[See new update below scroll to bottom... 4:23PM]
Update 5:
Was told that I was on WMUR Channel 9 here at noon. On a bullhorn. OK, maybe I was? I probably was responding to the repeating mantras of the Left who were decrying that profits killed people with "No Profits? No taxes!" I was also was asked to be on Boston’s Fox News – probably all of 10 seconds.
Update 3:
Actually, the President went much later (about 20 minutes after what I posted below) – but still by the back way. As Amy did say (below) – Obama was going to reach out, the best place he could have gone would have been out the front and talk to everyone. That said, we both agreed (and reasonable people would as well, leaving out the back is not about Obama, it IS about protecting the President (no matter who s/he is).
Update 2:
Obama has left the building – the Lefty protestors are now leaving, without seeing their Obamessiah…..too bad.
Update 1: He’s here and went in the back way
Breaking 2:
Obama just landed at Pease in Air Force One. Already, I need ear plugs from the dueling bull horns – it is about to get MUCH more raucous!!! (heh! It did!)
BREAKING 1!!!
It seems that one of the Free Staters was accosted by either an SEIU or AFSCME union thug. The story, corroborated by several sources, is that the Free Stater said something that the Union thug did not like and hauled off and spit into his video camera
and then kicked him in the groin.
The camera was running so hopefully it will surface soon. I have asked that if anyone knows the Free Stater to see if he would come over and talk with us.
Not much else – have been spending a lot of time taking pictures – after the break! You will see the difference between the grassroots and the manufactured signs – I think it will be easy to see which group has the home made ones…
GraniteGrok is here! We are LIVE from Portsmouth High in Portsmouth, NH.
The lines are set, with a narrow strip of asphalt separating the Obamanauts from the Freedom Loving, Liberty-holding folks that wish to defend The Founders Vision of a limited government, personal responsibility, and freedom from Tyranny.
Yes, the NH TEA Party Coalition has survived the absolute drenching that knocked over our popups and the lighting that threatened to knock out our electronics. Few in numbers for the first hour or, we just had a contingent of about 150-200 TEA Party folks show up – and Obama hasn’t even shown up yet.
The effect on the Obama folks – "Where did they all come from?"
They had no CLUE what was going to hit them – and it took the wind out of their sales for a bit (newer post with the video here). For tiny NH, 3 minutes for a line of people to pass is a LONG line of people – don’t see that here for a political event (my thanks to Doug back in the office for the assistance on the YouTube)
Oh, by the way, Nancy Pelosi – message for you!
But this sums it rightly:
A home grown grassroots sign:
OK lots more in a little bit – First, an interview with Amy Kane of Atlantic Ave! She came over and has been walking around and taking pictures (stop by her blog later on for, as she says, a photo blog of the event).
Have you been talking to anyone?
Not really, mostly eavesdropping. She went through the entire line that was waiting to get into High school. To no one’s amusement, there was only 1 person wearing a TEA Party T-Shirt but "HUNDREDS" of HealthcareNow stickers (one of the main organizers of the event).
Gee, lots of Obama supporters, not so much the other side. If he is here, really, to convince the unconvinced, then why is the majority of the people going in there are already in the choir with their stickers?
The other side?
There were people talking about their medical problems – and people were finding them and taking them to the Press to highlight their plights – that seems to be one of the major reasons why these organizers were here.
THere are a lot more organized groups – their T-Shirts all match with websites on their signs. Also, there were a number of groups from outside of NH, especially from
Many more American flags on the TEA Party side – none were recalled being seen on the other side.
Her impression?
It is kind of a big show – no minds are being changed.
Estimated crowd?
1,000 or more (but I’m not good at this). She thinks that it is too bad that Obama did not come in the main road as it should have been important for Obama to see the signs on both sides. No where else will he see that, as the group inside is certainly one sided.
Pix will be up on her blogsite in a while – you can make up your own mind
One additional thing – she lives around here – the only person she recognized was the photographer from her paper – no one else.
OK, back to some pictures – this is what it is all about: the Bill:
This is duplexed print (for those of you from the Left, that means that it was done with printing on BOTH sides of the paper):
[UPDATE 4:28]
OK, I have to admit – I have not been able to put up a lot of the over 100 pictures that I took – LCD screens and bright sun do not make a great pairing – and my trackball stopped working and I hate touchpads.
That said, let’s see if I can recap:
We got here at about 7am at the Bowl-o-rama here in Portsmouth and waited for a few other folks to show up. Walked on over to the High School and scouted out the area. I’ll put up a picture later on from Google Earth where everyone was but suffice it to say that that some of the pro-Obama folks were here a bit earlier already chanting and drumming.
Side note: what’s with the drumming and the Left? Pretty much it was counter productive – the drumming drowned out their chanting – go figure
Anyways, we started to set up by driving into the larger of the school lots across from the Mormon church – backed right in and started to unload. While that was happening, a couple of the other groups showed up and started setting up their popups as well. Good thing – about 15 minutes after that, a thunderstorm came through and absolutely drenched us all – my popup covering us (think the ones that you would see at a craft show) got tipped over. It lasted about 45 minutes or so, accompanied with high winds, horizontal rain, and lightening.
Not exactly great weather for a protest and live blogging! Once it passed, it was time to set up. Thankfully, Tate had a Sprint card that allowed me to connect. The next time, the problem was that the sun came out. Now, i have a decent laptop – but the screen was no match for it even under the popup. Nothing but squinting all the time to see the lettering on the screen, trying to see where the cursor went, and basically slowing stuff down – I put up about 5-10% of what I thought I could
Overall impression?
A scream fest – one side yelling at the other. Did anything get accomplished? I would like to think one thing – the Main Stream Networks were here – reports are that a number of people were plucked out of the crowds from what they were either chanting or from their sign. Now, it really depends on what was said, what was asked, and how the interviews are to be edited, but hopefully ONE message showed up and stood out:
The TEA Party movement, and those that came out today, showed up on their own. I just got through talking to a middle-aged gentleman and his wife – his said in a concerned voice "I have NEVER done anything like this in their lives" – almost in an apologetic fashion. My reply was "is something wrong?" He said "something is wrong, and I’m having a time trying to figure it out. The problem seems to be is that something is being taken away – and I don’t want that to happen.
Nobody out, everybody in.
Finally, the Liberty and Freedom crowd said goodbye with a "Don’t miss your bus" chant
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