Blue Mass Group

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“Largest rally in our state’s history.” LOL

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So I’m watching the live feed of Sarah Palin’s speech (it’s available at boston.com and also on NECN).  So far, pretty standard-issue stuff — “spending bad, freedom good” etc.  The crowd is cheering … but I’d say politely, rather than ecstatically.

Anyway, on Monday the Herald’s “Lone Republican,” Holly Robichaud, hilariously made the following prediction:

Liberals should brace for impact! This week Gov. Sarah Palin comes to Boston to hold the largest rally in our state’s history.

Well, NECN estimated “about a thousand people, maybe more” present to see Palin.  I recall a certain gubernatorial candidate in 2006 pulling 5,000 people to the same Boston Common where Palin is speaking now.

So, “largest rally” fail.  Sorry Holly.  “Lone Republican” indeed.

UPDATE: I’m no crowd estimation professional, but from the TV pics, it looked to be 2,000-3,000 people, which is consistent with organizers’ predictions.  Why Robichaud would say things like “largest rally in our state’s history” is unclear to me – it was not going to happen, it didn’t happen, and she looks silly for saying it.

Anyway, Palin’s speech is over.  She talked for about 20 minutes.  Anyone looking for real red meat would have been disappointed, I think.  It was pretty tame stuff.

If you’re interested in the post-Palin goings-on, the Herald still has a live feed going at this link.

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  2. not with all the talk show build up of this “event”.

    <

    p>MA GOP has to ask itself why the Republican pols are MIA for the rally.

  5. Sorta pro-immigration:

    <

    p>I think the retailers are the ones pushing bi-lingual customer service, btw. So, let the market decide.

    • Let’s be clear — English isn’t the language of this land.

      <

      p>1.  tUSA has no official language.
      2.  The folks who lived here before the Brits arrived already had spoken language… and they still live here.

      <

      p>A friend of mine is a Texan.  His family has lived in the same neighborhood not too far from El Paso for something like 400-500 years.  Most of his family only speaks Spanish.  Thing is, every single one of them is an American citizen by birth, for as long as America has been a part of Texas.

      <

      p>So really — they didn’t choose to come to America, America came to them.  They didn’t choose to be Americans, America chose them.  They live a simple life in simple homes, eating their cultural food, worshiping their cultural deity, and speaking their cultural language.

      <

      p>/rant

      • I was born in Texas.  I went to elementary, high school and college there.  Even though I moved to Massachusetts 30 years ago, many might consider me to be a native Texan.  It is so offensive to me, a native Texan, to see these transplanted Yankees who now call themselves Texans complaining about Spanish.  They need to learn a little something about Texas history.

        <

        p>Spanish speakers settled Texas long before Stephen F. Austin and his band of Tennessee/Arkansas settlers ever dreamt of Texas.  These Tejanos fought for Texas independence every much as (and perhaps more than) English-speaking immigrants from Tennessee and Arkansas.  Just look at the names on the monuments at Goliad, the Alamo and San Jacinto.

        <

        p>Rather than wallow in their mono linguistic ignorance, these ignoramuses should try to learn the native language of Texas — that’s right, Spanish.

  7. Well, not quite.  From the video, it does look like Mickey D’s would have been wise to stock up on Quarter Pounders.

    <

    p>I watched the video for ten seconds before seeing the first breach of flag etiquette.  Patriots, indeed.

  8. Good for Brown and Baker etc. for running and hiding from these wackos.  They definitely saved their arses.

    <

    p>She’s trying to start a chant from the podium:

    <

    p>”There is a communist living in the White House”

    • Too bad they couldn’t get a whole group of ex-SNL celebrities to show up for the Teabaggers.  Problem is, the rest of them are either sane, or representing Minnesota in the U.S. Senate, or both.

      • The least funny member of SNL’s Second Golden Age cast.  Chris Farley, Dana Carvey, Chris Rock were funnier.  Kevin Nealon was funnier.

        <

        p>Jackson becomes a shrill shill for TEA, Franken becomes Senator.  Quite a group.

        • She was pretty good in Weird Al’s 1989 movie, UHF, along with Michael Richards and Fran Drescher. đŸ™‚  

      • I mean, seriously folks, this woman is not the sharpest knife in the drawer. Please tell me that she doesn’t sound like this in real life.

        <

        p>I think she’s doing a Steven Colbert style send-up.

