September 28, 2010

Pictures from the periphery of the Obama rally.

Arriving as we did around 5, we couldn't get into the restricted area that people had lined up all day to get into. First, we went to Bascom Hill, which was well wired for sound, and there were hundreds of people sitting or standing on the grass:

P1030432

This photo shows the attitude of the crowd before the speech:

P1030433

It was nice to see some students studying:

P1030439

We made our way over to the Union Terrace, about a block away from the live event, to hang in a mellower crowd by the lake. There was good audio and video over here, and some folks had their beer, while others, like me, had Babcock Hall ice cream cones.

P1030479

These people were relaxed and listening. It was hard to tell what they were thinking. But they didn't chant along with "Yes we can." There were a couple clowns protesting, like this:

P1030486

"9-11 Frame Up/Inside Job"... idiots.

We got cold and headed home before the speech ended and before the sun set.

ADDED: Some video.

93 comments:

Bruce Hayden said...

It is one thing for protesters to ask that we get out of Afghanistan, but a sign that 9/11 was an inside job is strong indicia of wacko elements on the left. Worse than Birthers, because they, at least, have the justification that Obama has never released his original birth certificate (nor, of course, his college grades, SATs, or LSATs).

Ritmo Re-Animated said...

These people were relaxed and listening. It was hard to tell what they were thinking.

Don't you wish they could have been wearing their brains on their sleeves?

Anonymous said...

I see white people...

Ritmo Re-Animated said...

If only lefties were as wacko-free as reactionary conservatives.

Ann Althouse said...

"Don't you wish they could have been wearing their brains on their sleeves?"

No that would be ugly. And boring too I bet.

Irene said...

"It was nice to see some students studying."

Midterms next week.

Interesting to look at the "original" photo sizes:

(1) The student is reading Black No More.

(2) The woman photographing the truthers appears to have a cigarette in her hand.

Palladian said...

Wow, and they have the nerve to call Tea Party rallies "white"...

Palladian said...

Do you think they'll photoshop a little diversity in that crowd, the way they used to at the University of Wisconsin-Madison?

Ritmo Re-Animated said...

Madison and Wisconsin demographics
Wisconsin Madison Race
91% 83.96% White
6.48% 5.84% Black
2.21% 5.80% Asian
1.3% 0.36% Native American
0.09% 0.04% Pacific Islander
N/A 4.09% Hispanic
N/A 2.32% Two or more races
N/A 1.67% Other race

MadisonMan said...

Yes, 7M, how odd that a gathering in Wisconsin is so overwhelmingly white!

And it did turn cold this afternoon. All that sun early in the day and I was hoping I'd be warm watching my kids.

Palladian said...

"Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules. You can kill them with this, for they can no more obey their own rules than the Christian church can live up to Christianity."

Misty said...

Would have taken more than a beer to get me through that speech.

And "I see white people" LOL

Palladian said...

Thanks, Uncle Saul!

Ritmo Re-Animated said...

They're just upset to see white people interested in someone other than a Tea Party rabbler.

And of course, there are even less charitable interpretations.

Palladian said...

"And of course, there are even less charitable interpretations."

You've never been one for charity (at least giving it) so what are they?!

Ritmo Re-Animated said...

I'm not going to go there, dude. I'm just kidding on the last bit.

Janis Gore said...

Lordy, Ms. Althouse, what grade did you give the young man facing the camera in the second picture?

Or maybe he was trying on his "House" imitation.

The Crack Emcee said...

So, is it over between you two or what?

Obama, I mean.

Automatic_Wing said...

I'm not going to go there, dude. I'm just kidding on the last bit.

Translation: I was talking out my ass, as usual.

kjbe said...

Thet were Babcock (Hall) ice cream cones, right?

Anyway, nice crowd. My husband went after running into some fellow staffers after a meeting at the Union. They ended up on Bascom Hill. I was home with a sick day, watching on tv. Glad to see Feingold made it after his vote.

Ritmo Re-Animated said...

Never bothered you when the others regularly do, Maguro!

(Or maybe it just takes one to know one).

Revenant said...

I see white people...

Heh! Yeah, it IS whiter than a typical tea party rally, isn't it?

Ritmo Re-Animated said...

We want video!

(Outdoor crowd shots of students with an odd protester or two just don't cut it, Prof!)

Ritmo Re-Animated said...

The Prof is trying to tell us that a mysterious force shield kept the camera's aim away from the president.

Michael Haz said...

Whoop dee doo.

Obama draws some 20,000 students and faculty members, plus assorted townies, libs from the state buildings and some others.

