"Ronstock" Rally Rocks Philly

Monday the money gods smiled favorably on Ron Paul's presidential campaign with a record breaking single day fundraiser that brought in $4.2 million. On Saturday the weather gods also smiled favorably as the cloudy and rainy sky cleared up just in time for the start of "Ronstock", a celebration of peace and freedom for thousands of Ron Paul supporters who gathered from all parts of the country at Independence Mall in Philadelphia. Paul spoke extemporaneously and at considerable length, addressing his signature issues of peace abroad and freedom at home. The crowd responded enthusiastically to every serving of antiwar and antigovernment rhetoric.

Prior to the rally Ron Paul met privately with a group of supporters who, hopefully for the campaign, would donate a sufficient amount of funds that will at least partially pay the high cost of having the rally in Philadelphia.

In keeping with the Veteran's Day theme the campaign emphasized veteran's issues and support for the troops by ending the war and bringing them home. The campaign reserved space and set up chairs near the podium for hundreds of veterans who showed up to express their support for Paul's candidacy. Army veteran and country music artist Rockie Lynne got things started with a tribute to the veterans. John Holland, leader of an organization dedicated to promoting awareness of POW/MIA issues, spoke in support of a bill sponsored by Ron Paul that would open up government records pertaining to their status. New Jersey State Assemblyman Michael Doherty, a West Point graduate with three sons in military service, endorsed Ron Paul and said it was time for the US to stop being world policeman and do more to defend its own borders.

The campaign set up a tent with Internet service for media and bloggers reporting live from the rally. Comprehensive video coverage was available on justin.tv, and CNN had limited coverage on their web site. Among the bloggers was Kent Nowviskie, a veteran from West Virginia, who reported that one group of supporters, "Hoosiers For Paul", drove 12 hours from Indiana. Another blogger, Brad Porter, noted that he thought this was the biggest political rally he had ever been to and it was clear now that Ron Paul was attracting a lot more support than just 9/11 conspiracy theorists, libertarians, and web geeks. Ron Paul himself acknowledged at the end of his speech that he thought this was the biggest rally of his campaign so far, and it proved there was more support for his candidacy than a few dozen spammers on the internet.

Crowd estimates varied but prior to the rally the campaign reported approximately 2500 rsvp's on the rally's web site. Most observers who were there, including bloggers, reported at least two thousand and maybe as high as three or four thousand which would be about what the campaign and rally organizers expected. The Communications Director for the campaign reported about 5,000. The steady rain, coupled with cold and windy weather, until just prior to the rally likely impacted attendance. Regardless, it appears to be the largest Ron Paul campaign event so far.

Demographically, from observing various pictures and video of the rally, the crowd probably reflected the base of Ron Paul's support: predominantly white, middle-aged males. In many ways it is remeniscient of the kind of support for another antiwar paleoconservative populist who ran for the Republican presidential nomination in 1996, Pat Buchanan. And most of us remember who won the New Hampshire primary that year.

Comments

[Galvestonians for Dr. Ron Paul]

GLENN GREENWALD RESPONDS TO MISINFORMED2:

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2007/11/12/paul/

[Galvestonians for Dr. Ron Paul]

MILITARY COMMISSIONS. RP NO.....HC YES
PATRIOT ACT 1.. RP NO ..........HC YES
PATRIOT ACT 2. .RP NO ..........HC YES.
IRAQ WAR.. .RP NO.........HC YES
WAR WITH IRAN. .RP NO.........HC YES.
WIRETAPPING. .RP NO.........HC YES
INCREASED AID TO ISRAEL. RP NO.....HC. YES
EMINENT DOMAIN..RP..NO.........HC.. NV
NAFTA.........RP..NO...........HC..YES
CAFTA.........RP..NO...........HC..YES
IMF...........RP..NO...........HC..YES
WORLD BANK....RP..NO...........HC..YES
WTO...........RP..NO...........HC..YES
NORTH AMERICAN UNION..RP..NO...HC..?
NATIONAL ID....RP..NO..........HC..YES
IMMIGRANT DRIVERS LICENSE..RP..NO..HC..YES

I like getting the truth out also!

:)

[Galvestonians for Dr. Ron Paul]

Someone must clearly realize one does not get elected 10 consecutive times to congress, at least in my district, by being a racist...Our City avg wage is at $39,000 a year our districts avg income is $28,000....
They will only smear, but NEVER provide any one better...
Please provide a better voting record, with a better foreign policy.

MILITARY COMMISSIONS. RP NO.....HC YES
PATRIOT ACT 1.. RP NO ..........HC YES
PATRIOT ACT 2. .RP NO ..........HC YES.
IRAQ WAR.. .RP NO.........HC YES
WAR WITH IRAN. .RP NO.........HC YES.
WIRETAPPING. .RP NO.........HC YES
INCREASED AID TO ISRAEL. RP NO.....HC. YES
EMINENT DOMAIN..RP..NO.........HC.. NV
NAFTA.........RP..NO...........HC..YES
CAFTA.........RP..NO...........HC..YES
IMF...........RP..NO...........HC..YES
WORLD BANK....RP..NO...........HC..YES
WTO...........RP..NO...........HC..YES
NORTH AMERICAN UNION..RP..NO...HC..?
NATIONAL ID....RP..NO..........HC..YES
IMMIGRANT DRIVERS LICENSE..RP..NO..HC..YES

I use this often because actions are truth.

