Yesterday's pre-debate rally, the debate and the post-debate gathering with the college Democrats were all great. Aside from the über slow start to get out to Lancaster [traffic was crawling on the turnpike so we had to detour to 202 and then 30 to get out there], everything went pretty smoothly.
Once at Frankline & Marshall's campus [that's where the debate was], we unpacked ourselves from the car. I can't recall the last time I was in a 4-door sedan with five total people. The trip wasn't bad though, the company was great and I got to whine about how I hate baseball, don't think [professional/MLB] baseball players are real athletes, how I hate golf and my liking of peanut butter, but the extra chunky, not that smooth crap. Rivalvies were made with my fellow backseat carmates.
There was already a sizable crowd out at the rally at about 4.30p. The crowd grew to about seventy-five or 100 soon afterwards. We weren't there alone though. By the entrance, there was a group of what looked like the nastiest of the nasty, college-aged young Republicans. I don't understand them. And not only were they pro-Santorum, they brought out their stupid PA-Sen mascot "Bobby the Duck" - probably the lamest move I've seen from the Right since the idiots who dressed up as foam flip flops when Michael Moore came to Philly to speak at Temple in October of 2004. Sad. So sad. It almost makes me feel sorry for them, but then I remember who they're supporting and I don't feel so bad anymore.
On a side note, oh how I loved that horrible 1986 movie Howard the Duck. I don't know how many times I watched that on WPIX channel 11 in NY back in the day, maybe as many times as the Johnny 5 series. My favorite exchange during the movie: When Howard sleeps with the human woman the next morning the woman picks up a handful of feathers from the bed and asks: "What's this?" Howard looks to her and says: "Souveniers" — oh the hilarity. I swear, only Austin out in Chicago will get this. If not him, nobody.
The parking lot was filled with cars like the one above. Anti-W. Anti-Sen. Man on Dog. Pro-Chuck. It was quite awesome.
A band came on stage to entertain the crowd before several speakers and then Chuck Pennacchio came up there to speak for a few minutes to get the crowd going before we filed inside to get some good seats. The band was great and the guy on the mouth harp [can't see him, he's behind the lead singer/guitarist on the right] was sweet. I love me some harp.
I thought I was the only one thinking of "Howard the Duck" when I saw that thing. I actually bought the movie when it came out on video tape. It was a classic.
Funny thing, about ten minutes before the debate was set to begin, I ran out to my car for something. At the door was the duck and the handler from Little Ricky's campaign. They weren't letting the Duck in the hall. The handler in the suit was on his cell phone, reporting back, "It's a no go on the Duck".
All I could think was, what kind of a grown man has a job that requires him to ever utter the sentence "it's a no go on the Duck"?
Posted by: Tom Ford | April 23, 2006 at 04:57 PM