        <

        p>Too bad we don’t have Gilda Radner around to say “Never mind.”

        • Here’s her Web site.  There’s a link to an article where she talks about being on earth to bring people to Jesus and adds this:

          <

          p>

          I have an irritating voice, but all I want to do is make people wake up from the slumber,” she said. “Like a rooster in the morning – he has a very irritating sound and he wakes people up. That’s my goal.

          <

          p>There’s also a plug for her completely unironic album “Ukulele Ditties for Itty Bitty Kiddies” and some truly awful poetry:

          <

          p>

          The Coyote

          Walking my fluffy little dogs up the canyon
          Wondering “Why Can’t We All Just Get Along?!”
          I’m suddenly stopped
          By a brave and menacing coyote

          He wants to eat my dogs

          I raise my arms to flap him away
          He looks me in the eye
          I flap again and scream

          He slowly and reluctantly saunters away
          He looks back one last time
          The devil in his eye

          And there is the answer to my question.

          by:  Victoria Jackson
          Nov. 14, 2008

          • So it seems she has internalized her own comedic persona (or vice-versa).

            <

            p>How sad.

  9. As John from Lowell detailed:

    <

    p>

    MEANING OF OUR FLAG.
    Our Betsy Ross flag with a Roman numeral “II” in the center of the 13 stars symbolizes the Second American Revolution on its surface, but at a deeper level it symbolizes the “House of Liberty.” You see, there were “two” times “13” came together to change the course of all mankind . . . the “Last Supper” where a faith began with a “Foundation of Love,” and secondly, when 13 colonies came together and wrote a Constitution “Framed in Freedom.” With a “Foundation of Love, framed in Freedom” the “House of Liberty” Ronald Reagan often spoke of, was built, and this house can not go into foreclosure!”

    <

    p>The Herald has the picture.

  11. Yeah, definitely underwhelming considering I had been reading reports of “up to 10,000” people expected for this rally. The Deval Patrick Rally at the bandstand was bigger.  

    <

    p>A bit later, I had to take the commuter rail to an appointment on the South Shore. The cars were filled with Tea Partiers returning to the suburbs. I loved the irony of watching all these Tea Partiers traveling home via the socialized, government-run commuter rail after their Sarah Palin rally on the government-subsidized land of Boston Common. Precious.

    <

    p>Some notes:

    <

    p>Palin does not have a strong voice; people had to struggle and concentrate to hear her. She was further drowned out by the overhead helicopters, sirens, and downtown Boston traffic.
    Because of not being able to hear her, some people didn’t seem that interested in what she was saying. Yeah, they cheered when others cheered, but many people were conducting their own conversations or more interested in buying/selling Tea Party merch, or signing petitions, etc.
    *I’d say (at least) a good 10% of the people milling about were not into the Tea Party. They were the morbidly curious, people mocking the Tea Party, people on lunch break out for a stroll, runners, and the apolitical who just wanted to drink in the spectacle.

    <

    p>Not an unsuccessful rally for the Tea Partiers, but Sarah Palin does not yet have the juice to truly ignite and mobilize mass amounts of people in the Boston area. At least not on a Wednesday.

  12. He kept saying there were haters and homophobes.  (Personally, I was amused that the only sign NECN had to block with a screen was…his).  Where were the Hitler signs?  The hate?

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    p>Is BMG just COVERING for this?  Who ARE you, Fox News?

    <

    p>If there were not frontpaged signs of Obama-as-Hitler here, I’m gonna think there weren’t any (call me cynical).

  13. …but I asked some of the television journalists on site.

    <

    p>The estimate I got from them was consistent irrespective of the station: 4 to 5 thousand Tea Party folk.

    <

    p>I note with some interest that about half the crowd left after Palin finished speaking.

  14. Gay Pride rallies in Boston clear the 10,000 mark easily. In 2009, 800,000 was the number (source: Boston Transportation and Police Departments).

    <

    p>Palin isn’t even close. Maybe she should get herself a spot as a speaker at Pride this June – then she’ll draw a crowd in Boston.  

