After Action Report
Gainesville/Alachua County Bush Rally
Well, FREEPERs, the Alachua County Republicans pulled off a fantastic event the the Gainesville Regional Airport in Gainesville, Florida.
The crowd was HUGE. The estimates are anywhere from 20,000 to 25,000 showed up for the event. It may have been more.
I (and my son, "mattdono jr")arrived to a significant amount of traffic about 5 miles away from the airport. It felt like I was going to a Gator game. On the street corner right outside the event, there were about a dozen of the "unbathed" (i.e., Kerry supporters). They were the typical derelict sort, replete with all kinds of stupid signs.
As a concerned citizen, I was sure to give them some friendly advice. You know, something along the lines of "Take a bath, get a haircut, get a job, pay taxes, and you will know WHY I'M VOTING FOR BUSH!". That brought a slew of cheers from W fans that were riding along in traffic waiting to get into the event. My #1 fan and I parked the car and caught a shuttle across the airfield where the event was being held. The crowd was already swelling and there was a buzz in the air.
Made it through security no problem. The Secret Service was very (very) efficient in getting the people through (if only the airport screeners were that good!). Grabbed some complimentary water, as it was pretty hot in Gainesville.
I get inside the event, walk around a little bit and who do I find: FREEPER FlaAvalanche. FlaAvalanche and I are friends outside of the forum, so I reintroduced my son, took in some of the sights. I should pause and tell everyone on the forum that, hands down, Republican women are SO much better looking than those liberal femi-nazis. I will tell everyone that there were A LOT of young people there (18-21). I think that the majority of the crowd was 18-35. That's a good sign. Also, I noticed that there was genuine diversity in the crowd (African Americans, Asians, Latinos, you name it even gringos like me).
Got settled in for the event. Several speakers took to the stage and were greeted with loud applause. Air Force One arrived to a rocking rendition of the theme from Top Gun (the instrumental deal). Then, W came in and the crowd "popped". I thought that I was at a rock concert or something. As I was about 50-75 feet away from the stage, it was particularly loud. W gave a great stump speech, including a line that I loved. He was talking about how Kerry voted for the war, then voted against the funding. Those comments drew boos and what not. Then, W had the capper, "Then, my opponent entered the flip-flop Hall of Fame when he said, 'Actually, I did vote for the $87 billion, right before I voted against it'". It was classic. The crowd loved it. He finished off the event and the people were rocking.
My son and I said goodbye to FlaAvalanche and headed to the car. As we were going to the car, I got a snap shot of Air Force One (and I got 2 minutes worth of video that I will try to post when I get a chance). Below is some of the pics that I took at the event. It took a while to get out of the parking log, but, no fear, mattdono jr made it home in time for trick-or-treating. It was a fantastic event and I will remember it for the rest of my life.
