An estimated 75,000 rallied to hear Barack Obama speak in Portland today, just days before the Oregon primary. Blue Oregon has video of the massive rally that gives a good feel for the size of the crowd.
Imagine John McCain drawing a crowd of this size. Betcha can’t.
I could imagine John McCain drawing maybe 1/3 of this kind of crowd — IF Bush were seeking re-election and McCain were challenging him for re-nomination. Okay, maybe 1/5 of that crowd size. Actually, how about 1/15 of this sort of crowd size — consistent with his largest rallies from the 2000 campaugn?
As it is, if McCain appears in Oregon anytime before the primary on May 20, I doubt that he will draw a crowd larger than 1,000. He got less than 500 visiting Washington, at a time when the nomination was still theoretically contested vis-a-vis Huckabee.
Actually most estimates are around 60 – 65 thousand. Seventy five thousand is a little on the high side, of course the over estimation makes sense since we are talking about a guy who thinks there are 57 states.
Rush attracted over 65 thousand at the King county fair grounds. And he is just a news show guy.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24696577/
McCain is good at attracting lobbyists. And by the way – whether it’s 65k or 75k it’s twice the size of the actual GOP candidate (Rush isn’t running you fucking moron).
Must twist the righties to see this kind of crowd and it portends of some VERY bad news coming in Nov. Will Jane be around after her party takes another ass kicking? Or will she cut and run like most of the right wingers here? HE HE!
Just wow.
Hey Dog,
When you got neutered, you lost your balls. Apparently, at the same time, you lost your brain. Poor dog. Woof, woof. No balls, no brain. Shit, how do you even beg for treats?
JBD@2&3: Pay no attention to their mindless attacks.
bybygoober: Rush was used for reference you idiot. Of course you missed the reason JBD pointed out that fact…
These right wingers are so stupid with this 57 state crap.
He said “we’ve visited 57 states and we have one more to go”.
Obviously he meant he’s visited 47 states and one more makes 48 – as in the lower 48.
But these are the same people who claimed Al Gore said he invented the internet – a bunch of mean-spirited liars.
Stupes @ 7 – you’re such a silly little man.
Doofus the mangy mutt is immune to reality – like you.
It won’t stop us however from pointing out the difference between the reality-based crowd and you losers:
Here’s the right wing fantasy:
http://web.archive.org/web/200.....efault.asp
and this is the reality here:
http://web.archive.org/web/200.....ac4vr.com/
and here:
http://ac4vr.com/index.php?id= 5
Old joke, still sorta funny:
If Al Gore invented the internet, why do all the website addresses start with W W W?
Obama’s Portland rally is the lead story on Drudge right now. Pretty damned impressive!
Remember, there is still 50,000,000 retarded lemmings that come out of their caves every two years and vote dead red. We got nothing won.
Get busy.
Your world is counting on you.
And now, for his second performance ….
A recent editorial I read compared the Obama campaign to a third party movement. The author (I no longer remember where I read this) compared BO to Gene McCarthy, Ross Perot, Nader, etc .. because all of these guys represented movements, or perhaps personified them to the point of replacing their own ideals with a cult of the personality.Unfortunately, these movements never seem t take hold. Is Obamism different?
As a movement, the Obama machine is awesome. It can out organize the dem party and out fund raise the party as well. BUT, Obamania remains a personal movement.
One of the most striking examples of this is the lack of credible surrogates .. if one excepts Michelle. Not only is there a lack of surrogates, the campaign really lacks any generals below Obama himself. Axelrod and Plouffe, the campaign braintrust are awesome but they are not obviously ideological. The ideologues on the team … Kennedy, Bradley,Tribe, seem rather quiet .. at least when you compare them to the cacophony on the Clinton side. Even Brezhinski, one of the most vocal vips in America, has become quiet since signing onto team Obama.
Why is Obama, Inc so centered on one man? The obvious answer is a worrisome one; Obama is very much a special person, natural leader with Reagan/Kennedy charisma and the IQ of Jimmy Carter and Richard Nixon. His colleagues may simply be cowed by the presence of greatness!
