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View Full Version : Rally a huge success! Media trying to dumb it down.




MrOrange
07-01-2007, 02:25 AM
Hey all, This is my first post to the board, but I thought I'd give you a small first hand account of the Iowa event on Saturday, my first ever politically active venture... AND I WANT MORE if this is how it is.

Des Moines, Iowa
June 30, 2007

The amount of Ron Paul support for the Iowa "Life and Liberty" celebration was staggering and more than I could have imagined, especially given the short notice for organization (props to the Iowa and national campaigns). The Hyvee Center in downtown Des Moines, Iowa was packed with more than 1000 for Ron Paul's presentation. But that does not even come close to the story the news media should have reported.

Hundreds of RP faithful canvassed downtown prior to the event, a spontaneous army, from both coasts and in between, excited to spread the Dr. Paul's message of Hope for America. Bullhorns sounding, parades of supporters chanted the name and message of our candidate.

Bewildered but curious drivers craned their necks to see what all the excitement was about as we serpentined our way through the streets. Some honked their horns in support. Some honked their horns because our parade sometimes took too long to cross the street. Waving the Stars and Stripes my arm got tired. But a curious and enthralled Iowan rallied to prop the flag higher than I could. "You have to hold it straight up, like this," he said. He joined us for the rest of the march.

We canvassed the streets and passed out literature and invitations to anyone we saw, always politely and courteously. We targeted the area just outside the arts festival and got maximum exposure for Dr. Paul. Some politely declined, as is the custom in the upper midwest. Many happily snapped up the invites. Some stopped for discourse. One rather eccentricly feminine fellow will never forget the name Ron Paul. "Vote for Ru Paul" he shouted, before his friend corrected him.

No matter how they remember, one thing is for sure, thousands of Iowans now know his name. I saw a Chris Dodd volunteer table across the street from the corner I was working. Posted in front of a storefront plastered with carefully placed Dodd signs a couple volunteers handed out blue balloons for Mr. Dodd. Sadly, one balloon escaped and floated away, a fitting metaphor for the lighter-than-air non-substantive message of the other campaigns. Regardless of whether Dodd is a Democrat, his display nor anyone elses that day could match the mobile mass we brought to downtown Des Moines.

Back at the Hy Vee center, just outside the building, just before the OTHER forum broke, throngs of supporters pumped signs and chanted "Ron Paul" in unison at the direction of the bull horn. We sang the Star Spangled Banner then marched inside chanting, past the table holding clever little foam baseball mitts for Mr. Romney and past the metal-detector protected entrance to the Tax Relief forum. The other campaigns' volunteers positioned stiffly at their tables looked sick as they watched hundreds for Ron Paul file past them into the "Life and Liberty" celebration held in the room right next door.

Inside... well you know the rest. Some of those videos are up. Ron Paul did his usual thing, eliciting standing ovations and loud roars as he spread his message of hope, a return to the constitution.

I will say this. I expected better coverage of Ron Paul's side of the event from the local media. I thought somehow this would be different than the other times. Maybe the content has yet to come out on the web (I did not see the local late news casts). They were certainly recording something. One cameraman (I think from the FOX affiliate, definately a mainstream outlet) was recording as we paraded downtown. Earlier, a news chopper had hovered above the parking lot as we began to assemble (we gave him a heavy dose of RP signage to look down on). Another affiliate rolled tape inside the Hyvee as Dr. Paul spoke. They could not have had any shortage of material to pass on to their viewers. Hopefully, they did or will use it.

Any way. Great day! I'm exhausted. Thanks for reading. I hope this was at least a picture of the REAL story in Des Moines on Saturday (who really cares about Mitt Romney's religion?) There will be plenty of videos and stills coming, I'm sure (there were cameras everywhere), which will put this account to shame. Unfortunately, I only got a few pics and they didn't turn out very well. Enjoy the "underground" coverage and revel in the Ron Paul rEVOLution. Cheers.

Adam from the Twin Cities.

angrydragon
07-01-2007, 02:32 AM
Awesome Adam. Welcome and thanks for showing up to support Ron.


"You have to hold it straight up, like this," he said. He joined us for the rest of the march.

I love that part!

andrewgreve
07-01-2007, 02:40 AM
Excellent post. Long live the Infowar!

DjLoTi
07-01-2007, 02:42 AM
Hey I had a massive expierence in Atlanta and over 3,000 specifically receptive Ron Paul people saw my ron paul r[evol]ution sign... as for the media ... don't worry... we'll have our own media coming soon... 100% live and full coverage.... from beginning to end....

Therion
07-01-2007, 02:44 AM
Welcome to the forums, good post.

Spirit of '76
07-01-2007, 03:26 AM
Man, that's awesome! Wish I could have been there.

Welcome to the forum, and thanks for the report. :)

LizF
07-01-2007, 03:36 AM
Welcome to the forum MrOrange! Thank you for sharing your observations from the rally--very inspiring to read about! :)

granny miller
07-01-2007, 05:43 AM
Thanks for the post :)
You've made my day!


Granny Miller

beermotor
07-01-2007, 05:50 AM
Hey I had a massive expierence in Atlanta and over 3,000 specifically receptive Ron Paul people saw my ron paul r[evol]ution sign... as for the media ... don't worry... we'll have our own media coming soon... 100% live and full coverage.... from beginning to end....

