My INCREDIBLE experience at the Glenn Beck Rally

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Late last night around 2am I decided I wanted to go to the rally. I woke up, took the bus to the metro station. The two lines going to the ticket machines stretched about 2-3 blocks each. That was around 10am when the rally started! It began moving swiftly as the workers decided to let everyone in for free. The subways were packed. No one was able to move anywhere and the temperatures inside and out were around 85-90 degrees and humid.

Finally arriving near the Lincoln Memorial I biked up to a CVS and bought a large white poster and sharpie.

Making my way over to the Lincoln Memorial the first site and sound was a small group of socialists singing some song about "workers of the world uniting". HA. About 20 yards after that I found a group of kids handing out libetarian literature and bumper stickers!

The Memorial was packed to the brim. Someone was saying CSPAN said there was over 1 million people. I wouldn't even know how to estimate, but I would say there was anywhere from 300k to 600k people.

After making an easy decision to not torture myself by listening to Beck and Palin, I decided to post up under a tree along a major entrance and exist route (23rd street). Easily tens of thousands of people crossed this path over the course of a few hours. I made a nice sign that said "RON PAUL 2012" and sat down for about 4 or 5 hours.

I am telling you, people LOVE Ron Paul. It seemed like every other person was giving me the thumbs up and saying go Ron Paul, or go Rand Paul. Many, many, many people knew who he was, and many told me they voted for him and/or WILL vote for him in 2012 if he runs. It was an amazing experience. Young people, old people, men, women, some people just running and biking not even apart of the rally, black, hispanic, white, families, even children people told me they adored him as a conservative and consistent congressman. I had person after person come up to me to shake my hand and tell me to stay strong and thanked me for helping to spread the message.

Even more people told me they backed Rand Paul. Some were saying how they want Rand to run for president once he gets some Senate experience.

Hardly anyone was negative. I had only three people say they supported Palin, but two of the three said they want to see a Palin/Ron ticket or a Ron/Palin ticket. A few people said they didn't want Ron to split the vote. Only about two people said that Ron should "start supporting the military" or that he was anti-American. Only one complained about his stance on the mosque.

The good news is people are very very open to Ron and his message of liberty. However, a lot of people are not knowledgeable on where he stands on some issues. Listening to people pass by, they thought Ron Paul was a libertarian that was pro-choice and supported amnesty. I tried to clarify his position to as many people as possible.

The only thing that bothered me apart from Beck speaking was the evangelicals. There was a black lady who was yelling at another man for supporting Obama. I thought, hell yeah, the Tea Party is in fact quite diverse. Well..it turns out after she was interviewed by some Christian/Theocrat station that she was just spewing Christian garbage. Now, I am Christian myself but these people are literally nuts. I am sure you know what I am talking about. If I can find the clips I'll definitely post it.

Anyways, I am definitely down to go again and do it better next time. I have my plan. There were also Gary Johnson supporters there handing out literature. I'm still for Ron Paul though:)
 
I was hoping for a coordinated effort on the part of the CFL to pass out CFL slim-jims in order to recruit and boost numbers.

But I am glad you went out there, thanks for your efforts. The more impressions we can get of Ron Paul's name in front of people the easier than 2011/2012 will be.
 
Late last night around 2am I decided I wanted to go to the rally. I woke up, took the bus to the metro station. The two lines going to the ticket machines stretched about 2-3 blocks each. That was around 10am when the rally started! It began moving swiftly as the workers decided to let everyone in for free. The subways were packed. No one was able to move anywhere and the temperatures inside and out were around 85-90 degrees and humid.

Finally arriving near the Lincoln Memorial I biked up to a CVS and bought a large white poster and sharpie.

Making my way over to the Lincoln Memorial the first site and sound was a small group of socialists singing some song about "workers of the world uniting". HA. About 20 yards after that I found a group of kids handing out libetarian literature and bumper stickers!

The Memorial was packed to the brim. Someone was saying CSPAN said there was over 1 million people. I wouldn't even know how to estimate, but I would say there was anywhere from 300k to 600k people.

After making an easy decision to not torture myself by listening to Beck and Palin, I decided to post up under a tree along a major entrance and exist route (23rd street). Easily tens of thousands of people crossed this path over the course of a few hours. I made a nice sign that said "RON PAUL 2012" and sat down for about 4 or 5 hours.

I am telling you, people LOVE Ron Paul. It seemed like every other person was giving me the thumbs up and saying go Ron Paul, or go Rand Paul. Many, many, many people knew who he was, and many told me they voted for him and/or WILL vote for him in 2012 if he runs. It was an amazing experience. Young people, old people, men, women, some people just running and biking not even apart of the rally, black, hispanic, white, families, even children people told me they adored him as a conservative and consistent congressman. I had person after person come up to me to shake my hand and tell me to stay strong and thanked me for helping to spread the message.

Even more people told me they backed Rand Paul. Some were saying how they want Rand to run for president once he gets some Senate experience.

Hardly anyone was negative. I had only three people say they supported Palin, but two of the three said they want to see a Palin/Ron ticket or a Ron/Palin ticket. A few people said they didn't want Ron to split the vote. Only about two people said that Ron should "start supporting the military" or that he was anti-American. Only one complained about his stance on the mosque.

The good news is people are very very open to Ron and his message of liberty. However, a lot of people are not knowledgeable on where he stands on some issues. Listening to people pass by, they thought Ron Paul was a libertarian that was pro-choice and supported amnesty. I tried to clarify his position to as many people as possible.

The only thing that bothered me apart from Beck speaking was the evangelicals. There was a black lady who was yelling at another man for supporting Obama. I thought, hell yeah, the Tea Party is in fact quite diverse. Well..it turns out after she was interviewed by some Christian/Theocrat station that she was just spewing Christian garbage. Now, I am Christian myself but these people are literally nuts. I am sure you know what I am talking about. If I can find the clips I'll definitely post it.

Anyways, I am definitely down to go again and do it better next time. I have my plan. There were also Gary Johnson supporters there handing out literature. I'm still for Ron Paul though:)

woot woot, also don't forget to tell folks to register republican and become a delegate and get involved;)

thanks for update:)
 
Didn't Bill O'Reilly say he would quit if Beck got over 100,000 to show up?
 
You left right as I arrived. I only got to hear the last hour and a half with Glen Beck. YOu missed the Michelle Bachman tea party event though. Plenty opportunity to get the Ron Paul message out there too. Of course I can't chide anyone I just listened and kept to myself when I was there.
 
This is precisely how you do it. Simple but effective. Post up, hold a sign, engage in a friendly manner.

Pretty awesome write up. Thanks for posting.
 
How many times are you going to post this?

Knowing Matt...

YouTube - Judge Napolitano on Iran War Rhetoric

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Moral of the story go to these events and wear identifying items. I wish I had a Schiff for Senate shirt or something. I don't feel comfortable wearing that stuff, but it would make a huge difference if people were there with Ron Paul shirts and the like.

It would help Ron Paul overall.
 
That's definitely more encouraging than I expected. :) Thanks for reporting back!
 
I am ashamed at my lack of initiative and action to support the message of Liberty.

Well done!
 
We noticed the same thing at the TEA Party we attended last year. Two guys were there with an enormous Ron Paul sign, and the people wandering by were almost all saying positive things when they commented on it.
 
to the OP, great post, and very good news about the reception to Ron Paul. Sounds like what Beck was pushing and what people there were thinking were two different things, except for the really hardcore evangelicals? Makes me feel better about the whole thing, but still, what I have read about it and the clips I saw left a really bad taste in my mouth. :(
 
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