Whoa! 23,000 at McCain Rally In VA?

Funny, CBS left a number out of its negative report. Reuters has it here. This is the one moved from a school that would have held about 6,000.

FAIRFAX, Va. - It was Republican John McCain’s turn on Wednesday to relish the kind rock-star treatment usually associated with his Democratic rival, Barack Obama, in the tightening race for the White House.

Under burning sunshine at a park in a suburb outside Washington, D.C., McCain and his newly minted running-mate Sarah Palin drew a crowd of approximately 23,000, which his campaign said was his biggest on the presidential trail.

More here: it says 10,000 - would Reuters over count?

FAIRFAX, Va. – Republicans John McCain and Sarah Palin made their first Virginia campaign stop together, sticking mostly to their scripts from last week’s Republican convention and trying to steal the mantle of change from Democrat Barack Obama. Palin, the Alaska governor, was the clear favorite of the estimated 10,000 people at Van Dyke Park. “We’re going to Washington to shake things up,” Palin said.

Local outlet WSLS just says "thousands."

Comments

[HDTV]

“We’re going to Washington to shake things up,” Palin said."

Sure thing sweety.

[WAHOO WILLIE]

HD: Do you also want to see Sarah in the Xena outfit?

[Spartan112]

Wait, just a couple of weeks ago being a celebrity was a bad thing. Now McCain is relying on someone else's celebrity to get votes...sad.

[SacTownMan]

Sounds like the great Xerxes free rock concert/temple of doom speech in Germany.

Of the inflated number of 200,000 socialist's there how many came for the free rock concert and how many to worship at the feet of the great Zerxes?

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Barack-Obama-200000-people-at-rally-in-Berlin/Article/200807415054406?f=rss

Same thing at the Denver speech. These MTV crafted media events look like lots of fun and I'll bet there was plenty of blow and smoke at both!

[templar knight]

Ole Sparty is sad, SacTownMan. It was just a few days ago when he was all over this blog, happy as a lark, sure in his felicity for Xerxes. And now, look at him and his fellow liberals. So sad, so melancholy. It makes me want to cry. LOL.

[tk]

Who the hell is Obama? It is over for him. Good bye.

[Karen Mason]

I was there. I think 23,000 is probably a good estimate. Last night, I attended a theater orientation at my daughter's school, and the teacher mentioned that the house seats about 1,100. As the crowds rolled in today beyond all belief, I sort of superimposed a mental image of the auditorium seats over the crowd. I estimate the line to get into the rally at about a mile long, perhaps a little more, with people standing 3 abreast in much of the line. Busload after busload of attendees were dropped off at the end of the line before we rounded the corner and lost sight of it.

I kept looking around at the crowd and my daughter asked who I was looking for. I wasn't---I was amazed at the size of the crowd even reveling in it a bit. Even after we had been on the grounds for quite some time, people kept coming and coming. The campaign apparently ran out of placards to hand out to the crowd.

By contrast, the "protest" was puny, and included 6-10 latino men in blaze orange shirts who looked completely lost---I'm thinking they were day laborers hired to protest. I asked to see Voter Registration cards, but nobody offered to produce one. A polar bear showed up, but wouldn't answer when I asked whether his costume was made of actual dead polar bears or merely synthetic fibers that are harmful to the environment. All in all, I would estimate the protesters I saw numbered around 20-30, including the hombres-for-hire.

[Terrance]

"I asked to see Voter Registration cards, but nobody offered to produce one."

On behalf of 'latino' 'day laborers' everywhere I say:

Why not just stay home and make dinner for your husband. If he hasn't left you yet, he will.

[Marie LeVeau]

One of my women friends and family went to the rally. She said it WAS AWESOME. My daughter is in the area. She said that there was some initial brouhaha about not lettng the rally take place at the school...that separation of school and state thing, doncha know. Northern Virginia...carpetbagger capitol of Virginia. The most maddening part of the whole state. But in this instance the people of fairfax made a better showing of themselves than that bunch in lebanon.

[Marie LeVeau]

And they didn't even have to have a rock band do the warmup!!

[SacTownMan]

And they didn't even have to have a rock band do the warmup!!

Touche!! Marie!!

[WAHOO WILLIE]

"Now McCain is relying on someone else's celebrity to get votes...sad."

C'mon Sparty, you demonrats come up with some pretty good ideas for this popularity contest. Don't be mad when the repubbies copy you. I hear they're getting ready to lose in November by sending out voting machines with English instructions that punch little holes in the ballots. The plan is to whine about being too stupid to know rather the whole is punched or merely dented. So they can spend eight years moaning "We wuz robbeded"......Maybe you can help with some insight on how to keep the military vote from being counted. That almost worked for Gore. Eh, the military probably wont be voting for Obie en masse anyway so dont sweat that one.

[Steve Lanning]

To Karen Mason's comment about the Latino protesters:
I know them and I was there with them. They were not hired day laborers, but in fact hard-working Americans. Your comment was racist and typical of many of the bigoted comments we heard that day. Americans are tired of this type of ignorance and this open display of disgust for others not like you will be part of the reason your party loses on November 4th.

[Steve Lanning]

To Karen Mason's comment about the Latino protesters:
I know them and I was there with them. They were not hired day laborers, but in fact hard-working Americans. Your comment was racist and typical of many of the bigoted comments we heard that day. Americans are tired of this type of ignorance and this open display of disgust for others not like you will be part of the reason your party loses on November 4th.