George Allen: Bollywood God?!?

I boldly wandered into the GOP's inner sanctum armed only with a video camera.

After the treatment Allen gave Sidarth I wasn't too sure about this venture.  But in the end it wasn't so bad - no one berated me, called me names, spit on me.  Heck, no one even talked to me.  A few people looked over at me as if I was the tracker working for Webb.  Well, no, but I did end up acting in a similar manner, so the confusion is understandable.

Anyway, rather than a long write up, I going to present bit observations and thoughts from this adventure, some backed by audio or video proof.

Greg also has a great write up here.
About the "Ethnics"
By my observation, having been outside and inside, I'd say that the vast majority of the "ethnics" were of South East Asian descent.  Some Indian representation.  Very little Hispanic or African American (but there were a few).  I didn't see any Middle Eastern.

A great deal of the "ethnics" were bused in.  Some in (we believe) rented mid-size buses and some in large vans.  One van belonged to a Korean  church and another was driven by an Allen staffer.

Many of the "ethnics" were of the older generation.  Yes, all generations were represented, but largest age group was the older generation.  NOTE: I'm not counting white people here.  They push the average much younger.

Many of the "ethnics" were seated when I arrived in the auditorium.  They were all bunched front and center.  The two side isles were empty.  Maybe for a better view, but it looked strange with them massed together.

George Allen
Check out part of his introduction.  Bollywood God?  Wow.  I'll bet George was pissed about that.  After all the work he and Wadhams have been doing to associate Webb with Hollywood it must've stung to be associated with the Indian version of Hollywood.  When Allen took the stage he quickly disassociated himself from that assessment.  Wonder why?

I noticed that Allen likes to talk over the crowd.  Most speakers wait when the crowd cheers - for the obvious reason that their words can be heard.  When the crowd gets going for Allen he seems to get pumped up and just keep talking.  Makes it hard to understand sometimes.

A few times, when talking about education and technical degrees, Allen mentioned competing with countries 6 or 7 times our size.  Huh?  I challenge Allen to find any country that's 6 or 7 times our size.  In any meaningful measurement.  Size, population, GDP, oil consumption...  anyone?  anyone?

Frank Wolf
Man, this guy is animated!  He started out quiet, but within a few sentences his voice grew louder, more insistent, and his hands and arms gesturing wildly (at times).  He was screaming into the mic and even pounded the podium once.  He put on the best show by far.

Wolf loves to talk about Ronald Reagan (did he get Nancy's permission?) and freedom.  A lot.  For those of you who don't want to sit through the whole thing, here's the RR and Freedom parts.

Wolf doesn't like the Chinese government.  Bashed them every which way.  And I mostly agree with him on this point.

But, as this clip illustrates, he's playing the same old fear tactics.  Speaking to an "ethnic" crowd, many of whom may have lived in countries with secret police or have relatives living in them, Wolf trots out a story of repression filled with totalitarian fear.  Not the usual 9-11 fear tactics, but clear use of fear tactics nonetheless.

And another old standby, he pretty much blames Clinton for Rwanda and the ethnic atrocities in the Balkans a few years later.  'Tis the season to blame Clinton for everything bad that ever happened.  And perhaps Wolf should get a history lesson from Wes Clark about what the U.S. did in the Balkans.

And in this clip Wolf is talking about various counties, and for some reason seems to forget the name of his own country.

Tom Davis
Best speaker.  Wolf was fun to watch because of his highly animated state, but Davis was the best speaker.  Andy Hurst is a great speaker, so I look forward to the 11th race as it features the best public speakers of the lot.

Davis had a funny quote.  In my opinion it was completely inaccurate, but still funny.  In talking about a system that rewards opportunity, he attributes this position to his opponents:

It all starts and ends with the government
If it moves, you tax it
If it keeps moving, you regulate it
And if it stops moving you subsidize it

And this bumper sticker story.  When he started telling the story, I thought it would be a warm fuzzy about how he helped someone who had his opponent's bumper sticker on their car.  Man was I wrong!  It's a cute story but very revealing.  The message: If you support Davis he'll support you.  Thanks Tom, I thought you were suppose to represent ALL your constituents.  Hell, even the person who introduced Davis said his (Davis') door is open to everyone.  Ha.  True colors, Tom.

Miscellaneous
Listen to Allen and Davis go multi-lingual.  Now I'm not sure, but I swear I heard Allen say "Lee Ho Fooks," the Chinese restaurant in which Warren Zevon gets a big bowl of beef chow mein.  Maybe I'm wrong, but it sure sounds like it to me.  And listen for Allen to repeat himself at the end and get prompted how to say a word near the beginning.

Things were kicked off with a patriotic and religious trifecta, the National Anthem, the Pledge of Allegiance, and a prayer.  Now I like all three, but I haven't been through all of them at once since my days in a Catholic high school.  Does anyone know if this is how all Republican rallies get started?  Or was this just special for the Ethnic Rally?

Republicans love signs and balloons.  If the election were all about signs, the Republican candidates would win in a landslide.

Check out these two sound bites.

The first is from a white couple sitting near me.  Admittedly, I'm biased, but that sure sounds like white Republicans mocking their own rally.  Judge for yourself.

The second is the GW College Republicans announcing themselves as they arrived in the auditorium and saying they're "sticking it to" their liberal professors.  I hope for the CR's sake that none of their professors get to hear this.

The same College Republicans converged around the side door Allen was to leave by.  When Allen was ready to come out, one of his staff stepped out first and began waving his arms for the CR crowd to start cheering.  Ha.  Need a little help Senator?  As Greg noted, there weren't many "ethnics" waiting in that crowd.

A white Republican lady, on her way out, showed a true lack of class and logic, taking a 90-year-old WWII veteran to task over his protest of the Iraq war.  Her logic in a nutshell (and I use that term very loosely): Did you fight in an honorable war?  Then why don't you honor the Iraq war?  All wars are honorable.  I could go off about this, but her attitude and intelligence speak volumes without my help.

About the protest
In the final days leading up to the event there was a bit of controversy over the protest which included Mac the Monkey and Anna Banana.  The Allen fans went ballistic over people in costume protesting Allen's racist remarks.  Even some Democrats expressed concern about Webb staffers attending due to the nature of the protest.

With absolute certainty I will say this: there were no paid Webb staffers at the event.  That discussion is over.

There may have been some people who have volunteered for Webb, but if so, they weren't there on his behalf.  They were there, as private citizens, to protest against racism.

There was no hostility (except for that woman noted above) between the protesters and the Republicans.  At one point a group of Republicans even came over to the group, spoke on good terms with the protesters, and were offered a banana.  They turned it down, but left with no anger traded between groups.

The protest was relatively small but played well on both sides - as protests should be.  Kudos to everyone.  No controversy here.

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