Why spend your Saturday chillaxin' with a cuppa coffee and the border collie, when you can instead drive a mere four hours to Ames, Iowa to listen the man who AT A MINIMUM will ultimately shape the 2016 Presidential race, if not win the nomination and, therefore the Presidency outright? Such was the choice made today by the Invisiblewoman and her flexible hubby, Mr.Fantastic. We chose correctly. You know the drill: Details (and pics) post-jump!
Before today, I must confess I thought that Senator Sanders might well simply be in the race as a means by which to hold Hillary accountable to the left, both in word and in deed. Invisiblewoman, on the other hand has been all-in on Bernie; not even entertaining the notion of an eventual Clinton/___ ticket.
And so it was as we climbed into our vehicle just a wee bit before 10:00 a.m. this morning. We knew that Senator Sanders was speaking at Torrent Brewery in Downtown Ames, IA at 2:00 p.m., and Mother Nature was supplying a crappy day for driving, with a steady rain falling amid heavy grey skies. BUT, not even Gaia's worst could dampen our spirits. We have lived through the WORST here in Wisconsin. Don't believe me? Ask Giles Goat Boy.
Bernie is not to be trifled with.
You see, as dank and foreboding as Scott Walker's Wisconsin has become, the political clouds have started to break. Russ Feingold is running to get his Senate seat back and will absolutely paste Ron Johnson come November 2016. The Republican field of presidential hopefuls (including Governor Eddie Haskell….er, Walker) make more unforced errors than a pee-wee little league team whose Gatorade has been replaced with vodka AND our neighbors to the West-Southwest are hosting the adult candidates these days, and for the both of them, there is real substantive excitement. But right now… ya have got to doff your cap to Senator Sanders.
We arrived at about 2:00 p.m., and though the rain had only very recently let up, the crowd at the Torrent Brewing Company had exceeded capacity indoors and was listening to Bernie through a speaker that was broadcasting the goings-on inside. In all, the crowd (on the last Saturday in MAY, for the love of all creatures great n' small…MAY!) easily eclipsed 600. Easily. Now for the real reasons to be excited.
Look at the pictures. Go on…LOOK! Please note that:
1) not only were we a stunningly sexy bunch (meee-ow!), but also that those in attendance were from all ages and walks of life. The media and the establishment (yeah, I know… what is the difference) will very likely try to tell you otherwise, and eventually will find the one guy wearing a t-shirt festooned with marajuana leaves, birkenstocks and who will begin and end every sentence with "yeah, man…", BUT the fact is that Bernie's people are EVERYBODY; from Grandmothers to students, from firefighters to lawyers, from the working poor to the enlightened rich.
2) people were there to listen and engage. This was not a rally complete with donor buckets and candidate kook-aid stands. There were no living room sized posters offering cute slogans. Sanders seems to understand that people …ALL people… are sick to literal and figurative death of a government bought and paid for by oligarchs and moneyed narcissists. In fact, the largest crowd reaction that I can call came when he declared that income inequality was a moral issue, and that the Kochs of the world have only one religion, "Greed".
3) this last one was very important to me. I spoke to Senator Sanders ground guy in IA. He told me three things that demonstrated the Sanders is in for the long haul; not to be Hillary's conscious. One, the Senator gets crowds like he had today EVERY DAY and EVERYWHERE he goes. Two, when I told him we came from Madison, WI to see the Senator, he told me that this was not uncommon… that earlier in the day someone had come from Kansas City, and that Bernie has been drawing them in from ALL OVER. In concert, this means that people are INCREDIBLY plugged in, are educating themselves, and are willing to sacrifice their time and productivity to make his candidacy not only possible, but robust. Lastly he shared with me some thoughts on strategy that, frankly, I will not share here. But rest assured, it was a powerful thought, and one that demonstrates that Senator Sanders is, like Invisiblewoman, ALL-IN.
Check out the pictures, and recc us up!
600+… these folks were all overfill. Lordy, what a good lookin' bunch!
Capacity…and THEN some!