Posted on 04/01/2007 4:49:18 PM PDT by kristinn
C-SPAN sent me an e-mail last night asking, "Are there plans for any upcoming pro-troop events?"
After I finished laughing, I replied that the Gathering of Eagles are working on a rally with Rolling Thunder on the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend, but that we are not ready to make a formal announcement. (We still aren't, FYI.)
This morning, C-SPAN called me and asked me if I knew of any support the troops rallies happening soon anywhere in the country.
I told them about the Vietnam veterans reunion in Florida at the end of April. They said they were looking for something sooner. After we hung up I remembered a pro-troops rally on April 10 in Jefferson City, Missouri, being held by the Missouri state government Veterans Committee and e-mailed the info to C-SPAN.
In all my years of dealing with C-SPAN, they have never come to me and asked if we have anything going on that they could cover. It looks like all the phone calls to C-SPAN by Freepers and Eagles criticizing their decision to not cover the Gathering of Eagles got their attention.
The ANSWER rally that C-SPAN chose to cover live that day was such a dud that C-SPAN only replayed it once: at five in the morning.
C-SPAN and the rest of the mainstream media gave the tens of thousands of Eagles who came to D.C. that day an object lesson in media bias. It's nice that C-SPAN came calling, but it's too late to repair the damage done to their credibility.
'...The Nation...needs to see that there is ..another side..'
But, the sad part is, CSpan didn't show the rally with 20,000 + people who support our troops, our country and our President and now they'll show a more local rally with maybe 200 or 500 or 1000 people. WE KNOW there are millions of Americans who love our country and support our troops but, the leftist media has me so cynical....can't help wonder if C-Span's objective is to show 'small' turnout. Sorry for negativity...I just don't trust the lib media.
Perhaps I should be more trusting of our dear friends in the media, but there is no way we would get another response like the GOE this early.
Having ignored the GOE, I wonder it the intent is to showcase a small rally as an example of how we don't really support the troops.
20K is not peanuts. Hopefully this year will yield similiar results.
BTW, you didn't happen to take the "Club Gitmo" MOAB with you when you left the parade route, did you? It was in one of those chair bags you guys carried down to the Lincoln Memorial.
It's MIA.
We certainly got their attention. There's been a lot of interest in keeping the Eagles going. We're working the kinks out and figuring out how to move forward without messing a good thing up.
We will get a greater response, actually.
This is Rolling Thunder, not Free Republic.
One issue that has come up, is that many people only want to associate with groups that represent them more, that they have more ties to.
Freerepublic may be great for us, but most lurkers dont want to join in with us, even though they come here every day and even are registered members with occasional donations.
What the GOE seems to be able to provide, is a central clearning house of all groups under a neutral umbrella, where a disorganized group can meet with organized groups such as Rolling Thunder, Freerepublic, etc.
Rolling Thunder almost brings in 100,000 Bikes each year, so, there is no way the next one wont be bigger! :)
Ever see a Freep with 100,000 in attendance? Especially lately?
I used to enjoy and admire C-SPAN greatly. I hope they are trying to right their wrongs, but I fear that this may be just a try to get a small rally covered. But I'll try to look on the bright side and hope that my letter was one among many that woke them up a bit.
Thanks for keeping up the good work, Kristinn.
What helped make this so special was that it was done with very little coverage from the media. This was a true from-the-heart grassroots effort.
> BTW, you didn't happen to take the "Club Gitmo"
No. I am quite sure that I did not have that flag.
> Ever see a Freep with 100,000 in attendance?
I was still really impressed with what we did have at GOE.
I never expected that.
Oh well... I hope somebody on our side got it, and if it doesn't find its way back to me, that it's put to good use wherever it went.
That's the kind of local support that happens all over the country that never seems to make the national media. Thank you for continuing to serve our country.
BTTT and I raise you another bump too!
I'm sure we will.
They could have taped the Gathering of Eagles and broadcast it later that day. I lost a lot of respect for C-SPAN that weekend.
PING
GOE II has recently been announced...with permission?
The April event in Melbourne Florida is to salute all Veterans and is a weekend event at Wickham Park.
Not what C-SPAN wants? Not official?
Any Freepers coming down for this event? I have some room for Freepers.
Hi Ma,
I have several Ideas floating around for what the GOE should do next. Some really good ones even.
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