Raleigh NC, Patriot Rally Report

me | February 15, 2003 | mykdsmom

[mykdsmom]

It's a GREAT day for a FReep. We had a fantastic turnout at our rally to support our troops. At our largest point we had 100 people. Not bad for having 5 days to organize.

Suprisingly most of the people that showed up were not FReepers but rather people that had seen our rally mentioned in the newspaper and/or heard it on TV. All free advertising that didn't cost us a dime. One attendee is in advertising for a local paper that the peace rally advertised in. The peace people took out 2 full page ads to promote their rally. She informed us that the going rate for one full page ad is $10,000. Wonder where that money came from?

We will be having a lot of new FReepers signing up after this rally based on the responses that we got from people.

FReepers that were there were Constitution Day, wimpycat and hubby, overtaxed, blackbag, Helms, ncweaver, Jimidallas, dstarr, JNW74, shaunnc, shapka, mattwilloughby and daughter, GOP Pat, mykdsmom. I apologize if I left anyone out, I really tried to talk to everyone to find out if they were FReepers or not.

dstarr and her veteran hubby came up from Fayetteville, we had 2 women come all the way from Wilmington which is about a 2 1/2 hour drive away. They just lurk on FR but hopefully they will sign up.

One father came and brought several children that are all homeschooled. This rally was part of teaching them about their country and the freedoms they enjoy by living here. I can't think of a better way to do it.

I was pleased to see the number of young college age students on our side. It really gives me hope for our future generation.

We thanked the police officers that were there and they thanked us in return for showing up. They were definately on our side. I asked one officer for an estimate of how many showed up on the pro-peace side. He claimed they were saying 7,000 but he estimated closer to 2000-3000 total. Only one arrest though so everyone was fairly well behaved.

We got the bull-horns fired up and had some fairly good hearted banter back and forth across the street.

I will post the pictures that I took and welcome anyone to add to this because I'm sure I left some things out.

MKM

[ncweaver]

What a great day it was for Freeping! We were a little worried about the weather, but it was perfect most of the day. It was great seeing some of the regulars, CD, mykdsmom, overtaxed, whimpycat and others as well such as dei23, dstar, GOPPat, and more I can't think of right now. It was especially exciting meeting new people who had just heard of Free Republic and will be checking us out. There are so many people out there who don't know about Free Republic and are looking for a place to interact with like-minded conservatives. These rallies are great advertisement!
I had one polite, young guy come over from the other side and was questioning whether he was on the "correct" side or not. Don't know why he picked me out to talk to or if he spoke with anyone else. He just didn't understand why we couldn't buy the idea of more inspectors. When I explained to him that Saddam would still be there hiding all of his WMD and whenever the inspectors left, it would be the same old problem only bigger, he realized there was no logical solution doing it his way. It was like a lightbulb went off when he thought it through to the end. Well, you never know, maybe there's hope for that kid.

I loved having the young NC State students there. They had some great one-liners. Wish they'd had a bullhorn!

MKM, thanks for posting the pictures!

[OneLoyalAmerican]

Greetings mykdsmom, FReepers, et al:
Great showing for the Troops!

[Jim Robinson]

Sounds like a great FReep to me! And news coverage too! Great job, Raleigh!

[oceanperch]

Great turn out. I love your signs. Gonna steal your slogans. OP

[oceanperch]

Check out the slogans on the signs on this thread.

[Overtaxed]

Do you guys remember this part?

Yes I remember it! LOL I gave it a special mention in the HH.

[Overtaxed]

It was especially exciting meeting new people who had just heard of Free Republic and will be checking us out.

Did you hear the guy who came up and asked if we had a website? Heheheh...do we have a website!

[dei23]

The makeup of the peacenik's was humorous...I especially enjoyed the following sings: SUV's - Weapons of Mass Destruction, North Carolina Socialists Party, Alternative Energy - Not War...the people holding Palestinian Flags added an interesting touch, and those who got on the Confederate War Monument to protest made for a fitting illustration of the ignorance of where they were and what they were doing.

[wewillnotfail]

If you couldn't make it to a rally, you can still show your support
HAVE YOU VOTED TODAY?
cnn
moneyline
wolf.blitzer.reports
bbc.co.uk
citizen-times
wolf.blitzer.reports
cigardave

[mykdsmom]

I hope you're ready for the flood of new NC FReepers that will be signing up after this rally. I think we will be adding a significant number to our ranks thanks to the media publicity we got that mentioned the website multiple times.

I'd like to thank you Jim for providing us with a "home" where we can hang out with like minded conservatives. None of us would be here if it wasn't for your vision.

MKM

[mykdsmom]

Today's article in the N & O. At least she got our numbers right.

Here is the itty bitty part that dealt with our group.

While the peace marchers gathered, about 40 protesters assembled for what they termed a patriotic rally in support of U.S. troops across Salisbury Street from the Capitol. Within an hour, the patriotic rally grew to about 100, and soon they were trading criticisms and chants with a knot of peace demonstrators: "Support our troops!" vs. "Bring them home!"

"These people, they're against war now, but if something goes wrong -- a chemical attack -- they'll blame the administration," said Stafford Patterson, 21, a junior at N.C. State who held a 10-foot-tall flag. He had friends across the street at the anti-war rally, he said, but they were just out to meet girls.

Go Stafford LOL!!!

MKM

[sweetliberty]

"He had friends across the street at the anti-war rally, he said, but they were just out to meet girls."

Says a lot huh? Great jon FReepers!!

[Overtaxed]

Wonder what kind of girls they were figuring to meet. Oh well, there's no accounting for taste. :)

[Jimidallas]

Being an NC State Graduate myself I was proud to see the State students on our side. It was a great day for the Patriot Rally! The threads on this site showing the funniest pictures of the Anti-War idiots is absolutely hilarious. What rock do these people crawl out from under anyway.

[dansangel]

May God Bless all of the anti-ant-America FReepers for their efforts.

You guys are absolutely *wonderful* for protecting the *INTEGRITY* of our country!

{{{{{{{{{{HUGS}}}}}}}}}}}}

[mykdsmom]

Another little blurb I found about our group. Apparently they were upset that we even got a mention at all by the media. Must be were doing something right.

All of channel 14's stories ran footage of the 65 counter-protesters without bothering to mention how few of them there were, failing to even offer an estimate (I counted each of them).

All three stories also described the small crowd across the street as "a patriotic counter-protest," even after being told how insulting that was to the thousands who'd marched.

MKM

[ncweaver]

Did you hear the guy who came up and asked if we had a website?

I spoke with several people who had searched their newspapers, called the Raleigh Police, and other sources trying to find out if there were any patriotic rallies going on. They were so excited to find out that a website exits where they can find the conservative point of view and events around the country. I mean some of these people didn't even have Fox News yet. In other words, they are where I was in 2000-hungry for a conservative support group. Well, now they've found a home thanks to Freerepublic.com!!!

[Overtaxed]

Hehehe....touched a nerve, did we?

[Flyer]

Houston BUMPS Raleigh. Great job!

[wimpycat]

So our "patriotic counter-protest" was an "insult" to the thousands who don't give a sh!t if they undermine the morale of the same troops they claim to "support" just as long as they can re-live the 60's and express their pent up frustration that their guy LOST the election and their ideas for good government are destructive, unpopular and an unrealistic pipe dream (literally)?

I take that as a benediction for our side.