This, in one of the two or three most liberal universities in America.

The football team draws a crowd three times larger several times a month.

Big deal. Not impressed. Ho hum. Won't help Feingold or Barrett one bit.

And all those happy students will be really pissed in a few years when the find out that they do have to repay their student loans, and they do have to buy ObamaCare, and they do get half or more of their earnings confiscated by the state and federal government.

jeff said...

"Don't you wish they could have been wearing their brains on their sleeves?"

If Ritmo wore his brains AS sleeves he would always be wearing a wife beater t-shirt. WHich would be cold in the winter. Probably good that never caught on.

Will said...

How did you get the picture of Michelle taking a camera phone pic of those protesters?

Sprezzatura said...

"How did you get the picture of Michelle taking a camera phone pic of those protesters?"

Especially while she was holding BHO's smoke.

Meade said...

"And all those happy students will be really pissed in a few years..."

Yes We Are!

Ritmo Re-Animated said...

Aww Jeff. I will make sure the sleeves have as much expandability to them as your tiny member does. ;-)

Sprezzatura said...

We need a picture of Meade. He must have been wearing something to express his non-BHO-supporterness.

Don't tread on me T-shirt?

Tir-corner hat?

Henry said...

Farther out on the periphery: Canoe rentals. Kayakers. Cow boat.

Ritmo Re-Animated said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Unknown said...

They all look pretty sobered.

Henry said...

Where's the Men in Shorts tag?

MadisonMan said...

Canoe rentals. Kayakers. Cow boat.

I heard -- don't know if it's true -- that Lake Mendota was closed for boating today because of the President's visit.

Bob_R said...

Nice crowd. Lots of respectful mid-westerners happy for a chance to see to see the POTUS give a political speech. Respect the office even if you want to see the current occupant on his way. There's only ever gonna be one first African-American president and these people can say they saw him do his thing.

Anonymous said...

Madison -- The use of demographic stats to defend the overwhelmingly white scene is understandable from a guy like Meadowlark, who knows no rhetorical shame.

From you, I expect better.

Palladian said...

"There's only ever gonna be one first African-American president and these people can say they saw him do his thing."

That justification is getting a little shop-worn, isn't it?

Palladian said...

"There's only ever gonna be one first African-American president and these people can say they saw him do his thing."

Incredulous White People Gather To Watch Powerful Partially Black Man Speak.

A little patronizing, don't you think?

Ritmo Re-Animated said...

From you, I expect better.

Translation: He expects you to be upset for not astroturfing diversity to a state where there isn't much of it.

I love the idea of how posting straight statistics is a way of bypassing "rhetorical shame", whatever that means.

Meade said...

1jpb said...
We need a picture of Meade. He must have been wearing something to express his non-BHO-supporterness.

Just a friendly smile. I thought he was likable enough.

Anonymous said...

That justification is getting a little shop-worn, isn't it?

I find it shocking, actually, that someone can cite their odd, subconscious, politically vacant rationale for voting for Obama as something good at this point in the game.

Must still be employed, that guy.

Ritmo Re-Animated said...

And why are they yammering on about diversity anyway? What is the contention, exactly? That blacks, hispanics, Asians or any other non-white demographic secretly have the kind of contempt for Obama that Tea Partiers do?

What is the point of what they are asking, exactly?

Anonymous said...

United States
White persons, percent, 2009 79.6%

Source: http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/00000.html

How can you complain about a lack of diversity at perfectly diverse tea party rallies, yet justify the utter whiteness of this event?

Must be that extra three percent of white people that makes all the difference. Eh, Madison?

Anonymous said...

Yes. What is the point of someone not from the left bringing up diversity when tools like Meadowlark are supposed to own diversity and be able to play the race card at their choosing?

You conservatives can't talk about diversity, man!

DADvocate said...

a gathering in Wisconsin is so overwhelmingly white!

We need a diversity plan.

Lots of young people will go see a president just to see him. Speaking around the end of the work day but before supper is a near perfect time in that setting. Classes are pretty much all finished but many are still easily hang around.

Personally, I wouldn't bother but I've already laid eyes on a few presidents.

Ritmo Re-Animated said...

I have never talked about the supposed "whiteness" of Tea Parties.

Please cite any quote from me where I have - especially if it doesn't come from the above sentence after you crop out the single word "never".

And yes, I think the onus is on you and the haters to make a point. Blacks and other minorities don't seem to have the kind of contempt for Obama that exists within circles that come from the majority demographic. So WTF is your point? You want to call Sharpton and bitch about Obama's lack of appeal to blacks? LOL!

