Obama Rally in Portland, OR Draws 70,000+
By SilentPatriot Sunday May 18, 2008 9:00pm
This is simply stunning. No matter who you support in this long, contested primary, there is no doubt that the excitement being generated by our two fantastic candidates is exhilarating and bodes well for our chances in November.
Tens of thousands jammed Tom McCall Waterfront Park in Portland on Sunday to watch Sen. Barack Obama wrap up a busy weekend in Oregon and a historic campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination.
The Portland Fire Bureau estimated the crowd at 72,000. About 60,000 squeezed inside the gates, and 12,000 watched from outside.
HuffPo has a nice slideshow of the event.
Wonkette has full coverage of Ralph Nader's record-breaking event this past weekend too. Literally dozens of people showed up to watch him speak.
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It's an Obama-thon!!
did he say blessed are the cheese makers?
75,000 elitists sweating all over each other. They were packed so close together, there was no room for their polo ponies.
I went to see Obama at a rally at St Johns arena in Columbus Ohio. The crowd there was impressive around 10,ooo, made up of one of the more diverse groups I had ever seen at a rally.
As I went around to find out why people were supporting Obama I was impressed by many of their answers. More detailed than I had heard talking to supporters in South Carolina who had been repeating the "hope and change" mantra.
Obama is inspiring people for sure. But can he beat McCain. Will the tidal wave take him through November?
I almost feel sorry for Nader.
"Contested primary"? You surely must mean this in the past tense.
Still, good on you for posting about this.
John Dean's latest on Obama
http://writ.news.findlaw.com/dean/20080516.html
Is Senator Barack Obama Truly Too Elite To Be Elected President? Further Thoughts on Obama's Intelligence and Education as Possible Barriers to His Victory
By JOHN W. DEAN
do most Americans want a President who is not smarter than them
Atilla the Appeaser, Bitter Despot @ 3:
ROFLMAO!!!
It's all about the Electoral College....
He won't do it without the middle class and the women he's pissed all over.
"the excitement being generated by our two fantastic candidates"
Sorry, generated by whom?
CD @ 5:
I think Ron Paul will be, unnecessarily (in that, he wouldn't need to be a wedge that helps the Dems win), the Republican's Nader this November.
#5 CD: Yeah, me too. Almost. ; D
Lemmings
Filthy Harry @ 9:
I also was not aware that Obama had already selected a running mate.
FBush @ 8:
You're confusing Obama with R Kelly.
Besides, once the primaries are over, I'm sure Hill and Bill will do whats best for the democratic party since they love and care so much about the country that they'll both be campaigning enthusiastically on Obama's behalf so there should be no problem with any demographic that Hillary has done well with.
CD @ 5:
I almost feel sorry for Hillary. She is going to get such a spanking in Oregon. It's a closed primary with a mail in ballot. The Republicans can't help her.
This sort of turn out makes me hopeful, because we have GOT to have someone in office who completely repudiates the Iraq war, and a good place to start would be the one candidate who was against the vote to authorize it...
True story: I took a job as receptionist at a combination amusement park/water park (the only such place for hundreds of miles in all directions, in my particular tri-state area). Friday, we had thousands of schoolchildren come in from all over the Mid-South. Some of the park volunteers that day included 8 Air Force cadets, the handsomest bunch of young American males you could ever hope to see, laughing and joshing, they worked in the amusement park for three hours, until they got called on their cell phones: They were to report to their base, and deploy to Iraq the next day. They were going from a place of blue skies and laughter, to a place of manufactured, needless death, and it is NOT right.
I felt as if someone had punched me in the chest, and I immediately cursed McCain for his plan to keep feeding the infernal meat-grinder that is this illegal war.
It has got to stop!!!
Blaed @ 2:
No, he's saving that one for Milwaukee.
Gretchen @ 17:
Zing!
Filthy Harry @ 14:
The people Hillary did well with aren't going to vote for a Republican.
People forget that the process as defined by the democratic party rules requires that the delegates vote at the convention and select a candidate - at the convention - not before.
