John Kerry Allentown Rally

Jay's Kinda Weekly Rant:
My rant is indeed fairly late, but it was intentional this time; I knew that, if I did it on time, I'd just end up doing a second rant for this rally, so I decided to wait and do only one rant because I'm cheap like that.

Last night was the training for today. This rally took place at the Allentown Fairgrounds. The area was quite empty since only volunteers and staff on the Kerry-Edwards campaign were there, so parking and seating weren't issues. Once situated, we were told some basic guidelines: the day of the rally, no drinking beforehand (not a problem for me) and no talking to the press. This last restriction was somewhat puzzling, but Kerry's staff explained it was to make sure everyone "kept on message," which also meant no "I Hate Bush" t-shirt or anything like that.

After covering the basics, all the volunteers were split into different groups simply based on where we were sitting. As it turned out, I ended up in "Counter-Protester". Done laughing hysterically yet? Take your time... Now? Ok, let me explain; it's not what it sounds like. The job of the Counter-Protester Team was to drown out any protesters (i.e. Bush supporters) that might infiltrate the event. For example, if someone with a Bush-Cheney sign got into the event (which was unlikely since people weren't allowed to bring their own signs into the event), we were supposed to stand up with our own signs and cover up the protesters until they were taken out (this was a ticketed event, so we were allowed to deny access or kick out anyone we wanted for any reason); if a group of people got up, we would have banners saying things like "Pennsylvania Loves Kerry!" to hide the whole group. And, if, heaven forbid, someone charged the stage, those near the stage were supposed to circle the person/people and move towards the exit, forcing the person/people, in an indirect way, to leave the event. Finally, if things got physical (a situation we were supposed to avoid at all costs), police and Secret Service were everywhere, so we would get their attention one way or another, and the troublemakers would be thrown out.

As it actually happened, I was involved in none of the above. Instead, some of the Counter-Protesters got to monitor the lines of people going through security for the event, make sure they didn't have any pins or other objects which would set off the metal detectors, and also have them turn their shirts inside-out if they had any negative/offensive messages (shows you how much is controlled at these rallies). We were also told to keep any eye out for possible Bush supporters, but I never found any. According to what I heard from some of the other volunteers, at the designated protesting area, Lehigh's College Republicans were there, but none of them (to our disappointment; the friend I carpooled with really wanted to kick someone out :-P ) attempted to get into the event, and there was only about twenty protesters total.

About half-an-hour before Kerry arrived, almost everyone had gotten through the gates, so my compatriots and I finally went in. As volunteers, we were able to wave our credentials around to get almost right next to the stage (maybe 8 people away from it). Then, at 6:30 pm, about 3 hours after the gates opened, Kerry took the stage. The energy in the air was enormous. While I was skeptical, he really delivered an excellent speech, and I agreed with most of the content. Additionally, it wasn't as hollow as I expected it to be; it had a fair amount of specific policy details (mostly, undoing changes which the Bush administration has made to the government). The theme for this rally was, as in the past, A Stronger America, and his catchphrase (which I hadn't heard before) was W stands for "Wrong Choices, Wrong Direction, and Wrong Leadership,” which was cheesy but quite agreeable with my own view of the Bush administration and signifies a change in Kerry's campaign: he's fighting back.