Here's the photo I took just before reaching high over 2 rows of shoulders in front of me, and was amazed that she reached way up and shook it.
I think I've gotten a better idea now, as to why it has been said that Alaska is littered with the bodies of politicians who underestimated her. She is short/petite, her arms/hands were slender, she smiles a lot (someone pointed out she smiled the whole way through her convention speech), she's a woman, she's very pretty (decades of observing Hollywoodheads have conditioned far too many people to believe beauty and brains are inversely proportional), she was actually once a major beauty contest winner, and much more ...... all the kinds of things that have caused people, especially Alaska's "good old boys," to smirk and dismiss her as inconsequential. "That little girl? A threat to me? Ha! What are you smoking?" Oh man oh man, do I ever hope that the Obamoids continue to underestimate her! Tell me, those of you monitoring the leftist websites. Are they still talking hopefully about McCain having "an Eagleton moment"? ROTFL! Don't they WISH.
There were a tiny handful of leftist disruptors (maybe two groups of 4 to 6 people each) outside the convention to "greet" the arriving throngs. The first group, next to the line of incoming cars, included a guy in a polar bear costume (might have been the same one I saw while freeping ObamaLeftistFestist in Denver 13 days ago .... hope he didn't die of heat stroke), and a girl dressed up as a beauty queen with the fancy gown, tiara and the whole bit - in order to mock Sarah. I heard the two women next to me groan in disgust when the fake beauty queen raised a sign over her head and they spotted her hairy armpits. LOL! Good way to ruin the whole effect of your costume and kill your message.
The second group was standing next to the half-mile long lines of the throng slowly shuffling in. They stood silently for the most part, just holding up signs castigating "U.S. Militarism" and the like, all except for one loudmouth who walked up and down our line, shouting things about the war criminals Bush & Cheney and the like. I had my friends hold my place in line, while I went up to join this disruptor to, err.... "help him out." For maybe 15-20 minutes, I walked wherever he did, doing the Nazi salute along with a constant patter along the lines of, "Heil Obama! Der chosen vun! Our new Fuehrer! .... He is our Messiah! The anointed one! The Media have selected him as our new leader! How dare we question the Media's wisdom? Why are we even holding this election, when The Media have spoken? ..... Heil Obama, the anointed! He will take our bank accounts and invest them for us, because he knows better than we do what to do with our money! Because he is so much smarter than us! Why, he is smarter than Bill Clinton. Maybe even smarter than Jimmy Carter!!! Yes, yes! Listen to this man here. He is sooo smart! Heil Obama! ..... You silly people choose your doctors now, but when Obama is Fuehrer, he will choose your doctors for you, because he is so much smarter than you and you should be grateful!" and so on. I got the distinct impression he didn't appreciate my help, based on the number of times he F-bombed me. But judging by the reaction of people in line, they were entertained more by me than by him. He said, "You're harassing me!" I answered, "You're harassing them. They don't want to hear you any more than you want to hear me. I have no qualms harassing a harasser."
OK, back to my photos. Here's the big man himself. Good grief! Look how high he's raising his arms! OUCH!! When I first reviewed this photo, I was chuckling remembering how when he (or Sarah for that matter) reached out to shake someone's hand, two or three or four people would reach out to shake it, all colliding together. In fact, that's what happened to me; all I got was a piece of his hand. But just this evening, I read here on FR about how he can't raise his arms very high, due to the years of torture in Hanoi, including being hung from his arms while they were tied behind his back. That sheds a whole new light on this photo. His arms are way above his head (my camera is at 8 feet high being pointed down) to reach all the hands of supporters, and that's definitely a grimace on his face - one of pain I strongly suspect - that's interfering with his attempt to keep smiling. I don't see anything amusing about this photo now. He paid a lot for that gesture. Hell, I sure admire the man a lot more now than I did before - not just because of this, but because of a whole lot of little things lately, especially today. That long laundry list of his political sins that floats around in my head doesn't loom so large tonight.
I've got more photos of John and Sarah and Cindy, but those two are the best ones, and I've gotten too long-winded here, so I'll close now with a snap of my good buddies. I really love their homemade, original signs. Enjoy!
