Laconia Motorcycle Week - And Ron Paul? Huh?
Well, every week ending with Father's Day is locally known as Motorcycle Week. Just me and around 350,000 (or more!) of my best biker buds come to visit Lake Winnipesaukee with the majority of the action in the Laconia, NH, especially Weir's Beach section.
I'm not a biker, and unlike many area residents who take off for the week (traffic does tend to frustrating if you don't know the back roads); I just plan around it. Now, some really like it - check out DCE's photos....
Anyways, the areas down and around the Weir's tends to become a tent city of transient vendors hawking all kinds of stuff "motorcycle". Having just finished the radio show (Meet The New Press), TMEW and I decided that we'd take a spin through before the traffic got real heavy and they sealed off the area to vehicles of the 4 wheel variety to 'people watch".
Last thing I expected to "people watch" was this:
Yup, Ron Paul - Republican (really, more of a Libertarian) Presidential candidate RV. Not THE Ron Paul, but three "Granny Warriors" who had driven up from North Carolina for the debate in Manchester this past week and decided to stay. Located across from the Tamarack and Broken Spoke eateries, they will get a lot of traffic.
More after the Jump, including an audio interview (ok, a whole lot of Harley-Davidsons decided to participate as well!)
More pics:
Yup, seniors with attitude and they want us all to know it! Good for them for getting up and getting going. They even have a web site.
Now, there are some things that I do agree with Mr. Paul about, especially about what the Constitution says and how, perhaps, the Federal government has encroached into areas into which it should not. However, with this:
and this below:
(American Citizens For Truth)
he and his supporters lose me. While I was doing an interview (see below) TMEW got button holed by a very sincere person trying to convince her of the wrongness of going off the gold standard and the evils of the Federal Reserve (he lost points for that one with her - he talked, she had to listen). Yup, lost again....and yes, I got the "puzzled and look what I just put up for you" look. Deservedly so...
I also interviewed Eric and Linda here along with dozens of motorcycles chiming in. I do have to admit - the emphasis that the media is all "owned and controled" by the gov't is well over the top (remember when ABC reporter Dick Gregory and White House Press Secretary Tony Snow got into it?). Sorry folks, but the phrase "conspiracy theories" starts to pop up and is rather hard to put away.
I do have to say, though, I did not think that trying to preach to bikers will help his campaign an awful lot - at least not this week to these bikers...trust me, they have other things on their minds than to talk politics when they arrive in Laconia (let's see, what does that other place say...something about "stays here"?).
But who knows, who knows.....