I find this quasi religious story hard to take and inconsistent with the government in waiting Obama appears to have assembled as advisers. These include a very young crew, as young as 35 with most in their 40s. Many are faculty at Harvard, Stanford, Berkely, Chicago and they represent overall a strong centrist point of view. Many now serve or have served with major public policy groups and .. at least among the older members of the team, a number were aides in the Clinton era. Among the recognizable names: Samantha Power (foreign policy), Austan Goolsbee (economics), Lawrence Tribe (law), Jeffrey Liebman (soical security), Christina and David Romer (macroeconomics), , Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar (immigration, latino issues), Preeta Bansal (Asians, high tech immigration, international civil rights issues, woman’s rights), Tony Lake (foreign affairs, Iraq),Susan Rice (Africa),John Brennan (intelligence), Jason Grumet (environment, works for a policy center founded by four recent Senate majority leaders), David Cutler (health care, Obamcare), Stuart Altman
(Obamacare, health policies),Heather Higginbottom (policy strategies)…. these are all highly professional wonks .. representing the sort of brain trust we have not seen in government since Kennedy.
Over and over again when I google these folks there is a story of conversion .. of meeting or hearing Obama and wanting to work with him, more evidence that Obam may be the real thing.
Noticeably absent from this list are such shrill voices as Carville, Lani Guanier, Howard Wolfespon, Ira Magaziner, or Lani Davis. This lack makes me hopeful.
The question is, having put together such a crew, can and will BO lead then into government positions and provide them with the kind of leadership that now seems sadly lacking in the similar crew that came to power with JFK?
One worrisome indication, is the lack of close advisers from the relatively a political worlds of business and science. His own science advisers seem to have little direct contact with Obama., although perhaps more contact then Clinton’s have with her. This makes me worry … many of the decisions Obama will have to make depend on hard ass science. For example his energy adviser, Jason Grunet, has come up with a plan to invest an awful lot of money into a sort of Obama version of the Star Wars Initiative, this time directed at energy. Fair enough but Mr. Grunet’s credentials do not seem to include expertise in physics or engineering. Is he capable of planning for research where the only answers may violate the laws of thermodynamics .. like the first star wars effort under Ronnie Reagan?
Similarly, Larry Lessig .. a tech adviser from Google, is a Stanford attorney rather than a computer scientist. Policy is important BUT it nee4ds to be formed form facts and I am concerned that Obama does not seem to include scientists in his coterie. Tom Robey, another Seattle blogger, has several interesting essays about science and 08 politics.
As I think about the campaign, I am getting worried. Obama’s coterie seems too … well, serious. Planners and policy wonks may lack the vision that more creative types bring to the table. When I imagine the best that Obama might be, my hope is that he could be a Jefferson. Our third President, however, was never very successful as a policy wonk. His contributions might never have born fruit if Jefferson vision had not been metered through the ever rational Madison and melded with the wonkish structures implaced in government by Hamilton. I will feel more confidant in Barack when I learn that some of his coterie are the sort of crazy folks I hang out with.
Kids, are you sure that that wasn’t Geddy, Alex, and Neil instead of a bloated gasbag high on Hillbilly Heroin?
I’ve finally figured it out:
Obama = New Coke
A nice idea in concept, fancy packaging, much sweeter, lots of press, lots of “sampling” by the public, but ultimately a failure.
So what if Obama draws the Woodstock-wannabe crowd — in Oregon, no less. These folks probably don’t have jobs or families or anything better to do. Except maybe light up a joint with Lee, chill on the lawn, listen to a little “Dead,” and play a bit of hacky-sack.
You wanna see that crowd disperse? Start handing out soap, towels and deodorant.
No, not Portland. Eugene, absolutely!
Now that we’ve established yet ANOTHER McCain lie – i.e., he has not ties to lobbyists – (except for his chief fundraiser that is) you can bet there won’t be any crowds of even 40,000 for that fool.
And even then, the GOP will do what they’re famous for doing – they’ll bus them in. They bussed the thugs into Florida in 2000, and Ohio in 2004 – they’ll be so hard up for an audience they’ll bus them in for JohnBoy’s next speech. Who would have thought it – republicans in favor of bussing! HE HE!
