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Clinton in Room That Seats 400
Old 01-16-2008, 08:09 AM   #1
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Clinton in Room That Seats 400

Bill Clinton is going to be speaking near here today, and I'd thought it would be entertaining to go hear him. However, I found that he'll be speaking in a room that seats only 400.

So, what is the strategy here? It can't be worth his time to convert people in a crowd of only 400, many of whom will already support Hillary. Is it just an opportunity to get some sound bites on TV?
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Old 01-16-2008, 08:42 AM   #2
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When Clinton was prez, don't remember exactly what year it was, we received notice he would be arriving and speaking at Bergstrom Air Force Base, in Austin TX where I was working at the time. Not a fan of Clinton, I still thought it would be cool to get to see and hear an actual sitting president, if only for historical reasons. Never seen one for real. So, near the big day, secret service was all over the place setting up vantage points, laying out cables for communications, looking at escape routes, just generally preparing for the event. They made a hell of a mess of the place too, throwing down & leaving on the ground fast food trash etc. No regard at all for anybody. Anyhow, it turned out the Prez was gonna actually be right there in the area where I work. We were a reserve unit co-located on an active duty base and they had picked our little piece of the base to do the prez stuff. Media came pouring in and setting up their gear and we noticed, nobody else. Other than the local media, no other spectators. Looked like a decision was made not to allow the public in. OK, probably too much for the SS to control, besides, plenty of people assigned to the base who would be there. NOT. It turned out that even though Clinton was there to talk about us, the people who were being affected by the BRAC (base closures) not only were we not going to be allowed to attend the prez appearance on an installation supported by taxpayers where we worked preparing to defend our country, we were rounded up and herded like cattle all into one building totally out of the line of sight of the president, and warned by secret service not to poke our heads out the door to catch a glimpse of "the man". We were told it would be most unpleasant for anyone who was seen sneaking a peek at President Clinton! What kind of crap was that? Talk about being insulted, there were a few people who had voted for him:confused: who would have retracted their votes that day if possible. Basically, we decided that they probably did this to head off the possiblility that some disgruntled employee who was about to lose his job might come unhinged and disrupt the Prez's appearance in front of the media. That's all we could think of. It turned out that other than the media, the only people people who attended the function were the local mayor and a very few local dignitaries and a congressman. Also, a group of folks that apparently were intended to give tv viewers and media the impression that they were there spontaneously, although they were brought in on a bus, apparently hand-picked and pre-approved by someone. Bottom line is that we loyal, military/civil service employees of the U.S. Government were treated badly and denied the rare chance to view our elected official when he was right there in our presence. We felt like we'd been dumped on, and it was a real eye opener as to how much the common man really matters to people in power. The whole even was staged for the media (shocker) and there was never any chance for ordinary folks to see "their" president. Anytime I see the (any) president in public on TV, I assume it's staged and meaningless.
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Old 01-16-2008, 08:45 AM   #3
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I just hope the day doesnt end with a youtube video of Al yelling "Dont tase me bro!"
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Old 01-16-2008, 08:56 AM   #4
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They'll tase me when I yell out "Cute fuzzy bunny says that your inflation numbers are crap!"

Quote:
Other than the local media, no other spectators.
I've read that there are times when the press will sometimes video a candidate waving to the crowds, when in fact there is no one there at all (e.g. at airport).
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Old 01-16-2008, 09:01 AM   #5
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I just hope the day doesnt end with a youtube video of Al yelling "Dont tase me bro!"
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Old 01-16-2008, 09:16 AM   #6
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I dont think Bill made the inflation numbers, but the ones they do make are perfectly fine. Considering what they're measuring and what sort of person they're measuring them for.

But...WAS HE A MEMBER OF A SECRET SOCIETY?!?
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Old 01-16-2008, 09:22 AM   #7
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Originally Posted by martyb View Post
When Clinton was prez, don't remember exactly what year it was, we received notice he would be arriving and speaking at Bergstrom Air Force Base, in Austin TX ..........Anytime I see the (any) president in public on TV, I assume it's staged and meaningless.
I would agree with this. A few years ago Bush came through our area. We were involved with the tech production end of his visit (sound reinforcement) and it was an eye opening experience. Most interestingly, they closed the regional (only) airport 30 mins prior to Airforce 1 landing and kept it closed for the entire 4 hours it was on the ground. They also closed the Interstate he traveled on to get to and from the speaking engagement.

The audience at the outdoor event was tightly controlled and heavily guarded, including snipers. The "public" appearance was at a weapons depot that the public couldn't access. Some much for transparency in leadership. I have always wondered how this expensive circus benefited anyone.
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Old 01-16-2008, 09:26 AM   #8
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Perception. Millions watch this stuff on tv and presume their leaders are regularly accessed by regular people who can openly ask questions and get spontaneous answers.