This has nothing to do with Clinton.
Oh, the Nader hate. It's not as strong this time around, but here again it rears its head.
He's not a threat anymore. We should respect the fact that he has helped save thousands of lives (not cost them, like Hillary in voting for the war) and that he keeps running because he's more progressive than any Dem that runs (with the exception of Kucinich.)
I guess I feel sorry for him too. Because the people who should know better hate him over what wasn't even his fault.
He's not the messiah, he's a very naughty boy.
Um, 'two fantastic candidates'? 'bodes well in november'?
is this thing on? hello? Hello? Is this crooks and liars?
The Democratic Party has managed to find the two least electable people in America, two people the Repug noise machine cannot wait to run against. The number of stupid, meaningless, low, mean spirited, nasty, duplicitous, reacitve games that the Repugs can play against either one of these two are an order of magnitude greater than any candidate ever fielded by the Democratic Party. Is that good? No. Does it tell us how truly evil the Repugs are? yes. Does it mean the attacks won't happen? No. Does it mean they will win in Nov? Well, maybe, but the fact that it's not an obvious shoe in, is no testament to the glory of Obama or Hillary or the Democratic party, or America. It is pathetic that there exists as of right now a fairly decent chance for a Republican candidate to win this election. Pathetic.
And we haven't even gotten to the post party hangover yet. The fact that so many people don't see that the most likely outcome of this election is exactly the same as the outcome of the last election -- no change -- IS THE REAL PROBLEM. The FACT, and it is a fact, that the Democratic Party has spent 8 years being the reciepient of the hopes and dreams of the sane majority of the american people, and that the Democractic Party has sold those same people out to EXACTLY the same people that the Repugs sold them out is completely lost on the vast majority of bloggers, liberals, and general sane majority folks IS THE PROBLEM.
Just exactly how do you think that a skinny guy with no experience and easy target printed all over his blue suit managed to raise 400 million dollars in 2 years? Cuz the folks at Daily Kos like him? This is just sad. Where exactly do think the motivation for Jay Rockefeller's sellout of the Constitution came from? A bad staffer who didn't do his research?
Sure guys, sure, Lets all just hold hands and hum real loud because once all this 'election' nonsense is over (and actually that may be the only good to come of the upcoming farce), this country is going to turn on a dime and go .... right back to doing what it does so well -- making the world safe for the rich. Oh, and attacking other countries and killing people.
This adulation and fantasy game has gotten completely sickening.
Obama is an elitist unlike John McSame a true Working class American
FBush @ 8:
oh please...all those women he pissed on had a golden shower fetish....they loved it
when will you clitonites come around to the truth? your candidate is done...mcoldfart cannot be our next prez....obama will be potus
there's a new sheriff in town
WOW!!!!!
VoiceFromTheWilderness @ 22:
Ok, I'll bite, where do you think the money came from? Bonus points if you can explain it without using the words "illuminati" or "learned elders".
I Like Pie @ 19:
Well if the primaries drag out long enough so that no time is given for wounds to heal or anger to settle down, some may vote for McCain who will package himself as competent but harmless, but more likely they may stay home.
VoiceFromTheWilderness @ 22:
The Republican noise machine would run against a sweet little boy with bambi eyes and "Jesus loves me" on his shirt with a pro-life button and rosy cheeks and paint him as the atheist antichrist second coming of Hitler, so what's your point?
So, would it have been easier to raise money if he was fat?
Oh crap, my quote thing doesn't work that was to Wilderness @ 22 who called him a "skinny" guy. Never mind, makes no sense now.
VoiceFromTheWilderness @ 22:
I spell O'Bama to emphasize that he is a Harvard lawyer NOT a southern baptist minister. It is a reference to the (inaccurate) cliche of the irish in Boston and Harvard.
Is he better than Bush - of course. He is still a lawyer. Hide your wallet, he has an angle. The best you can hope for is his angle doing you both some good - long odds.
Clinton - well, you know about the Clintons.
oh please...all those women he pissed on had a golden shower fetish....they loved it
Every dagger in the heart of a clinton supporter is one less vote for Obamacarter.