Oh and not that the inbred butt-licking right cares about facts – but here’s a source saying about 80,000 attended the Obama rally.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24696575/
What else can they do but quibble over shit like it was 65k or 55k or whatever? They see that they’ve lost. They’re own leaders like Peggy Noonan and Ed Rollins have admitted it. The inbred asswipes here on HA representing the GOP are just a little slower for obvious reasons.
Oh lookie here, HAs clueless idiot is recycling AVCR for the forty-third time. Nothing new here.
Nice job RERUN.
Real Mark–
Soap & Deoderant would flush out a bunch of them “Pretend Oregon Hippies”. You know the type…Granny’s trust-fund and beater Volvo’s. They have nothing to do but follow O-blah-blah around cheering for his empty speeches on change.
O-blah-blah is the MOST LIBERAL US Senator. Period. He has a votig record and threatens to raise the Capital Gains Tax from 15% TO 28%. Even Lefty’s won’t vote for that….the ones with money.
@20 Mr. Cynical
SMART, Patriotic Amereicans will vote fr a well run economy.
Dumbass, chickenhawks gave us Bush.
nuff.
Obama’s next biggest rally was in Philadelphia and topped out at 35,000. Philadelphia has a population of 1.4 million. Portland has a population of a little over 500,000, but the crowd size was 75,000. Philly also has a 44% black population, while Portland only has a 6% black population. Black people are Obama’s strongest base. So why wasn’t there a bigger crowd in Philly?
18 – Reality never wears out Stupes. It’s right wing bullshit that requires novelty and ever more bullshit “twists” to keep fooling the gullible.
You purveyed that ACVR bullshit Stupes. I’ve seen the post. I’ll have to dig it up but when I do, I’ll add it to my list.
I see you’re keeping a new tally. What a loser!
I screwed up that last link. It’s the best:
http://ac4vr.com/index.php?id=5
LMAO!!
NRO’s Andrew McCarthy notes that Barack Obama warmed Jeremiad pews for 20 years and heard no evil. Goddamn America? Obama heard nothing. U.S. of KKK? Nothing. The blue-eyed devils’ secret recipe for designer AIDS? Nada.
But a 20-second anonymizer clip about appeasement, no names named? Barack’s big ears (and shame on Maureen Dowd for noticing) heard his name being shouted loud and clear.
Wonder if he can hear the sound of one hand clapping.
John McCain: The biggest crowd McSame draws is made up of lobbyists. One more low point in the McCain campaign (or should I say the McCain lobbyist agenda which is identical to the republican agenda).
Link:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24696577/
Poor moron JBD: rush isn’t campaigning – drug-addled liars usually don’t run for president (‘cept the one we have in there now). You are the only one who thinks there are 57 states states moron. You individual state is the state of idiocy. McCain is the one who doesn’t know the difference between shia and sunni – and foreign policy is supposed to be his strong point. One slip of the tongue is all you got – you got nothin’ as usual. And we SHOULD raise taxes on the rich – only Bush/McSame and the idiot republicans opposed raising taxes to support a new GI bill for our soldiers. Thye think rich peopel keeping millions is more important than supporting the people dying for our country. Republican priorities: save the rich people yachts – screw everyone else.
@24: We can hear the sound of an idiot – an it is you.
When Bush talks about appeasement – does that mean begging for lower oil prices to the Saudis?
When the republicans start talking about what Obama’s former minister said – after he has been repudiated – it tells you they have nothing
Geritol John McCain, who is very very very old, don’t know much about economy. He doesn’t do economics. And he doesn’t know Shia from Shinola. And maybe that’s part of presenile-dementia pattern, and maybe that’s a problem.
Bruce Dumont, who does a lower-primate (i.e. Chicago) version of Crossfire, said he was on the Staight Talk Express eight years ago with young mod rad McCain. Young John didn’t know anything either, and seemed not to care.
If the older ‘wiser’ McCain still isn’t ready for pres prime time, maybe he can snag a second act doing stand-up.