  15. With all of the hype it was receiving the last few days, it was pretty underwhelming. I was there, and I would estimate about 3,000 – maybe 3,500. Any sort of counter-protest against the Tea Party was pretty weak at best. Everyone was there to see Palin. If Scott Brown was there, it maybe would have drawn in an extra 1k just for the added “star-power”. As people have mentioned before, the sound system was terrible, the stage was not high enough ( you couldn’t see past the signs waving in the front). The helicopters also didn’t help, drowning out Palin – She does not have a commanding voice. That sound system just didn’t do her any justice. This was the last stop of the tour – she looked/and sounded a bit tired. I didn’t see any “racist” or homophobic signs amongst the real crowd-goers, but we will probably see a litany of pictures of Obama as Hitler signs – but let’s be honest here, we know they were liberal insurgents looking to tar the event.

    • Obama as Hitler signs are not coming from liberals.  The signs from liberals are purposely mocking the tea party as the one Kraank posted.  The wingnuts have been begging everyone to not show up with those signs for weeks in hope to hide what they have been all about.  So someone like PP can make a comment she made.  Look we’re normal.  But that’s been exposed in other posts here.  This is a fringe group, just because they want to make nice in Boston doesn’t mean anything.  If there is a photo of some crazy Obama sign then it’s because some nutjob couldn’t help himself.  

  16. It’s not entirely government taxation that is ruining this country.  In a much greater sense, it’s corporate power and
    the takeover of the entire American economy that is the majority of the problem.  It’s corporate power and it’s
    success in manipulating many of our elected officials. It’s Wall Street and speculative trading that creates the need for ridiculous profits which can now only be attained with lay-offs, stagnant wages, and higher prices. It’s George Bush’s “charge it” economy that created fake middle class wealth during his administration. Lowering taxes for the wealthy will not do a damn bit of good, as is obvious since GWB’s tax cuts for the wealthy was a precursor to one of the greatest economic downfalls of our time.  Federal tax cuts for the middle class have already arrived, however they have been offset by rising state and local taxes.  A smarter move would be to lose the tax cuts for the wealthy and refund the states so working/middle class American’s could actually realize the Federal tax cuts.  

    <

    p>If her only message is to cut taxes – she doesn’t get it either.  Tax cuts alone are not the only thing America’s middle and working class voters are looking for.  They want a return to economic fairness, a return of corporate responsibility and sensibility, and they want the return of the ability to achieve the American dream.  I don’t think tax cuts alone are going to do it.  

    <

    p>So, anyway, (yawn), not the message I’m looking for. Sorry, Sarah.
     

    • Basically a straight out appeal to Jingoism:

      <

      p>

      “Is this what their `change’ is all about?” Palin asked the crowd on Boston Common. “I want to tell ’em, nah, we’ll keep clinging to our Constitution and our guns and religion – and you can keep the change.”

      • It is scary that there are the radicals out there that will kill and maim to get what they want or to make a point.  
        But I know people who are lovers of the Constitution, guns and their religion.  They have hearts of gold.  They are the first ones to step up to the plate when someone needs help. They are jolly and kind.  They love unconditionally. It really breaks my heart to see that portion of that group ridiculed and denigrated.  Some of them don’t deserve it.

          • The implication that the rest of us don’t” – what?

            <

            p>Do you mean that there is the implication that the rest of us don’t have hearts of gold?  Well not true, in the real world.  When you get outside of politics, I think the majority of people have hearts of gold, etc.  We don’t walk around with our politics on our sleeves(unless it’s campaign season).  It’s that once you get into the political fights for power, that’s when all groups get marginalized into a single corner (including us), as if they all have the same thought process and inner motivation.  Honestly, if it wasn’t so important, I could easily walk away from politics, campaigns, and platforms.
            Life has so much more to offer than constantly judging and boxing in others, no matter who you are.

            <

            p>I have had great success with informing the uninformed just by being welcoming.  I have turned Republicans into unenrolled just by talking without judging.  I have opened eyes and raised awareness simply by acknowledging that despite major differences, we do have some things in common – and, hey, that’s cool.

            <

            p>What irritates me is when someone walks away from me or judges me for no other reason except that I am a Democrat.  I think as Americans we can do better than that. So that is why I prefer to not do the same to the whole of the Tea Party.  Keeping the lines of communication open only benefits all of us.

            <

            p>

            • …is that Obama supporters aren’t Americans, that we don’t care about the Constitution, our religion, etc.  As David points out, it’s a riff on an Obama faux-pas, but it’s still designed to create a riff between “true Americans” (aka the Tea Partiers) and the rest of us.