VoiceFromTheWilderness @ 22:
well basically, there wasnt one candidate in the bunch the repugs couldnt wait to rip
and you really do need to do some research...because obama does indeed have millions of donors who put out less than the max....that is why his campaign didnt go broke...the well is far from dry
has he gotten corporate money....yup....but at least his campaign is not surrounded by lobbiests
and will you and your ilk please get off of the "no experience" talking point....it is blatant racism...blatant
to say that a man who became the first african american president of the harvard law review, spent 8 years in the illinois statehouse, is a sitting u.s. senator and has, without question run one of the most successful primary campaigns in modern history, has no experience...is pure idiocy.....and can only be chalked up to your belief that a black man is incapable of doing any of those things on his own
FBush @ 32:
oh please...all those women he pissed on had a golden shower fetish....they loved it
Every dagger in the heart of a clinton supporter is one less vote for Obamacarter.
you know what...i am so sick of the clinton supporters....just sick
they want a shitty country...so be it
bunch of nattering nabobs
am i insane?
we havent see crowds like this since bobby kennedy....but the clinton supporters just wanna bring us all down??
fuck that
get back in the kitchen and the bedroom all ye evil women....and IRON MY SHIRT
Obama has to be one of the most compelling speakers I've ever heard. Some people have suggested that he is ill at ease without a teleprompter but this is clearly not the case here. That was very well done.
Gretchen @ 17:
Well, I wasn't going to bite, but I can't resist. It would have been very appropriate for Obama to say, "Blessed are the cheesemakers" in OR because there is a high school in Tillamook whose nickname is. . . the Cheesemakers!
Don't sound like it beats the number of people who voted AGAINST him in WVA. But after all the jumping dancing imitation rock star still has the zonked out kids in his sites.
Hey uncle joe,
I'm white, middle class, a woman, and voting for Obama. So, iron your own damn shirt! While you're at it, iron mine!! ;)
Hillary's Downfall
Rebel Patriot @ 37:
Bullshit! What a cheap shot. For your information, neither Obama nor his supporters preach hate, but it appears that you might.
Free concerts are very popular. Kerry did the same thing:
http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/news/50740-photos-the-decemberists...
Atilla the Appeaser, Bitter Despot @ 3:
OMG.. LOL.
...don't forget those snobs who were paddling up in their 11ft, single-person yachts! I bet they read!
Rebel Patriot
take your fucking ass right back to wingnut central
im so sick of the 28 percenters...they and the clintonistas can all move the fuck out of my country
Peter G @ 36:
It was reported that Lincoln's gettysburg address put people to sleep.
You want a celebrity.
naschkatze Hussein @ 42:
hahaha....
sure they do. they promote the status quo. they will exploit the rest of the world just as much as the republicans do. it has been this way since the US became the defacto empire in 1945.
you support a system that supports slavery, that supports famine and corporate sponsored starvation, that supports wars of aggression, that supports IMF sponsored financial suicide of third world countries... and atrocities committed against their own people.
yes, even a black man will support the defacto slavery of other nations peoples to maintain the lifestyle of the US.
Gretchen @ 17:
I take you have never seen Life of Brian... LOL
Say what you will. the man is a juggernaut. Hillary nor McCain hold a candle to this specific kind of human. Say what you will, but neither pull good out of people like this guy and neither can match the aura.
I don't get all the hating. Both Clinton and Obama are pretty damn good candidates. I've switched over to supporting Obama since the CA primaries, for various reasons, but I still have respect for Clinton. Continuing the battle this far, I think, is invigorating people --- later primary states still feel like they matter, and people are turning out. Good for them, good for the democrats, good for the 75K people who took the time to go and support a candidate they believed in. Lets stop bashing fellow democrats and keep the eyes on the prize.
@43
You really think the Decemberists brought out a 70,000 person crowd? Okaaaaay.
37 Rebel Patriot Says:
starting to look like the old Nuremburg rallies now.