3:
Rush is just a NEWS guy?
har har har har har har har har har har har har har har har har har har har har har har har har har har har har har har har har har har har har har har har har har har har har har har har har har har har har har har har har
Must be the neutering has affected his thought process negatively.
“You are the only one who thinks there are 57 states states moron.”
Geritol John probably does know how many United States states there are. But of course he doesn’t have an elitist law degree, so what do you expect?
19
Cyniclown, your spelling is atrocious. You are an asshole. A bitter asshole.
29
Bush went to an elitist school, hows come you aren’t bashing him.
Oh yeah, he didn’t get an elitist degree. Just the one daddy bought.
02:42.
03:02.
04:34.
04:56.
05:22.
05:24.
06:59.
Y’all need to pull the plug and go to bed.
“hows come you aren’t bashing him.”
Time for another of your condescending elitist rants about our atrocious spelling and “grammer.”
Mr. Cynical slobbers:
Obama wants to make the capital gains tax more rational? If that’s so, sign me up!
But why limit it to 28%? I say it should be taxed just like ordinary income. Capital gains (and interest, and dividends) should be subject to FICA and Medicare tax too.
PS. I’m a lefty with money.
PPS. And before you wingnuts start blabbering about “why don’t you just hand over that 28% that you want to pay to the gummint?”, I pay the tax calculated by Quicken. If the rate is 28% or 35% or whatever, I’ll pay my taxes. I just want all of those as fortunate as I am, and those even more fortunate, to pay their fair share. By “fair”, I mean that we who are fortunate enough to be above the median should contribute a higher percentage of our earnings than those who are scraping by. We can afford it.
34:
“Hows come” was used as a colloquialism. I was making fun of the uneducated. Having to explain it to you is evidence of your membership in the same group.
Here is McSame in his own words – contradicting himself, falling all over himself and lying to himself:
http://bravenewfilms.org/blog/.....-nightmare
this is the best the republicans can come up with?
Elitist is what republicans say before they raise taxes on poor folks and lower them for the rich. Elitist is what republicans say before oil prices shoot through the roof. Elitist is what republicans say as they ruin our economy and create the largest deficits in history.
JBD is now too chicken to even write under her own name – pathetic intellectual midget. Lucky I can only give the republican troll trash on here an intellectual whipping – in real life it would only take a minute top whup their collective fat butts.
N in Seattle,
You have to understand how the Wingnut thinks.
They believe the more you have, the more you keep and the less you pay. They believe that all the services they enjoy (police, fire, etc…) should be paid for out of someone else’s wallet. They need their money for the huge SUV, jet ski and motor home.
Kewl!
So how is your itchy PayPal finger, N in Seattle? Signed over the farm to Farmer Goldy?
40:
Itchy PayPal finger, if you were to pull your finger out of your ass, perhaps that would alleviate some of your discomfort.
to iPPf:
I contributed to Goldy’s fundraiser. Did you?
Like MLF, I suspect that iPPf’s finger is itchy because he/she/it is scratching his/her/its hemorrhoidal ass.
Pull my finger, douchbags. Pulled it out of my rectum (wrecked ‘im, hell. killed the bastard) just for you.
Re the recent post about Straight Talk Excess, Dumont (mentioned above) sez the smitten media overlooked astonishing McCain misspeaks eight years ago. This year it’s Trash Talk Express all the way.
13 Stephen, the thought arises that the absence of “idealogues” from the Obama camp might in fact be part of his appeal. We’ve had the better part of a decade of government-by-ideology and it’s turned out, shall we say, less than ideal.
@13: SJ
Gee – just what we need – false concern trolling aobut Obama. Obama doesn’t have enough political hacks around him (this MUST be a fatal flaw!)….and must be “cause for concern” and bad. I would say that the LACK of political hacks of the inner Obama circle has greatly helped him. It allows him to be his own man and run a true campaign and not pander – like Clinton, Penn and the other idiots over at the campaign that went off the tracks…
I saw Devil’s Advocate over the weekend. I’ve come up with the best RNC talking point for the election ever. It’s obvious that Obama is the Anti-Christ, cleverly disguised as a progressive. It’s all part of Dark Lord’s evil plot to destroy God Fearing America!
