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Barbara and I arrived half an hour before the
event's start, took up our position on the high ground
overlooking the rally, atop Flagstaff Hill beneath the Soldiers
and Sailors Monument |
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Quite a crowd had already arrived and
surrounded the stage -- at least got as close to it as possible
-- and it kept growing all morning, awaiting for the main event
-- Sarah Palin. |
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More patriots just kept coming. |
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The Tea Party Express busses, parked behind the stage inside the
security fence. |
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The graphics-laden busses have carried the message of revolution
across the country. |
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The TV satellite trucks formed a perimeter wall off
stage-right, and the camera media got the best seats in the
house -- a major flaw in the arrangements. It was as if (and no
doubt) the event was intended primarily for them and not the
rally crowd. Seeing the stage from behind the raised media
platform was almost impossible. Most of those in attendance got
a good look only at their backsides. And then there were those
relentless TV station helicopters hovering overhead, drowning
out what little sound managed to carry from the stage's
"loud-speakers"! (Hear them in the videos.) |
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The crowd jammed up to the fence on the Charles Street side of
the Common. Mark Williams (right), chairman of the Tea Party
Express and old acquaintance from when he was producer for
talkshow host Jerry Williams, and I had a brief reunion. Mark
left Boston for the West Coast, where he became a talkshow host
on a number of major stations, on which he had me as a guest a
number of times. |
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Michael Graham (WTKK) and Todd Feinberg (WRKO) on the left;
Michael and Michelle McPhee (WTKK) on the right. |
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I figured that when she arrived, security would usher in Sarah
Palin between the busses and the outer security fence, so I
readied and waited, and was proven right. Her entourage of three
Ford Explorers pulled in, but then the human crush began . . . |
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Getting a clear, unobstructed shot of her turned impossible in a
split second, with bodies pushing a shoving. This was my best
close-up shot of the many I tried to take. |
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Thank goodness for a telephoto lens. These two photos were taken
from up on Flagstaff Hill, a long distance from the stage, from
where she appeared as a tiny dot of red. |
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Todd Feinberg gave a short speech, then played his and his
producer Cooksy's rally theme, "We Are The Patriots," to the
tune of Queen's "We Are The Champions." On the right, CLT member
Roger Blood of Brookline is being interviewed. |
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More crowd shots. |
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We were all asked to sign the Tea Party Express wall. By the
time I came upon it, it was so full that everyone was signing on
top of previous signatures. |
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My sister-in-law Katharine and my sister Diane met us there.
Here,
Katharine
holding up her souvenir Tea Party Express t-shirt. |
Barbara and me, getting ready to leave |
A good time was had by all, about 6,000 - 8,000 by my estimate,
and from my experiences with past rallies there I'm pretty good
at crowd estimating! |
Barbara and Katharine doing farewell. |
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After leaving the rally, walking down Tremont
Street to Government Center and the MBTA Blue Line home, we
passed the Granary Burial Ground and the tombstone of Sam Adams,
my favorite founding father. How proud this organizer of the
Sons of Liberty would be this day if he could see the
patriots of Revolution 2010 assembled for the Second American
Revolution! |
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