A Tale of Two Rallies (Wizbang)

Obama held a rally to celebrate his victory at Reynolds Coliseum in North Carolina. According to the media, it was a packed house. Here's how it ran on television:

Mary Katharine Ham, though, attended the rally and paints a rather different picture.

Those tables in between my position and the rally you saw on TV are about a quarter full of milling, bored, tired reporters. The rally took up maybe a quarter of the floor space in the arena. Part of running a decent campaign is knowing how big a crowd you might have and planning accordingly so as not to embarrass yourselves with a woefully understuffed venue.

I realize it's standard practice to rope off an area of a venue for crowd-wrangling and appearances, but this is a little drastic. McCain's event at the Wait Chapel at Wake Forest today was nicely filled if not overflowing, but I imagine if he had held it at Groves Stadium and filled only the endzone seats, someone in the media might have said something about it. Obama doesn't have such worries, I guess.

Here's her picture of Obama's rally:

But why report the truth? Far better to distort the facts to make their precious Snobamamessiah look good.

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Comments (12)

The Lame Stream Media is a ... (Below threshold)

1. Posted by Scrapiron | May 7, 2008 8:07 PM | Score: 3 (3 votes cast)

Scrapiron:

The Lame Stream Media is a joke.

Posted on May 7, 2008 20:07

Did Ms Hussein O round up e... (Below threshold)

2. Posted by Scrapiron | May 7, 2008 8:10 PM | Score: 3 (3 votes cast)

Did Ms Hussein O round up enough 'white' people?

Posted on May 7, 2008 20:10

Snobamessiah? That's real a... (Below threshold)

3. Posted by JFO | May 7, 2008 10:19 PM | Score: -5 (5 votes cast)

JFO:

Snobamessiah? That's real adult.

Posted on May 7, 2008 22:19

Yeah, this is real adult to... (Below threshold)

4. Posted by Oyster | May 8, 2008 7:02 AM | Score: 2 (2 votes cast)

Oyster:

Yeah, this is real adult too: Puff Limbaugh

Posted on May 8, 2008 07:02

MKH recommends Obama comman... (Below threshold)

5. Posted by bryanD | May 8, 2008 8:22 AM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)

bryanD:

MKH recommends Obama commandeer a nearby Sizzlin' Sirloin next time instead of a wacky public events center in which to hold rallies. Waiting hungry customers can then be added to the "overflowing enthusiasm" narrative. And so what if the parking lot isn't filled or traffic on the adjacent street still runs smoothly. MKH demands Walls of Illusion! Not bleachers! Walls! Walls! Walls!

Posted on May 8, 2008 08:22

Looks like when I went to s... (Below threshold)

6. Posted by Falze | May 8, 2008 9:16 AM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)

Falze:

Looks like when I went to see Spinal Tap years ago. It was 'sold out', which was how the venue described their 'modified' alignment, where they put up giant black curtains to cut off 2/3 of the seating. So they 'sold out' 1/3 of the venue.

(I actually won the tickets calling in to a radio show)

Posted on May 8, 2008 09:16

Wow! I had no idea how big... (Below threshold)

7. Posted by Tammy | May 8, 2008 10:18 AM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)

Tammy:

Wow! I had no idea how big the venue really was. We, the American audience, punked again.

Posted on May 8, 2008 10:18

Thought Experiment: ... (Below threshold)

8. Posted by Porkopolis | May 8, 2008 11:27 AM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)

Porkopolis:

Thought Experiment:

What would be the MSM's coverage if this was McCain's rally?

Posted on May 8, 2008 11:27

McCain can't afford to rent... (Below threshold)

9. Posted by bryanD | May 8, 2008 11:53 AM | Score: -3 (3 votes cast)

McCain can't afford to rent venues. They're held outside near his crutch/bus.
If TV coverage with audio is the plan, he commandeers elementary school cafeterias (the kind with the stage at one end) or junior high school gyms (preferably with single basketball court). His town halls are held in...town halls of small towns. Early on he rented banquet rooms and motel conference rooms. The McCain campaign has a low ceiling of expected turn-out so his venue size estimates requires no calculus.

Posted on May 8, 2008 11:53

BryanD - are you going to a... (Below threshold)

10. Posted by Michael | May 8, 2008 2:19 PM | Score: 1 (1 votes cast)

Michael:

BryanD - are you going to assume the mantle of ass clown site troll now that barneymoron and nogo have left the premises?

Posted on May 8, 2008 14:19

That was Reynolds Coliseum ... (Below threshold)

11. Posted by Lorie Byrd | May 8, 2008 5:43 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)

Lorie Byrd:

That was Reynolds Coliseum at my alma mater, NC State. It is not really a huge place, by coliseum standards. The portion of the building they used is amazingly small. I was duped. When seeing the coverage on tv I thought the place as packed out.

As an aside, I loved attending basketball games there when Jim Valvano was the coach. (I know, I am showing my age.) I have a ton of good memories from Reynolds -- I even saw Ronald Reagan there in 1984. It really was packed then, and I had an 8th row seat! In fact, Sam Donaldson was within spitting distance.

Posted on May 8, 2008 17:43

That a boy Bryan.. de-rail ... (Below threshold)

12. Posted by Ran56 | May 9, 2008 10:10 AM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)

Ran56:

That a boy Bryan.. de-rail when the subject is too damning for you.

Posted on May 9, 2008 10:10

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