Here’s a McCain “crowd” for you: 50 high-rollers who paid big bucks to shake hands with the candidate inside a mansion hidden behind security fences while police keep “the people” at least a mile away so the candidate won’t have to see or hear them.
The photo looks not so much like your standard political rally as like one of John Paul II’s outdoor Masses.
@35 Why do *you* get to decide “fair”? I make good money as well. Did anyone fucking ever ask me what I thought I should be paying for taxes?
You want to feel guilty for working hard and achieving something with your life – assuming that you didn’t inherit, go right ahead. I don’t feel the need. I worked my ass off, and I did it without government handouts, or family connections. Women and children are one thing. But I’ll be damned if I’m ever going to agree that I should willingly fork over more of my hard-earned dollars to smooth the path for the lazy, the incompetent, the stupid, or the socialist.
@37 Dream on.
@38 MLF, you should know better than to make silly assed generalizations like that.
@49 A true capitalist conservative. “I got mine, to hell with you”.
You don’t like George Bush then, cause he made his money with government handouts and family connections.
You don’t like Paris Hilton, cause she made her money because of family connections.
The incompetant? So you would dump special ed kids on the street? How about old people, too enfeebled to work?
The lazy? who’s lazy? The only people work more are the Japanese. You must love illegal workers, they work harder and get paid less than anyone.
The stupid? Like the stupid people who trusted Enron with their 401Ks?
Or the socialist? Like the socialists who bailed out Bear Stearns to keep them from going under?
Do you have employees who used public education to become skilled employees?
Do you drive on roads, or use the internet?
Do you enjoy clean water?
Do you money in the bank, know that if it goes bust, the government will cover your account?
Do you like having a police and fire department and national defense?
Do you appreciate knowing that the drugs you take have been at least minimally tested to work as described and not be full of toxic chemicals?
Do you appreciate having a process to house and protect kids from abusing homes?
Do you like having weather reports?
Damned government taxes.
@49 Quit your whining, pay your share and STFU.
@53 I-Burn is yet another whiner. Isn’t it so true that incessant whining is closely associated with right-wing wackery? It’s a wonder that they don’t see it themselves. And yet they always resort to calling everybody else a whiner. I reckon it’s just more of that Psych 101 projection shit. You’d think they’d learn.
@55 Do we know each other? No. Therefore you are talking out of your ass, aren’t you. It’s a good bet that “my share” is one fuck of a lot more than yours, so stuff it.
Better yet, define terms.
Give me a sentence defining:
1 the lazy
2 the incompetent
3 the stupid
4 the socialist
Who are they to you? What do they do? How would I know when I see one?
If you cannot define them, then you are just speaking in buzz words and your arguments have no merit.
@53 Does that really matter?
Was I asked if I want to support those things? Was I consulted as to how much of my income I needed to contribute to make them a reality?
What if I don’t believe that government should be involved with everything in your list? Does that matter? Or should I just happily shut up and keep working, because thats the kind of stuff that you and yours deem worthy? Me, it’s coercion as far as I’m concerned. You may believe that the end justifies the means, but I do not.
Come to think of it, there probably isn’t a better summation of leftist thought than that particular little homily – the end justifies the means.
“Why do *you* get to decide “fair”?”
Because conservative definitions have been, almost universally, equivocal.
The conservative argument regarding capital gains tax is a prime example. Conservatives argue that a high capital gains tax is a disincentive for investment, yet “investment” in terms of the capital gains tax includes buying and selling pieces of paper with no actual investment in plant, equipment or R&D that would create any new jobs.
@57 My arguments have no merit, eh? Oh, I’m crushed. It isn’t as if anything I could say would actually change your mind, now is it.
Still, I’ll give you a thought or two, just for fun…
If you spend your time whining about how much everyone else has, and aren’t willing to do whatever you have to do to make a living – then you’re lazy. There are always jobs available. If you have no education and you’re trying to feed a family of five on a minimum wage salary, then you’re stupid. If you think you can better spend my dollars paying for your pet wealth redistribution scheme, then you’re a socialist.
This is only partially tongue-in-cheek, as there is, at least, a freakin grain of truth in all of it.