Anonymous said...

I have no contempt for Obama. He's just a terrible, terrible president.

Likewise, it shouldn't be hard to admit that virtually all the people in the pictures Althouse took are the whitest people imaginable.

The obvious rejoinder here is that maybe the pictures Althouse took aren't representative of the whole atmosphere. A guy like Madison May I would expect to think of that. You, Dribbler, not so much...

Ah Pooh said...

Just a friendly smile. I thought he was likable enough.

Meade, you make my day!

SteveR said...

Student Loans at work

Ritmo Re-Animated said...

I can not only think of that (imagine that! A single photographer with 5 shots doesn't capture the entirety of a crowd!) - I can also admit how pointless a question it is. Are you upset that Obama hasn't done a lot of black/Hispanic/Asian outreach? The polling data don't suggest that those groups hate him as much as a larger proportion of whites do, so how can that even be an issue?

Of course, that must be what pisses you off - perhaps because you realize the implications of it. You are just playing games, as usual and it's pointless to ask you what your point is - apart from trying to confuse people by substituting real concerns for phony ones.

TMink said...

Who is this Ritmo troll? Hmmm, let's see. Ohhhhh, he is a tool who has stuff like this on his blog.

"Why Rush Limbaugh Should Have His Penis and Testicles Removed"

OK, now we can ignore him totally.
Trey wv = cryoli. I expect that is coming.

Ritmo Re-Animated said...

Well, I just thought that if Rush wasn't so busy fucking his own mind (which could be dangerous, given the neurosyphilis he's probably caught during his sex tourism stints), that he wouldn't be so worried about the supposed "feminization" of America by Hispanics living in this country.

Read the link. It's way more embarrassing than the way you've misconstrued my satire.

Anonymous said...

you've misconstrued my satire

Hilarious.

Ritmo Re-Animated said...

It was also posted on The American Scene, edited by conservatives like Reihan Salam.

Ritmo Re-Animated said...

Keep pushing attention away from your lack of any point to make about the crowd, 7 Machos.

Except, of course, the point that doesn't reflect well on your own side.

Anonymous said...

Keep pushing attention away from your lack of any point to make about the crowd

My point about the crowd is that it looks alarmingly white in Althouse's pictures.

Next.

Ritmo Re-Animated said...

I'm not alarmed by it, and neither would any reasonable and knowledgeable person.

What is the next game you want to play? Or did you feel there was more mileage you could get out of this one?

Unknown said...

Ritmo Brasileiro said...

You are just playing games, as usual and it's pointless to ask you what your point is - apart from trying to confuse people by substituting real concerns for phony ones.

9/28/10 9:36 PM


Good God this is impressive in its obtuseness.

Of course the color of the crowd doesn't mean anything itself. Just as the color of the Tea party crowds doesn't either. Nor does the color of the lily white cast of MSNBC.

But the latter, as well as large segments of the left and the media, have been obsessed with pointing out the number of white people at Tea parties. The point is to illustrate how inane such comments are.

Is this really so hard?

Ritmo Re-Animated said...

Of course the color of the crowd doesn't mean anything itself. Just as the color of the Tea party crowds doesn't either. Nor does the color of the lily white cast of MSNBC.

But the latter, as well as large segments of the left and the media, have been obsessed with pointing out the number of white people at Tea parties. The point is to illustrate how inane such comments are.

Is this really so hard?


It's only hard if you don't want to accept that more contempt for Obama exists within certain demographics than in others.

Rialby said...

Things White People Like: Irrational voting for the first African-American President

JorgXMcKie said...

Quickest source I could find said that the UW-Madison undergraduate student body is 88% white. I,too, would like more pics, but I sure don't see 12% non-white faces in those pics.

JorgXMcKie said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Ritmo Re-Animated said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Ritmo Re-Animated said...

But Machos said the differential could only be 3%, not NINE PERCENT!!!

So University of Wisconsin-Madison's lack of diversity now becomes the issue. Thanks to 6 Cornflakes and Palladian for bringing attention to the serious issue of state universities as cloistered as the one the Prof works at.

Talk about shooting oneself in the face.

Henry said...

Okay, they have posters. Do they have underpants?

Unknown said...

What is the point of what they are asking, exactly?

I believe the point might be that the point has been made quite succinctly by many on the left and in the media (but I repeat myself) specifically that the "whiteness" exhibited at many tea party rallies was indicative of racism.

Let's just apply the same standards...

Ann Althouse said...