[Pyrum]

356 comments as of 6:40 am ET. Love him or hate him or somewhere in between, Ron Paul generates more buzz on these blogs than even the atheist authors can match. It's good to see!

[Pyrum]

Well, at least Misanthrope2 has been educated to the point that he's dropping his ridiculous arguement that Ron Paul wants to make stem cell research illegal. That's something, I guess.

[Pdubya]

ron paul is the only candidate who's word matches his record, flawlessly, within the constitution. no other candidate can say that.

he gets my vote just on that. I don't care if I agree with all of his positions. No candidate can offer a panacea, but he comes pretty damn close - with integrity, consistency, and principles. who woulda thought we could have this again in America?

blue dog dem for ron paul

[isis]

What evidence is there that the ideal government can't solve problems? Just because the Bush government can't help people doesn't mean government can't help. Take the poison Totinos pizza for example. Isn't that kind of thing caused by our lack of regulations? And are children born into poverty supposed to just not get educated? It seems as if the government has gotten too small and specialized (defense only) instead of too big. If people don't like government why do they run for president? So they can not do things? We have a Lesser Government guy in our statehouse and he doesn't do anything but he still takes the paycheck and votes against minimum wage.

[jasonball]

Oh yeah baby. Bring it on. Yes, Ron Paul for "true" liberty.

Instead of sending children to that pesky, socialist, and inefficient public education system we'll remove that - save your taxes and buy the education for your children that you want.

And instead of paying taxes into an inefficient emergency services fund in your city, save that too. We'll privatize that to make sure it's efficient and so you have the liberty to make the choice of the firm you want protecting your house (maybe Blackwater will be available).

I mean I believe in the Constitution - and none of those things are IN the constitution right? So that means we can't have them. Thank god there is a candidate, Ron Paul, who agrees with me.

And we can get rid of those unions who get "special advantages." After all, if people have problem with their jobs they can simply take their labor resources and move them elsewhere. It is a free market after all. I don't understand why poor people just don't do that - must be because they are bad at making choices - in which case why have big brother come and help them from the lot they chose? Anyways, we don't need unions. If people would realize the power of negotiating and bargaining, witholding their labor as a COMMODITY IN THE MARKET, we wouldn't need those pesky institutions. Wait what do unions do again?

[dansama]

Foriegn policy he is the only one talking about:
CIA = blowback
1953 Iran = 1979 hostages
1978 Afghanistan = 2001 NY

Domestically he doesn't understand that institutionalized racist policies have to be dealt with equally and only at the Federal level. 1953 desegregation would not have happened under his watch. Is that racist? I think not, but I think its naive which is almost as bad and equally as dangerous.

He does think the drug war is basis against minorities, which is a start. Now if only the Democrats to start talking in those terms and doing something about unfair sentencing practices; instead of ignoring the judicial system seems to be stacked against the poor and especially against minorities and the Democrats DO something about it when they get the White house back.

One key to remember, if by miracle of miracles he wins, his policies would grind to a halt when he tries to get congress to end just ONE department.

[janmarie]

without big government getting into every aspect of life ALL american's would be better off. we cannot think outside this constricted box of thinking which has us mesmerized with the idea that big govt should and can fix all our problems when in fact big govt is the cause of many if not most our problems and i say this as a non-white pro-choice female.

[LITU]

I read a humorous comparison of the three main political ideologies, and it went something like this:

If a liberal saw a starving child, he'd offer food.

If a conservative saw the same child, he'd offer a bible.

If a libertarian saw the child, he'd build a tall fence so he'd not have to look at the bastard.

I guess that's why I'm a liberal. In a country dominated by consumer capitalism, Ron Paul's version of libertarianism would be disasterous for anyone on the wrong side of wealthy. From many of the comments here, it's clear that lots of people posting don't give a rat's ass about their fellow human beings, and that's one of the reasons we're now a third-rate nation.

Vietnam vet and proud of it!

[novowel4me]

Ron Paul reminds me of Ross Perot although a much more appealing personality. His war policy resonates and his demeanor is refreshing. I hope he runs as a third party candidate for president. It would give anti-war hard right republicans, liberterians, some values voters a place to go, maybe even suck in a few Nader supporters — and give whatever Democrat running a whopping landslide.

[Bijou]

Ron Paul is anti-liberty, for half the population anyway. Men like him are always trying to make the case that others are entitled to use women's bodies whether the women like it or not. Creepy.

[Liberterna]

RON PAUL all the way. see what a smart libertarian can do with his money.

[GrouchoMarxist]

Hmmm...I guess you can fool some of the people all of the time after all.