Posted on 01/27/2004 4:24:20 AM PST by veronica
MERRIMACK, N.H. - There was an unusually exciting campaign event here Saturday night for Sen. John Edwards, who -- to refresh your memory -- is one of the ones with good hair.
The event -- which, in retrospect, probably could have used a little more planning -- was held at a bowling alley. The original idea was that Sen. Edwards himself would bowl. Having candidates do demeaning things that have nothing to do with their qualifications for being president is a key part of our election process. Another example is the pancake breakfast, where candidates must flip pancakes while being closely scrutinized by note-scribbling news media.
FACT: A veteran journalist told me that, of the Democratic candidates, Howard Dean is by far the best pancake flipper. The worst is Gen. Wesley Clark. ''He doesn't flip at all!'' the journalist told me, genuinely outraged. ``He just slides the pancakes around!''
So anyway, when I arrived at the bowling alley, about 15 minutes before North Carolina's Sen. Edwards, trouble was brewing. It was like The Perfect Storm, with two powerful opposing forces on a deadly collision course:
• On the one hand, you had hundreds of people there to see the candidate, including a large, aggressive press corps that was not wearing appropriate bowling footwear.
• On the other hand, you had league bowlers, who were there to bowl, dammit.
Every second, more people were cramming themselves into the already-jammed bowling alley, and the hostility between the bowlers and nonbowlers, especially the media, was getting intense. Bowlers and photographers were elbowing each other. A woman was shouting, ''WE'RE TRYING TO BOWL HERE!!'' A man brandishing a bowling ball was yelling at a TV cameraman: ''GET YOUR (very bad word) DIRTY SHOES OFF THE (even worse word) LANE!!'' A management person on the public-address system was announcing that the police and fire marshal had been called, and that the building had to be evacuated.
Into this festive scene surged Sen. Edwards, whose campaign theme is that he is going to bring America together. He stood on a platform and gave a speech, surrounded by a dense crowd of media and applauding supporters. About 25 feet away, outside the crowd, the bowlers offered their rebuttal. It was a weird kind of stereo: In one ear, I'd hear Sen. Edwards explaining how he would provide economic opportunity to all Americans; in the other ear, I'd hear: ``OUR WHOLE NIGHT IS RUINED! YOU DON'T GIVE A (bad word) ABOUT US!''
But Sen. Edwards soldiered on, finishing his speech on a high note, with the crowd chanting, ''Edwards! Edwards!'' while the public-address-system person, caught up in the candidate's vision for America, announced that the police had arrived and nonbowlers had to leave the building NOW. So Sen. Edwards did not attempt to bowl, which was fortunate, as he does not yet have Secret Service protection.
As the crowd dispersed, I overheard this exchange between an Edwards volunteer and a bowler:
Bowler: Go Bush. You guys suck.
Volunteer: You shouldn't generalize. We don't ALL suck.
Bowler: Yeah, you do.
That's what's so great about the primaries: people talking about issues.
The other major news event involving a candidate doing something totally irrelevant to the presidency occurred Saturday in Manchester, where surging front-runner Sen. John Kerry, scrutinized by an international press corps larger than the one currently working in Afghanistan, played ice hockey. The media consensus was that he did pretty well, although nobody I talked to ever actually saw the puck.
Speaking of ice: It is brutally cold here, with the temperature hovering right around zero. In my ROOM.
Bowler: Go Bush. You guys suck.
Volunteer: You shouldn't generalize. We don't ALL suck.
Bowler: Yeah, you do.
If that bowler isn't a freeper, he/she should be made one and inducted into the hall of fame. lol
I have an alibi.
Police and the fire department from Merrimack, N.H. try to disperse a crowd of several hundred who showed up at a bowling alley to see Democratic presidential hopeful, U.S. Sen., John Edwards (news - web sites) Saturday Jan. 24, 2004. Edwards spoke for about ten minutes before the crowd was told to evacuate the building.
Just and Old thread I found and thought you might like a laugh
LMAO!
ROFLOL!
That's the "American People" that I can identify with.
Scary, ain't it?
Thought you might like it .. I'm still looking for that other one I mention earlier
BTW .. wasn't there an article about how Edwards and his wife very rarely go to expensive restaurants??
http://www.usatoday.com/news/politicselections/nation/president/2004-02-03-candidates-eat_x.htm
While in Iowa, Edwards was particularly fond of "butter burgers," she said. Those would be burgers cooked with a pat of butter on them.
But when he's in an expensive restaurant, he'll order fish or steak. "He doesn't eat a lot of vegetables" she said.
FOFL!!!
Crusty black pantsuit bump.
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