You're in Atlanta? Sweet, which meetup are you in?

LibertyEagle
07-01-2007, 05:51 AM
MyOrange (or Adam),

Thanks so much for the inspiring post. It sounds like it was a wonderful event! Thank you and everyone else for making this be so successful.

GO RON PAUL!

DjLoTi
07-01-2007, 08:06 AM
You're in Atlanta? Sweet, which meetup are you in?

Man I've been in ATL for about 36 hours and I'm about to go back home... lol

dmitchell
07-01-2007, 08:15 AM
Great! Do you mind if I reproduce this story on my blog?

CurtisLow
07-01-2007, 08:30 AM
Thanks Adam for the play by play! Glad to hear that it was a great success.

nayjevin
07-01-2007, 08:54 AM
(attempt at) EXHAUSTIVE APPROACH TO EMAILS/ PHONE CALLS TO AUTHORS/REPORTERS (http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?t=5095)

mesler
07-01-2007, 09:19 AM
Adam, can I repost this on my blog?

batman00
07-01-2007, 09:28 AM
Ron Paul Controversy Over Iowa Tax Rally Turnout:

http://freemarketnews.com/WorldNews.asp?nid=44940

Scribbler de Stebbing
07-01-2007, 10:03 AM
Adam is great. He carpooled with me and showed tireless enthusiasm from when we arrived around 11:30 until we left after 9, and beyond. He's 2nd from left in front (white rEVOLution shirt) in this pict of some of our MN Group with RP.
http://www.mbeck.org/MN_RP_Small.jpg

ecliptic
07-01-2007, 10:14 AM
One rather eccentricly feminine fellow will never forget the name Ron Paul. "Vote for Ru Paul" he shouted, before his friend corrected him.
... cross-dressers in Iowa??? Incredible!

The other campaigns' volunteers positioned stiffly at their tables looked sick as they watched hundreds for Ron Paul file past them

That was my favorite part! Great job!!! Great post!!!! Made my day!

MrOrange
07-01-2007, 11:20 AM
Feel free to repost, anyone who has asked. Thankyou.

Adam

MrOrange
07-01-2007, 12:51 PM
I noticed some mistakes and cleaned this up a bit for the blogosphere, for whoever wants to use it. I'm not a blogger, so have at it. Thanks.

BTW Scribbler, thanks for posting my photo (do I look a little chubby in that one?). Had a great time with you. It was easy to be enthused with the crowd we had on the march. Keep up the great work.

Perpetual
07-01-2007, 01:58 PM
mmm, your march WAS pretty impressive. I was one of the RP supporters hanging out inside the hall when you guys marched past. I had the ONE hand-made sign of the day =(

But man, once the front of the march passed us, it REALLY WAS IMPESSIVE! It was like an audible cloud of Ron Paul enveloped us. You guys did great with it!

SeekLiberty
07-01-2007, 02:48 PM
Fantastic reporting Mr. Orange! Thank you for your contribution and welcome aboard! :)

GO LIBERTY!

- SL

Bossobass
07-01-2007, 02:49 PM
Scribs, it was great meeting you and Kevin Bacon ;)

We just got back (wife and I) and I'm cooked like a lobster. I got to briefly meet Tancredo and Huckabee (both fine gentlemen) and sneak a peek at their meeting rooms, literature and organized effort.

By comparison, the Ron Paul Machine was so much more dedicated, informed, diverse and real and...10 to 20 to 30 times the size.:D :D :eek: :eek: :cool: :cool:

We had the best of times. RP showed up early to spur us on. Mrs Paul and my wife talked recipe book. I had the distinct pleasure of meeting Scribbs and Meg and Roman and many, many more cool people, but a special mention of my great pleasure in meeting Josh (admin). We worked the baseball game crowd Friday night and met for dinner afterward as new folks arrived from all over the USA. Josh arrived Wednesday and never stopped promoting our man. He also built my 7-sign-tiered, 10 foot high mega sign, which I carried through the streets in the parade mentiuoned in the OP...A-W-E-S-O-M-E.

Josh...you are da MAN. That's what I'M talkin' about.:cool: :cool:

Pics coming later. Amazing speech by RP. The most relevant political speech I've ever heard. POWERFUL as he!!.

Bosso

MrOrange
07-01-2007, 02:57 PM
I had the ONE hand-made sign of the day =(


One handmade sign? I'm not sure that's entirely true. I know a guy from our group had one. And the Ron Paul rEVOLution signs were hand produced. Did you see the people with the airbrushed shirts and the huge airbrushed banner. QUALITY. The variety of t-shirts showing support for Ron Paul was amazing. All kinds of different designs.

nevesis
07-01-2007, 03:05 PM
One handmade sign? I'm not sure that's entirely true. I know a guy from our group had one. And the Ron Paul rEVOLution signs were hand produced. Did you see the people with the airbrushed shirts and the huge airbrushed banner. QUALITY. The variety of t-shirts showing support for Ron Paul was amazing. All kinds of different designs.


Yeah, I saw at least 50 hand made signs. At least a dozen were even hanging in the speech hall.