I missed the march...didn't get in until 1am so I slept in and didn't get to the rally until about 1. However, I was in time for about 10-15 speeches, most notably:
Dr. Paul
Michael Scheuer
Thomas Woods
Naomi Wolfe
Chuck Baldwin
Rep Jim Guest
I am completely guesstimating, but I would say there were about 1,000-1,500 people there. Not good, not bad.
Overall, there were some great speeches and I am glad I made the trip from TN.
However, I think CFL made a mistake by allowing a few of the speakers to say some really fringe things... both in the area of 9/11 truth and Christian activism.
First of all, this movement is about restoring the authority of the Constitution, not making America Christian. A few people took this concept too far. I noticed young people shaking their heads and wincing at ridiculous statements like, "First of all, if you want to be on the jury, God has to put you there." (Marcy Brookes discussing her role as a juror in the acquital of a man charged with tax evasion. Maybe I should've asked her if God put the OJ jurors there, too.)
There were a few speakers who made kooky statements like this, and if the press were so inclined, they could take that kind of stuff and run with it. This is already a movement that struggles with credibility due to its fringe members.
The big thing was the 9/11 truth stuff. Jack McLamb was especially nutty, and told everyone that the government had instituted a program wherein they marked your mailbox with a red, blue, or pink sticker, and when "foreign troops invade", the stickers will tell them who to kill, who to leave alone, and who to take to the concentration camps now being built by Halliburton. I don't put killing American citizens past our current administration, but I can tick off about 10 reasons why this statement is utterly ridiculous. He also blatantly stated that the government blew up the buildings on 9/11, and played the Christianity card VERY hard.
I'm not trying to issue a verdict on 9/11 truth - I've never studied it, and I don't discount it. But rallies like that are NOT the place for radical statements, and I am disappointed that CFL allowed some of the things to be said that they did.
Things like that allow the media, and morons like the Wonkette writers, to continue to marginalize and write off Ron Paul supporters as wackos. They'll completely ignore the 90% that's great and focus on the 10% that's fringe.
(Note: Wonkette DID pick up on McLamb right around the time I made this post. As I said...ignore things like Iraq veterans, NYT bestselling authors, and Congressmen, and focus on this guy. They also let me make some comments, then, after I made a sarcastic one about nuking the Middle East, refused to let any more comments through.)