Marketing doesnt exist solely in the commercial market place.

Plus, my joke aside, you've seen what happens when you let these things go off script...
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Old 01-16-2008, 09:37 AM   #9
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Plus, my joke aside, you've seen what happens when you let these things go off script...

OK- you're right. Possible reasons to book a 400 seat hall:

a. A 400 seat hall looks full even when only 200 show up.
b. It was the only hall open
c. It was the cheapest
d. This hall has the required infrastructure for an ex pres visit.
e. The person in charge of booking the hall has a brother-in-law who owns this venue
f. Maybe Clinton likes smaller venues - it gives a more warm fuzzy feel to the appearance and folks leave in a good mood.
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Old 01-16-2008, 09:44 AM   #10
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Plus, my joke aside, you've seen what happens when you let these things go off script...
You mean like this one? My personal favorite. Caution: R rated.

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Old 01-16-2008, 10:09 AM   #11
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I forgot to mention that the Clinton appearance we weren't allowed to view was held outside on a nice sunny day in a wide open area of our flightline. It wasn't a case of being inside a small room that would be crowded etc. Absolutely no reason to insult us like they did. I had pretty much forgotten about that day, now I'm pizzed all over again lol! When I saw it on the news later that evening, it was portrayed as the prez came to visit and reassure the dedicated men & women of the 924th Fighter Wing at BAFB that he really was behind us and "felt our pain" LOL!!! What BS!
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Old 01-16-2008, 10:11 AM   #12
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download the hottest cheney videos through leechvideo.com[/url]
Wow, this is one piece of spam I *really* want to ignore...
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Old 01-16-2008, 10:18 AM   #13
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Wow, this is one piece of spam I *really* want to ignore...
Sorry, the link I posted did have a lot of spam with it. I changed it to a youtube link, it's now spamfree.
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Old 01-16-2008, 11:43 AM   #14
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f. Maybe Clinton likes smaller venues - it gives a more warm fuzzy feel to the appearance and folks leave in a good mood.
When Clinton came to deliver a paid speech in my city, half the auditorium was empty. That doesn't look good.
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Old 01-17-2008, 06:48 AM   #15
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When George Bush came to Hawaii in 1991 for Pearl Harbor's 50th, he planned to lay a wreath at the Arizona Memorial. Apparently the Secret Service felt that this presented a huge security challenge.

Naval message traffic informed local Pearl Harbor ships that topside sentries were allowed to continue to wear their sidearms (unloaded as usual) and their ammunition clips, but any hand on either of those articles would result in the offender being shot by snipers.

So when the ceremony went off, topsides & decks were deserted (except for very nervous watchstanders) and thousands of sailors placed bets monitored the situation through surveillance cameras.
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Old 01-17-2008, 08:59 AM   #16
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From the local paper:
While about 400 people made it inside to see Clinton speak, what appeared to be more than one thousand turned out, waiting for hours at the prospect of seeing the nation's 42nd president in the flesh.

”I want to thank all of the people that are outside trying to get in -- there are more of them than there are of you,” Bill Clinton told the exuberant crowd, many of whom for waited hours in bitter cold weather to hear him speak.
Still doesn't seem quite worth his time. 400 people who are such fans that they wait in line for hours -- can't be a lot of undecideds in that room. But I'm guessing he knows what he's doing.
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Old 01-17-2008, 11:53 AM   #17
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Now that I'm FIRE'd and have my days free, I've been thinking it would be fun to seek out and see some famous politicians in person. Living in San Francisco I'm always reading about politician visits in the paper after they happen. Today I read about Bill Clinton visiting a Barbecue joint across the bay in Oakland.

Is there a way of finding out about visits by famous politicians open to the public? I tried subscribing to the Governator's email list but they only preannounced links to webcam pages of his visits, not actual location details.

I suppose if I attended a few $10,000/plate fundraisers I would probably get lots of invitations, but that's not my cup of tea.
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Old 01-17-2008, 01:38 PM   #18
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...............Is there a way of finding out about visits by famous politicians open to the public? ...............
This ought to get you on the Secret Service watch list.
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Old 01-17-2008, 03:05 PM   #19
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Funny, I was thinking the same thing.
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Old 01-17-2008, 07:23 PM   #20
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The $10k/plate comment was a reference to the movie "In the Line of Fire" where John Malkovich stalks the president trying to assasinate him, posing as a wealthy donor to get close.

In this connected age where we get hourly updates on Britney Spears, it amazes me that politicians are still able to organize public appearances without most members of the public being able to find out about them.
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