Just got back from the debate location on the UT campus.
There were about 20 kinds of crazy running around. But fewer people than I expected…probably about a few thousand or so people “rallied” around the rec center.
There were a lot more Hillary supporters than Obama people — at least they had more and better signs. However, the Obamanites were louder (more bullhorns and drums. Always with the drums.) and had better t-shirts.
The Hillary people lined up on the right side of the road, the Obamaniacs on the left.:
I searched and searched, and this is the only black person I found supporting Hillary. There was no shortage of black people wearing Obama gear:
Of course the anti-war Code Pinkos were there:
And since this is Austin, there were musicians. These guys were singing a song called, “Barack Obama Don’t Get Killed This Year”:
And then the Ron Paul crazies showed up, even though, much like the GOP debates, Ron Paul wasn’t at this one either:
This Ron Paul supporter? Blaming America (and the Clintons specifically) for 9/11:
The highlight of the afternoon was watching an older hippie guy with a Hillary sign have to be restrained from attacking the guy holding the above sign. It got pretty heated for a few moments, but settled down after a few moments.
I talked to two young students with Ron Paul signs…nice kids. Gabrielle was one of them. Didn’t catch the young lady’s name. I asked them what they thought about Rep. Paul’s refusal to debate Chris Peden in light of his complaining about being left out of the Presidential debate.
They had no idea what I was talking about. But they thought it sounded hypocritical and “shady”.
Also ran into one of my blog readers (and fellow blogger), Jim Howard. I met Jim several years ago at Journal Con here in Austin. It’s still surprises me anytime someone out in public recognizes me from my blog. But it’s also nice to actually meet people who are readers.
It was good to see you again last night Robbie.
I have three observations from the festivities:
1) There were lots more home made Obama signs than there were Hillary signs.
2) Lots more Obama families. Hillary supporters were almost all women with a handful of young men.
3) The Paulestas were jerks. They were bellowing insults at the Hillary girls with bull horns. I told them that they made me really regret donating $50 to Paul the day he announced.
[Editor -- I sort-of got into it with the Paul bullhorn guy, too. He kept yelling "Stop the War" at a nice old Hillary lady. I walked up to him and asked, "Why don't you go ask the jihadist to stop the war?". He simply shrugged his shoulders. I called him an idiot. He turned and walked away.]
Left by Jim Howard on February 22nd, 2008 at 10:11 am