Ritmo Brasileiro wrote (and I had to delete one small thing) — addressing Palladian:

"Do you have a P.O. box or mailstop still active at the university that I can send a gift to? I'm totally serious (Don't want to watch you reduced to aggressively asking drivers if you can wash their windows)."

Email me if you don't understand why I did that.

Unknown said...

It's only hard if you don't want to accept that more contempt for Obama exists within certain demographics than in others.

I'm sorry that my contempt for incompetence is colorblind...you know, color of skin/content of character, and all of those things you pretend to believe...

Unknown said...

It's only hard if you don't want to accept that more contempt for Obama exists within certain demographics than in others.

No one denies that. But its no more relevant that more crime exists in certain demographics. Or that more out of wedlock births exist in certain demographics. In general, bringing up demographics to provoke racial animosity is considered a bad thing, but apparently there is an exception when it comes to slandering the Tea party.

Anonymous said...

83.96 - 79.6 = 4.36

Wisconsin is not 91 percent white, even according to your own stats.

KCFleming said...

Just imagine how much fun people like Ritmo will have deciding what healthcare you get, and which businesses deserve to make a profit.

His ugly little comment above will be writ large in a million rules and regulations binding us to the left's dystopian vision.

Ritmo Re-Animated said...

88% (JorgXMcKie's stat) - 79.6% (Machos' stat) = roughly nine percent. Precisely 8.4%, but I'm assuming you have an idea of how ballpark figures work, and aren't quibbling over 0.6%.

Garbage in, garbage out, Pogo.

KCFleming said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
orbicularioculi said...

Obama is desperate. His next rally is going to be at someone's yard sale.

Ritmo Re-Animated said...

Email me if you don't understand why I did that.

I'm not sure I understand a large number of the things you do. But I'm assuming, based on your edit, that you objected to the way I referred to Palladian's name.

If that's the case, I apologize. I had never done it before and only did so as I had just done a GOOGLE search on him utilizing a 2007 entry on your blog in which your post cites his name. It's also on his website, which I know he's invited me and several other commenters to for the purpose of buying his works.

I'm interested in buying his works, but I'm more interested in helping him out financially. In the case of the former, I'm assuming we'd still have to exchange info, as there is no contact other than an e-mail on his website.

I'd just prefer to protect both our interests in anonymity to the best degree that we can. If he prefers a degree that I've breached, I apologize and understand. But to buy his works he'd need a physical address of mine to send them to. I assumed that he wouldn't have a problem reciprocating somehow but apologize if I breached protocol by asking as much in this comment thread.

Anonymous said...

I got my stats from the United States census, the people who collect the stats.

Ritmo Re-Animated said...

I disagreed with neither your statistic nor Jorg's. My statement to Pogo was not in reference to that.

Unknown said...

Ann, you have to get some better quality lefties. Ritmo is denser than a lead muffin.

Ritmo Re-Animated said...

First she has to do something to interest them in coming here, Buford.

The fact that you hadn't figured that out can be related in similar baking terms.

Ritmo Re-Animated said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Ritmo Re-Animated said...

Hi Professor Althouse,

I posted a response to what you wrote earlier, but figured I'd let you know that one of your blog's November 1, 2007 entries was the post I found (through a GOOGLE search) that led me to believe I wasn't breaching protocol in how I addressed the individual in question.

I respect everyone's interest in keeping private whichever personal details they wish to keep private - on this blog or any other.

Revenant said...

That guy in the background is Mick, looking for an unsuspecting passerby who might be interested in learning about how Obama isn't really a natural-born American citizen.

DADvocate said...

y...ou've misconstrued my satire.

You just write shitty satire. Swift is rolling over in his grave.

Charlie said...

Lot's of white people! Looks like a Klan meeting!

Anonymous said...

Wow. That crowd sure looks White.

Anonymous said...

" Looks like a Klan meeting!"

Either that or the Nazis are in town. Maybe it's both. I mean, just look at how white that crowd is!

Ritmo Re-Animated said...

You just write shitty satire. Swift is rolling over in his grave.

Given the attempts to defend Limbaugh's own "satire" here, I'm sure that's better than Swift puking in his grave.

TMink said...

Let's not feed the troll.

K?

Trey

Ritmo Re-Animated said...

Trey! You little chipmunk! Just nibbling those tiny morsels of thought! No voracious appetite there!

The Valhalla Voice said...

Boy these people don't even have tans, where are the MSM in search of diversity?

Unknown said...

Wow, I just skimmed thru this site and comments, obviously you were not there. The crowd in Library mall was incredibly diverse - race and ages.