        • I, too, know people — tons of people — who are “lovers of the Constitution, guns and their religion.” I grew up fishing and camping with them in Western Maryland, West Virgina, Northern Virgina, and Pennsylvania (in the mountains between Pittburgh and Harrisburg).

          <

          p>The people I’m thinking of (I don’t know about you) don’t show up at mobs rallies like this. They don’t call the president names. They don’t challenge his birthright. They don’t threaten violent revolution. The people I’m thinking of want no part of this Tea Party nonsense.

          <

          p>The folks who show up for these events deserve ridicule because the things they say and advocate are ridiculous. They deserve contempt, because the hate-filled garbage they spew is contemptible. The folks promoting this Tea Party stuff are not “jolly and kind”, nor do they give any indication that they “love unconditionally.”

          <

          p>In my view, the ridicule and denigration you refer to is a perfectly acceptable and appropriate response to unbridled hate, selfishness, and plain old blood-lust. Unprincipled demagogues have fired up mobs like this for most of human history. The rest of us — especially those lovers of the Constitution, guns and religion who are just as appalled by this garbage as the rest of us — have an obligation, in my view, to name this unacceptable behavior what it is and be vocal in our rejection of it.

          <

          p>In my view, civilized people in polite company do not welcome people who promote the KKK or the American Nazi party. The Tea Party has openly and flagrantly positioned itself in that same space. The people I’m talking about politely ask those who toss around words like “wetback”, “nigger”, “kike” and so on to leave.

          <

          p>It’s long past time we do the same in our political discourse — publicly and privately.

          • Those people:  

            tons of people – who are “lovers of the Constitution, guns and their religion.” I grew up fishing and camping with them in Western Maryland, West Virgina, Northern Virgina, and Pennsylvania (in the mountains between Pittburgh and Harrisburg).

            <

            p>and absolutely true:

            <

            p>

            The people I’m thinking of don’t show how up at mobs rallies like this. They don’t call the president names. They don’t challenge his birthright. They don’t threaten violent revolution.

            <

            p>Wrong:

            <

            p>

            The people I’m thinking of want no part of this Tea Party nonsense.

            <

            p>They may want no part of the radical fringes of the Tea Party movement, but they absolutely identify with what they interpret the Tea Party to be. That is a revolt against an oppressive and intrusive government. The unfortunate thing is that they remain misguided in their thinking that it is the Democrats who oppress and intrude.  We should have coffee with them and share the truth!  At the very least we should not box them in together as one lump sum of losers.

            • I suspect attempts to convince otherwise are futile.  You always seem to read only what you want to read.

              • Your point is that they have boxed us in as anti-gun, anti-religion, and anti-constitution.  You are very right that that is false and it really sucks.   It irritates me too because the media seems to be able to label us as certain groups of people with narrowly focused missions.  It’s so far from the truth of what America is.

                <

                p>My favorite:  “Working class white people.”  What exactly is that suppose to mean? I realize that Hillary Clinton is the one that let that one spill out during a conversation.  The media took it and ran with it. All white working class people became looked upon as racists. It’s just simply not the truth.  For a good part of the end of Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, her white supporters were boxed in as racists, and her black supporters were boxed in as traitors. It totally sucked to be inside that box.

                • Look, Dale Weigel is a leader. The image of him with his racist sign has been posted here and throughout the web. There is simply no way to hide from his racism. He is not “radical fringe”, he is an organizer!

                  <

                  p>The media doesn’t write Sarah Palin’s hate-filled words. The media didn’t create Dale Weigel’s sign. The media didn’t create the Brown/Browning poster. Every mob is populated with “regular” people who — for whatever reasons — succumb to fear and anger, and attack wrongly-targeted scapegoats. The media is not creating those mobs, and in this case the media is not boxing anybody in.

                  <

                  p>Instead, the media is accurately portraying a disgusting movement that civilized Americans rightly want no part of.

                • Sarah went on to call Obama un-American!  One of the Herald pics has a protester holding a sign saying “I love Sarah because she loves my country.”  The implication being that Obama and Obama supports do not.

                  <

                  p>And the “Tax Enough Already” rhetoric is bizarre given that taxes are at a historic LOW:

                  <

                  p>

                  Income taxes: A family of four in the exact middle of the income spectrum will pay only 4.6 percent of its income in federal income taxes this year, according to a new analysis by the Urban Institute-Brookings Institution Tax Policy Center. This is the second-lowest percentage in the past 50 years.

