Posted on 04/14/2003 10:33:03 AM PDT by batter
T Minus Four, 4mer Liberal (and lil' 4mer Liberal), yours truly :), and some lurkers met at the Captiol's front steps around noon. Everyone was excited for the rally and the opportunity to show our troops we support them and let the anti-war crowds that the silent majority isn't going to just 'sit there and take it' anymore.
I think that Excuse_My_Bellicosity and redrock were around somewhere but we weren't able to find them.
After organizers lined everone up to form the yellow ribbon, we were told that it would be an hour-and-a-half before the photo would be taken. Oh well, it gave us all the opportunity to sit down and talk.
Finally, the plane came over as did several news helicopters. The crowd (placed around 2,000 by the news agencies) cheared, waved flags, and donned yellow hats or sheets of paper on their heads for the yellow ribbon shot.
4mer Liberal was interviewed by a National Guard documentation crew and other main-stream media crews mingled and interviewed crowd members.
It was a great experience and the whole event was a blast! One thing that stood out was George Wallin (a Medal of Honor recipient - was a corpsman on Iwo Jima who kept dragging the wounded out of the line of fire even though he was wounded and couldn't walk) stating that this was the type of support the troops need to see and that he was 100% behind our president.
I took the time to watch the evening news reports. All had good shots of the rally. Fox 13, Channel 2 and KSL 5 did a very good job at covering the rally particularly as the juxtaposed it with an anti-war rally that had meager turnout (even the organizer admited the turnout was rotten)...LOL! Channel 4 (KTVX) did a mediocre job. They went with a this rally isn't pro-Iraqi liberation/pro-Bush but just a mixed group who want to support the troops. Yes, we were all there to show our support for the troops but they must have overlooked all the signs people were carrying...even the gentleman that they (Channel 4) interviewed seemed to be taken out of context (ie KTVX stated he was opposed to the war, but they're interview cut with him just had him saying "Whatever anyone feels on this matter, we must support our troops"). Maybe he was opposed to the war...I don't know. Nevertheless the coverage was great espeacially when coupled with the lefties disappointeing rally.
As a final observation, if between 2,000-2,500 people were there, we easily matched the biggest anti-war rally (which took place a few days before the war began). I went to counter that rally and found that of the people that turned up, a large proportion were there just because they hated Bush or the US (or both). IOW, they were just there to protest against 'the establishment' and couldn't really care less about war...even PETA was there with their "no fur" signs (unless were are issuing mink coats to our GIs, I'm uncertain what fur has to do with the war). There were also a large contingent of wacko evironmentalists with their signs. The best part, however, is that a few days later the organizer was on the news lamenting how his rallies were attracting fringe groups who didn't have much interest in the war debate! LOL!!!
OK back on topic. Here are a couple of shots/links of the rally:
Utahns Rally for the Troops on Capital Hill
Utahns tie giant living 'ribbon' for U.S. troops Utah troops: People form a long "human ribbon"...
Additonal info can be found at the intial thread:
Rally for the Troops/America - Utah
More photos may follow as soon as I get them!
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UtahGirl - here's what you missed out on while you've been out of state! ;-p
Wife and kids close to the Indian.
Me..I went up and helped the scouts hold on to the Flag.
Maybe we should have a Utah Freepers meeting????
redrock
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