So now you return the favor. You tell me why you, or at least politicians that think like you, get to apportion my tax dollars in ways in which I do not approve?
@59 So? You don’t believe in the process, don’t participate.
Now now you guys are just going to confuse I Burns. Per type he’ll then just reset to conservatives good liberals bad.
I too would like to see the conservative define thier terms better. so often insults they didn’t get arround to last time keep jumping to the head of the que. Much more satisfying than having to actually think and consider.
I’ve met and had good times with lots of conservative folks. I don’t think I Burns would be much fun to be arround regardless of your political leanings.
Maybe if he lost it and took a swing. That could be fun.
I don’t approve of the Iraq war, private religious schools or oil company subsidies, can I choose NOT have any of my tax dollars go to them?
I-Burn at 51
Why not? The trolls on this board do it all time. MTRasshole makes it a point to mention his SUV as often as possible. I was just choosing to poke a little fun in y’all’s (conservatives) direction.
Why do I have to keep explaining the humor to conservatives? What is it about their brains that takes EVERYTHING literally?
I disagree, there are not ALWAYS jobs available. Not at the pay you had before. There are always McJobs, but try going from a lumber mill worker making good money, to a McJob worker, making minimum wage. It don’t work that way. And you are purposely ignoring the facts if you think so.
@62 Nice generalizations there, Ed. I don’t need to toss off gratituitous insults, btw. I’m comfortable discussing my thoughts with most anyone on this board, and I certainly don’t having any problems defending my beliefs. Fire away, old boy…
I’m still waiting for you to define your terms at @57
Blue John at 57:
You asked and I-Burn got lost, so let me help him.
The Lazy: Anyone who is out of work for any reason. Whether it is out of their control or not.
The Incompetent: See: The Lazy.
The Stupid: Anyone who does not agree with the conservative ideal and has the temerity to question their all knowing.
The Socialist: See: The Stupid.
There you go, I-Burn. I nailed it down for you.
#67 Agreed
That would be good. These oportunities don’t always exsist I Burns. Your chance to help the conversation, reach accross the asle, etc.
@68 Nice. You got part of it right, at least…
I did already provide these, you know.
Lazy = Rather complain about what everyone else has. And yes, there *are* always jobs. Have none of you ever had to start over? I recommend it. If you have drive and ability, you will succeed, mcjob or not. I’m not saying it’s easy. No one owes you that. No where in life are you guaranteed success. It is, however, possible. I have been out of work through no fault of my own MLF so why are you giving me attitude about it?
As for the rest? Figure them out for yourself. I have no problem giving someone genuinely in need a hand. I object to supporting people who suffer the results of their own poor life choices.
So let’s hear your objections now EW, MLF, etc… Please tell me more about what an evil, heartless, conservative I am. Then tell me what makes *you* any better…
Troll @ 22:
Good observation. Maybe it’s because back East, they were still under the thinking that Clinton was the candidate that “understood them”. Y’know, like the line that Bill Clinton was ‘the first Black president’.
Malarkey.
Back up in the progressive Northwest, they see the better candidate, and now without much doubt the Democratic nominee, and likely the next POTUS.
Even if they are a little infrequent with the bathing…..
@ 61
“You don’t believe in the process, don’t participate.”
Where did I say that I don’t believe in the process? Indeed, the process is exactly how we liberals are going to define “fair”.
I am, however, amused with the fact that you’ve chosen not to discuss the conservative shell game when it comes to taxes.
Got little inclination to take you to the shed I-Burn.
I would like to see the republicans redo themselves. This is a good oportunity for rational conservatives to give input and become part of a better opposition. To give a voice to a significant part of the population. To rely not on hot button issues to arrouse sufficient fear and anger to again sweep them into power. To again fail to actually support the needs of the population which they fooled again.
Or you could find yourself replaced by Independents as an actual political party. There’s certainly a large urg for representation not being met. Find out how to do so.
Looks like the crowds Musslini got Do any of you sycophants read his opinions or his book? He is a racist and a sexist Obambi.. what a joke.. Makes me realize what I think of Oregon to stupid to come in out of a BS storm…