                  <

                  p>As to race: Have you looked at video of the event?  All speakers were white as was 99% of the crowd.  

        • I mean, yes, it is a reference to that.  But that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be taken seriously.  A lot of tea party types really believe – because, remember, the tea party is fundamentally the same phenomenon (just the slightly more publicly acceptable face) as the Know-Nothings, the John Birchers and the “Patriot” militias of the ’90s – that President Obama is going to outlaw private gun ownership and send the ATF to confiscate their weapons, and that it’s a good idea to be prepared for a firefight with the government.  With the anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing in a few days, I’m not sure it’s possible to “make too much” of loud references to the virtues of firearms made to an audience (not just the assembled audience on the Common, of course, but the tea partiers across the country who are paying attention) which includes a disproportionately high number of people who passionately hate the federal government in general and the Obama administration in particular, and who have been fed a steady diet of “take our country back” rhetoric and Glenn Beck talking about the possibility of a new civil war.

        • I disagree with you about “making too much” of Sarah Palin and the Tea Party.

          <

          p>Sarah Palin is the a celebrity centerfold for the Tea Party. Her call to “reload” explicitly encourages gun violence from her followers:

          <

          p>
          Sarah Palin Incites Gun Violence

          <

          p>Her accompanying Facebook page builds on the theme, employing gunsights to target Democratic legislators:

          <

          p>The Tea Party movement itself reinforces this message for every violent extremist in America — signs like this were widespread in the recent Washington DC mob:

          <

          p>

          <

          p>I think we should be making a great deal about this. I suggest that the consequence of not making “too much” of this is likely to be that we will all find ourselves bemoaning a “sad” and “unforeseeable” tragedy.

          <

          p>In my view, when people and groups appeal to, promote, and encourage violence, we should pay attention.

          • to the worst of people.  The facebook page should be changed.  I think that most of this group would not consider violence…but there are the lunatics out there and this does seem to give them a permission slip to act out. Not very smart on her part.  

  17. Just got off the phone with a friend. He says a big chunk of the crowd were counter protestors. He took a FLIP with him, so there will be video.

    <

    p>Boston TPII – FAIL!

    <

    p>Well, Palin got paid. Win for Palin!

  18. … of crowds on the common.  Or at least beware those that would take credit.  As someone who walks the common by that bandstand pretty much every work day, it needs to be understood that as a traffic area you often get an onlooker swell effect.  While some of those onlookers might by sympathetic, many just watch for the same reasons people may watch a movie or a train wreck.  Add the counter protesters to that number and you have good reason to be skeptical of any crowd number that people can take credit for on the common.

  19. Not as Exciting as One Would Have Expected

    <

    p>I doubt there were 3,000 people there, and if they were, hundreds were just curious on-lookers (like me) hoping for some entertainment. And hundreds more were counter-demonstrating, or maybe counter-counter demonstrating. You decide:

    <

    p>

    <

    p>Sorry, that picture is so large! [Fixed. -David]

    <

    p>And of course there were just some out there to enjoy the day by getting stoned on pot (I saw a few of them too).

    <

    p>The sound system was pretty weak, so whatever the messages were, they were not being heard very clearly.

    <

    p>Working the fringes of the rally (imaging being on the fringe of such a rally) were the LaRouchers, in their typically offensive Hitler get-up. I only hope these young folks find the right medication someday soon.

    <

    p>Talking to a few cops, they said that this Tea Party was smaller than the average hemp-related events which also occur on the Common. I guess the Tea Party needs some different tea.

    <

    p>But all in all, not much adrenaline in this event.

    <

    p>by: Kraank @ Wed Apr 14, 2010 at 13:31:28 PM EDT

  20. about “out of control spending”. Where were they during the 8 years prior to this President? Not a peep was heard. In fact, the complaint about spending isn’t really how much but for what. They just don’t like Democratic spending priorities, who the money is to be spent on, and who has the say about it. It’s just that the way it’s internalized is “tax and spend” and “out of control spending”.  

    • what you always hear is something like “we were just gearing up to start protesting about Bush’s spending, and then Obama got elected.”  One of the “musicians” at the Tea Party rally actually said that she was writing the very songs she sang today while Bush was still president.  Riiiiiight.

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