Naw. I think they looked a lot more like this!
http://www.jamd.com/image/g/3229614?epmid=3
Vote Racist, Vote Wicked Witc... I mean Hillary!
; - )
anon @ 46:
Actually I want a democrat and I don't care which one. I can see where you could easily make a mistake since I've made hundreds of posts here since the primaries started without attacking the honesty or integrity of any democratic candidate. On this site you declare your support for one candidate by posting some toxic crap about the other. Sorry I don't play that game. It's just unhelpful bullshit.
Rebel Patriot @ 47:
1947 - national security act - that is what did it.
And not to pick up the race gauntlet - but skin color has nothing to do with which side of the slavery issue you might be on. Entire 'black' civilizations - sadly - were funded voluntarily by slavery. Consider Somalia. I have seen descendants of wealthy black slavers who are today the social elite and were proud of their anscestors business. Its a human failing - sadly.
There were another 15,000 outside who could not get in.
FBush @ 32:
oh please...all those women he pissed on had a golden shower fetish....they loved it
Every dagger in the heart of a clinton supporter is one less vote for Obamacarter.
Is this an admission? Hillary is all about Hillary and apparently so are her supporters. Are her supporters are so petty they will allow their fellow Americans to suffer through a bush 3rd term?
Rebel Patriot @ 47:
LOL, I am sure all those poor people in the world will sleep much better knowing they have some guy writing all that stuff in a blog!
Sarah @ 50:
Couldn't agree you with you more.
But when anyone questions the wisdom of turning over one of the worst economies this country has seen, to someone
with less than 2-3 years of legislative experience, the response is startling.
Its the same "infatuation" that the country had with an inexperienced governor from Texas. And look where that got us.
The hate and vitriol from fellow dems is mind-numbing. When you ask questions that beg answers, the level of hate
and irrationality is stunning.
Peter G @ 54:
My point applies to many - not just you. Martin Luther King Jr. would have been ignored if he had delivered his beautiful words awkwardly - celebrity. Lincoln apparently stank on the stump - but wrote wonderful words.
Face it, Kucinich suffers (and lost for it) from Lincoln Syndrome in an age of celebrity.
I followed O'Bama and he was midlin - then Oprah got involved and he became ... well, slick. He has great delivery absent the Kucinich content. (My opinion).
I'm not criticizing you, just commenting that this is sociological not ideological or intellectual.
I'll have a democrat as well - even one of those remaining. :)
Filthy Harry @ 27:
It's a Presidential Primary not a traumatic life altering experience. "wounds to heal or anger" what a crock. Go pop some prozac.
"I am absolutely certain Connecticut is going to have the good sense to send Joe Lieberman back to the U.S. Senate so he can continue to serve on our behalf,"
-Senator Barack Obama Hartford CT March 2006
Liebermann-mentor, Barack-mentee
I can't get past that. Any comments?
Why am i not hearing all this hate Obama supporters are being accused of. I am hearing Clinton supporters saying they won't vote for Obama because they feel sorry for Hillary.
We are supposed to vote for someone we feel sorry for?
Obama in Portland with with a "few" supporters: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3cy5MBbDH0
The Dude @ 58:
you write as someone too ashamed to deal with the truth.
you support a fraudulent system whose economic models enforced by the military, caused the needless deaths of hundreds of millions since 1945.
and you all get into a tizzy and point to Hitler as the ultimate evil. No.
Your apathy is far worse than his direct malevolence ever was.
"... the excitement being generated by our two fantastic candidates..."
i understand the concept of being fair and not playing favorites, and i mean no disrespect, but hillary has never drawn the crowds that obama has...
and this ain't kindergarten...
It's refreshing to see that C&L can mock the democratic process like the big-time MSM (is that what we call the corporatists?), and belittle clusterbombs in the same blog post that appears to blatantly endorse Obama (or rather, ObamaMania as some Clinton-supporting sites call it).
Look, 72k is incredibly impressive in a liberal city of 300k. It's akin to the 100s of thousands here in texas, a conservative state of how many million? If i recall, Houston alone cast more votes in favor of Obama than several states in the union.
