Report from Poplar Bluff, MO 22,000 cheering W to victory

[A.A. Cunningham]

(AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

(AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

[California Patriot]

Great crowd response in Poplar Bluff.

Kerry's in Cleveland was smallish and much less enthusiastic. Incoherent speech, nothing but a
diatribe against Bush.

[openotherend]

terrific pics! We just watched the re-run on C-Span, all the way thru...and then all the crowd handshakes...another 10 minutes! W seems energized and completely honest in what he says, he believes.

He seemed to be in his element. They passed a petition around town. I had a sneaky suspision it just would work and we got over 10,000 sigs. Jo Ann Emerson made it happen.

It is the only petition GW has recieved of this nature!

[lilylangtree]

Thanks for sharing. Have forwarded the pics and comments to everyone in my email address book.

[hoosiermama]

Great pictures! Great day! You must compare this to the Kerry rally near Cleveland....Day and Night (Except someone freeped it cause we could hear "4 more yrs"!)

[openotherend]

I stood for 10.5 hours straight today. I got in line at 9:00 a.m. and didn't sit down until I got back in my truck at 7:30.

[hoosiermama]

Hope you took some refreshment with you.

[goldstategop]

The contrast between the people showing up at the Kerry rally today and at this Bush event is quite striking. Huge crowd, lots of smiling faces here and every one is having a good time. They still came even though the weather wasn't picture-perfect. The Kerry rally had maybe a fraction of this turnout, people who looked sour and depressed and no one seemed to have fun! Wide angle shots like yours tell you more about the state of a campaign than any poll will. Send these along to Larry Sabato - maybe he can tell you who he thinks looks like a winner.

[rightvet]

Is that Tom Hanks?

Lower left corner of 1st photograph, he has a red shirt on with a goatee.

[Barlowmaker]

Outstanding~!

[Angelwood]

Great pictures! Thanks for sharing your experiences at the rally with the rest of us. W looks like a winner to me!

FReep On!

[openotherend]

Hope you took some refreshment with you.

I got in line at 9:00 this morning. I took a sandwich and two bottles of water. I drank the first and gave the other to elderly vet standing in line next to me. He asked me who much he owed me. I said you don't owe me anything, I owe you.

Then they started walking the lines passing out water to anyone.

[openotherend]

great pics. what is tom hanks doing at the ralley? first picture, left side, guy in red shirt.

I think that's his brother Norman.

[Graybeard58]

Poplar Bluff population about 17,000 and the Pres drew from 22 to 30,000 people in the rain yet!

I don't know the population of Cleveland but it's considerably more than Poplar Bluff and Kerry only drew a handful.

[BOBWADE]

Ping

[adrian]

Great crowd and very enthused. I thought someone reported that about 30,000 were in attendance. Bush was visibly moved by the number of folks that showed up.

Of course Keith Oberman had to make a crack about Bush's remark re gynocologist's loving women, the only blurb or remarks shown from the hugely successful rally.

[SolomoninSouthDakota]

GREAT PICTURES!!

Men & women, them there folks are Americans!! Didn't see a freaky looking America-hater amongst 'em. Contrast that with anti-Bush crowds.

Let's all see Bush cruise to victory. He is the George Washington of our day. Sometime look up what Washington said about the neccessity of war being taken to the enemies front. Can be found in "The Life of Washington" by Leonard Henly.

Thanks, you made my day!

[Conservababe]

Well, ain't we southeast Missourians something else? We worked to welcome our President and I think he received one that has outshone others so far. LOL

[openotherend]

CNN just so happened to put a cameraman right in my view of W. He's the guy in the back with the video camera that looks like M. Moore. All of the other Photogs left the scene after W took the stage but the CNN camera operator continued taping.

Maybe somewhere in the CSPAN taping you can hear me suggest at the top of my lungs that CNN should move it's fat camera man's fat ass out of my way. I didn't stand in line that long to have some lard ass from CNN block my view. He moved shortly after that.

[jamaly]

Well, ain't we southeast Missourians something else?

Absolutely! I was born and raised their myself; but, am a Louisiana transplant now. I sure wish I could have been there today.

BTW, do you pronounce Poplar Bluff as Popper Bluff? I don't know about most people; from what I can remember we always pronounced it Popper Bluff. We weren't making fun of it or being silly. That was just our southern accent I guess.