I got to Raleigh around 11:15 Saturday morning. I picked up mykdsmom and we rode to a parking deck closer to our rally site.
Despite the claims by the N&O that police presence would be no more than usual, I saw a mobile command center for RPD and at least two paddy wagons, many mounted police, and a host of Raleigh police, State Capitol police and State Troopers.
There were also police spotters visible with scopes on the roofs of buildings surrounding the Capitol. Clearly, the authorities were expecting trouble from the Great Unwashed.
As we walked from the parking deck toward the 100 block of Hillsborough, we met a small group of the "peace" side. I was walking with my "Saddam Thanks You For Your Support" sign facing them. As we passed them on the sidewalk, one of them called me a ‘fag’ because of my sign. So much for their vaunted "tolerance", I guess. LOL!
When MKM and I arrived there were about 15-20 people on our side. Already, we were encouraged, because we had not expected many people.
As MKM said, we eventually had over 100 people. I personally asked many of them how they found out about the rally, and most said they heard through the news, radio or TV, and that they had never heard of FreeRepublic.com until the reports.
One thing that was a lot of fun was wearing the Saddam Hussein mask that MKM bought:
I wore this mask & carried the sign while walking all the way around the State Capitol building, all through the smelly crowd of throwbacks to the 60’s. While doing so, I told many of the lefties, "Great Job" in my best attempt at an Arabic accent (Southern-inflected). I gave them the ‘thumbs up’ and patted them on the back. Surprisingly, many of the people seemed amused, and I only had a couple that were indignant about my being on ‘their side’ in the first place.
We also had several bullhorns present. Some of us sang patriotic songs, in addition to the chants we did (such as "Let’s Roll! Let’s Rock! Let’s go and Free Iraq" and my exhortation to the hippies that they should "Swim to Cuba").
I was very appreciative of all the people who came out in the cold, damp weather to join us. In addition to FReeper dstarr and her husband, who drove from Fayetteville, we had two young ladies who drove up from Wilmington. Thanks!
All in all, I would say our rally was a tremendous success, given the time in which the two of us had to organize and publicize it.
Constitution Day