But is the contest over? How was Clinton's rally attended?
But, thank you. It's nice to know one of the presidential candidates actually opposes the war machine, rather than profit from it discreetly.
underdog @ 62:
some of his advisers include al qaeda creator Zbigniew Brzezinksi, and Skull n Boner (LOL) Ghoulsby. Not to mention all his Rockefeller sponsors.
just the other side of the evil coin - but with a pleasant and persuasive voice.
Rebel Patriot
I agree that this country has done, is doing and will do many horrible things. What is your solution?
Face it, Oregon is blessed with alot of intelligent people, clamoring for a chance to hear, in person, someone with common sense and who stands apart from the other two warmongers. They will want him back when he is Pres., and he will be
Sarah - I can speak for myself on your dilema. The neo-liberals have successfully skewed perceptions so far to the right that O'Bama has been described as the most liberal senator (see early blog entry here). He isnt .
Study Teddy Rooseveldt - a republican that would be described as a socialist by todays fascist right. Eisenhower is much the same. Goldwater (I'm from Az) told John Dean (a friend) that in the end Goldwater would be described as a liberal. John Dean is described as a liberal and his politics are identical to Goldwaters.
The US has a long history of two (not one) progressive parties. Those of us that have issues with clinton in particular do so because (by comparison to true progressives from US history) Clinton is a conservative - her husband being the best republican president in history (NAFTA, GAT, WTO, Media consolidation and more).
... and what is described today as the 'left' supports war and the war industry. Mind boggling. (Even this site)
I Like Pie @ 61:
How trite. Allow me to explain. The more emotion people invest the more upset they'll be when they're dissapointed, the more they are likely to spout something stupid like: 'If my candidate lost, I'm not voting!' or I'll vote for McCain rather than the candidate that beat my preferred candidate in the primaries." Not only is this to be expected, but you will find such pronouncements common even now. Normally these can be dismissed IF there is time for people to calm down. If not, there could be consequences.
That's the best I can do. If you still don't understand, try printing this out and showing it to someone else and ask them to explain it slowly to you.
Gas officially hit $4 a gal in Chicago today.
underdog @ 62:
as i recall, hillary supported holy joe too
we all cant be perfect, and at least obama had the excuse that joe helped mentor him when he first got into the senate
with some of joe's recent comments, im sure he doesnt feel the same now
Ahh, the old "heads we win, tails you lose" evil coin? When I think of either Hillary or Obama, I get the same gurgle in my stomach. Where have all the cowboys gone?
anon @ 71:
Its enough to make someone conclude that there is only one party.
oh sure, there are a few red-meat issues to create divisions on tertiary issues, but on the elites real agenda - there is widespread consensus and cooperation between the parties.
and that singular (money) party has done one hell of a job in pulling the wool over the eyes of a majority of the people.
69 xoites (One White Vote for Obama) defends Constitution Says:
Rebel Patriot
I agree that this country has done, is doing and will do many horrible things. What is your solution?
=============================
Long solution or no solution?
Rebel Patriot @ 68:
ah jeez....you forgot to mention that he is a member of the cfr
thats right...when he becomes prez he is gonna give the keys to the country right to the corporatists
oh wait...that door has been unlocked the past 8 years
next conspiracy....where was obama on 9/11, and what did he have to do with the dancing israelis
L.A. Confidential @ 73:
that is a good thing.
only by disassembling a seized engine is their any chance of repairing it.
and yes, I know the consequences of that.
underdog @ 62:
Yeah, a couple.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4x-RIvkDBk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZsYWiywdCA
"only by disassembling a seized engine is their any chance of repairing it."
Ah, ok Grasshopper.
uncle joe hussein mccarthy @ 74:
Um, yeah. You're sure???
Good enough then. Obama's past record should MEAN NOTHING when voting for him.
I'm sure he wouldn't DREAM of appointing Ol Joe as Defense Secretary. Just because he made an impassioned plea
to re-elect this neo-con MEANS NOTHING right?
OF course not! HE's the MESSIAH!
77 xoites (One White Vote for Obama) defends Constitution