
- ChenZhen’s Chamber
- Climbing From the Rubble
- Dissident Voice
- DraftResistance.org
- For History’s Sake, Will You Please Take Notice?
- Green Means “Impeach”
- Impeach 07
- ImpeachBush.org
- Kiss My Big Blue Butt
- Military Families Speak Out!
- Presidential Candidates 2008
- Rosie O’Donnell’s Blog
- Say “When.”
- Show It Off NOW!
- Smoking Mirrors
- Sobi
- Stop Iran War
- The Existentialist Cowboy
- The FealGood Foundation
- The Real News
- The Whispering Campaign
- The World Can’t Wait
- Treat Any Soldier – Care Packages for Soldiers Serving in Harm’s Way
- Veterans Against the Iraq War
- Watching Those We Choose
- We Are Change
- Youth Democracy
“Patriotism, in my view, does not mean unquestioning acceptance of whatever the government does. To go along with whatever your government does is not a characteristic of democracy. I remember in my own early education we were taught that it was a sign of a totalitarian state, of a dictatorship, when people did not question what their government did. If you live in a democratic state, it means you have the right to criticize your government’s policies.”
Howard Zinn – “A Young People’s History of the United States” – vol. 1
This is the official blog of www.say-when.org.
Here you’ll find things that may not be appropriate for the main site. We welcome comments as long as they are clean and not an attack. We reserve the right to delete truly offensive comments, so mind your manners. It is ok if you disagree with us…it is still your right under the US Constitution. If you have to be nasty, find one of the few remaining sites that agree with you and knock yourself out! While we’re at it - are you wearing your “When.” wristband? If not now……when?Order “When” wristbands – go to www.say-when.org
Rss Feed
- FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. This material is distributed without profit.
Categories
- 2008 Olympics
- 4th of July
- 9/11
- al Qaeda
- Alan Greenspan
- Alan Keyes
- Alberto Gonzales
- Ann Coulter
- Anti-War Protest
- AP – Associated Press
- APEC
- Arrogance
- Aviation Security
- Banking Crisis
- Banks
- Barack Obama
- Barbara Boxer
- Barney Frank – Chairman
- Basel II
- Ben Bernanke
- Bill Clinton
- Bill Moyers
- Bill O'Reilly
- Bill Richardson
- Blackwater
- Bob Barr
- Brian Moore
- Brian Schweitzer
- Campaign 2008
- Caroline Kennedy
- Catherine Austin Fitts
- CDC
- Charles Keating and the Keating 5
- Charles Rangel
- Chertoff
- Children
- China
- Chris Dodd
- Chuck Baldwin
- CIA
- Cindy Sheehan
- CNN
- Congress
- Conservatives
- Conspiracy
- Conyers
- Corruption
- Cover-ups
- Credit Cards
- Cronie-ism
- Cynthia McKinney
- Dan Quayle
- Daniel Levin
- Democratic National Convention
- Democrats
- Dennis Kucinich
- Dennis Milligan
- Department of Defense
- Department of Homeland Security
- Department of Justice
- Dick Cheney
- Draft
- Economics
- Education
- Eliot Spitzer
- Elisabeth Hasselbeck
- Enron
- Environment
- EPA
- Executive Orders
- Executive Privilege
- Fannie Mae
- Fat Boy Slim
- FDA
- FDIC
- FEMA
- Financial Markets Bail-out
- First Responders
- FoxNews
- France
- Frank McEnulty
- Fred Thompson
- Freddie Mac
- Freedom of Speech
- Freedom of the Press
- Friday the 13th
- Gas Prices
- Gen. Petraeus
- George Carlin
- George Orwell's 1984
- George Soros
- George W. Bush
- Global Economy
- Gloria La Riva
- Gloria Steinem
- Goldman Sachs
- Gordon Brown
- Gov. Sarah Palin
- Government
- Guantanamo
- habeas corpus
- Healthcare
- Hillary Clinton
- Hollywood
- Hope
- House Financial Services Committee
- Humor
- Immigration
- Impeachment
- International
- Iran
- Iraq
- IRS
- JFK
- Joe Biden
- Joe Wilson
- John Edwards
- John F. Kennedy
- John Kerry
- John McCain
- Karl Rove
- Katrina
- KBR
- Keith Olbermann
- Larry Craig
- Larry King
- Lehman Brothers
- Lies
- Live Earth
- Loss of Liberties
- Marines
- Martial Law
- Martin Luther King
- Media
- Memorial Day 2008
- Michael Moore
- Mike Hucakbee
- Military
- Mitt Romney
- Money
- Money-Money-Money
- Morality and Humanity
- Nancy Pelosi
- Neo-Cons
- Nuclear "Programs"
- Nuke Mistake
- Oil
- Oliver Stone
- OPEC
- Pakistan
- Pardon
- Paris Hilton
- Pat Tillman
- Patriotism
- Peace
- Politics
- Power
- President-elect Barack Obama
- Privacy
- Ralph Nader
- Red Cross
- Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA)
- Rep. Kapture (D-OH)
- Republicans
- Resignation
- Rev. Wright
- Rick Santorum
- Right Wing Extremists
- Ron Paul
- Rosie
- Rudy Giuliani
- Rupert Murdoch
- Saddam Hussein
- Sarah Palin
- Scooter Libby
- Scott McClellan
- Secret Police
- Secure Flight
- Sen Harry Reid
- Seymour Hersh
- Sharon Stone
- SiCKO
- Stock Market
- Supreme Court
- Terrorists
- The "Fed" – Federal Reserve
- The Constitution
- The Debates
- The Environment
- The Fall of the Roman Empire
- The Lamest Duck EVER
- The News
- The Pentagon
- The Petraeus Report
- The President in Ohio
- The Press
- The Senate
- The Supreme Court
- The View
- The War
- The White House
- This Administration
- Thomas Jefferson
- Threat to America
- Tim Russert
- Tom Tancredo
- Too Much Power
- Torture
- Trade Deficit
- Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson
- Troop Withdrawal
- Turkey
- U.S. Attorneys
- Unbelievable
- Uncategorized
- Uncategorized For a Reason
- United Nations
- Valerie Plame
- Veterans
- Vice Presidents
- Vietnam
- VOTE!
- War Crimes
- War on Terror
- Warrantless Wiretaps
- Washington Mutual
- Weapon of Choice
- William Odom
- WMD's
- WTC
- WWIII
Blogger’s Choice