A hangar at Richmond Airport was packed out tonight with a standing-room only crowd of enthusiastic supports of Jerry Kilgore and President Bush. The crowd was very pumped. We got there two hours early and the hangar was already half full. We sat in traffic leading up to the rally for half an hour at least. (Update: Chad Dotson says, “I’ve heard reports from people who were turned away because the place was completely packed an hour before the event, with traffic still backed up on I-64.”)
The rally opened with prayer.
(Update: Then everyone said the pledge of allegiance. Everyone emphasized/shouted the “under God” part.)
Bill Bolling and Bob McDonnell both spoke. They repeated the standard (but very important) things about lower taxes, family values, lower crime, and a culure of life.
I heard one lady say, “It was so full in there, when I put my arms up in the air, I didn’t have room to bring them back down again.”
The crowd was really into it, chanting “Jerry! Jerry!” several different times and booing heartily when Kaine or liberals were mentioned. The hangar was a thicket of Jerry Kilgore signs and Bill Bolling stickers.
At the end of the rally, we opted to walk back to our car instead of waiting for the shuttle because of the vast number of people and the probable long wait.
Jerry Kilgore spoke very briefly (about 5 minutes) and then introduced the President. Some of my favorite parts of Bush’s speech:
And equally important, you know he doesn’t need to run a poll to tell him what to think. (Applause.)
AUDIENCE: Jerry! Jerry! Jerry!
…
The thing I like about this fellow is he grew up in Virginia, and he grew up on a small farm. (Applause.) That means he’s a down-to-earth person. He doesn’t have a lot of fancy airs. That’s the kind of guy you want to represent you, a person who understands how the common man thinks, a person who shares the values with the majority of people in the Commonwealth of Virginia. (Applause.)
…
He’s on the right side of the issues, too. (Applause.) See, it’s one thing to have good character; it’s a different thing to have somebody who is on the right side of the issues. (Applause.)
…
If you want to keep your taxes low and keep your economy growing, there’s only one candidate in this race who will do so, and that’s Jerry Kilgore. (Applause.)
AUDIENCE: Jerry! Jerry! Jerry!
My 8 year-old sister Kristi remarked ruefully, “I tried to shout myself hoarse, but didn’t quite suceed.”
Here are some pictures from the event. A big thanks to my sister Heidi (14 years-old) who sat on my shoulders (She got heavy! Especially since I was already sore from playing football on Sunday.) and took most of these pictures.
Bob McDonnell speaks before the rally starts.
The Washington Post has an article and the White House has a transcript of Bush’s speech. The WaPo has more and more and more.
Update: There were some (about 10-15) anti-Bush protesters along the road leading up to the rally. At the rally, I heard one cute little girl ask her mom, “Mommy, why were those homeless people protesting?” She replied, “Honey, they’re not homeless…” At this point a man leaned in and said laughingly, “They’re not homeless, just clueless.” I was quite amused that a little girl would notice something like that. (Update: Seems she wasn’t the only one to notice the protestors’ appearance: “There were protestors at the entrance to the airport… But the thing I noticed about them was that they all looked like ragged refugees. I mean seriously when I first saw them I totally expected their signs to say ‘will work for fud’.”)
Update: You can watch some great video excerpts of Bush and Kilgore.
Update: Thanks to I. Publius for this great video clip (Quicktime – 21 Mb) of Bush’s best line in the speech.
5 Responses
November 8th, 2005 at 10:07 am
Hey great post!!! I’m amazed that you are so politically active and you can’t even vote yet. I’m from Pennsylvania but my sister is very involved with politics in Va so I follow them. She was seated a two rows behind the President last night on that stage.
November 8th, 2005 at 10:10 am
Cool! That means that she should be somewhere on this picture.
November 8th, 2005 at 5:05 pm
Yeah I think I see her head behind someone else. What’s really funny is she was there due to being classified as “Distinguished VIP” status, while her husband who works in the AG’s office for Kilgore was only given “VIP” status and sat in the bleachers behind the stage. You can imagine the rivalry in that household. My sis is the executive director of the Family Foundation of Virgina.
November 9th, 2005 at 7:54 am
I support President Bush because I ain’t descended from no monkey.
I can’t help but notice that you support Firefox. That’s a COMMUNIST browser. Do you realize open source software jeopardises corporate profits. The next thing you’ll tell me is you don’t drive a Hummer. I’m beginning to wonder if this even is a Republican blog.
November 9th, 2005 at 9:44 am
Actually I would say Firefox is the most capitalistic of browsers because it is free. It’s not “free” at the expense of taxation, but free because everyone works together on it. What kind of capitalist pays for something when he can get it free?
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