September 28, 2010

Huge crowds of students lining up to get into the Obama rally here in Madison.

I took this little video of the line at 2:25 CT. The security checkpoint wasn't set to open until 3:30, and the event won't start until 4:45.



It looks like President Obama will have the fabulous crowd he's hoping for.

Here's the email sent just now from the UW Police:
President Obama’s Library Mall rally is expected to draw a capacity crowd this afternoon. For safety and security reasons, Bascom Hill will be opened as a site for overflow spectators who can not fit into the event area.

To accommodate spectators, there will be amplification of the event and music up Bascom Hill, beginning at 4:30 p.m. As a result of the noise, there could be potential impacts on classroom meetings, academic activities or other events scheduled after this time.
So if you're one of those who think "Right now Nietzsche is a little more important" and things like that, you will be overwhelmed by sheer power and volume. I'm not enough of a Nietzschean to say what Nietzsche would have thought about that.

67 comments:

Lincolntf said...

Do they come to bury Caesar, or to praise him?

Palladian said...

"I'm not enough of a Nietzschean to say what Nietzsche would have thought about that."

What? A great man? I always see only the actor of his own ideal.

Palladian said...

Madness is rare in individuals -- but in groups, parties, nations, and ages it is the rule.

traditionalguy said...

Neitzche would not have given a damn what you thought. But like Obama, he would talk down to you impure people that he has lost all respect for since you first fell for his Mantra about reforming everthing.

Scott M said...

HOLY SHIT...that's a lot of white people.

chickelit said...

...you will be overwhelmed by sheer power and volume. I'm not enough of a Nietzschean to say what Nietzsche would have thought about that.

I look forward to your Riefenstahlian video homage.

Palladian said...

"Sympathy for all" would be harshness and tyranny for THEE, my good neighbor.

chickelit said...

When I was their age I voted for Jimmy Carter.

rhhardin said...

A big campus event is always a good time to visit unusually uncrowded things.

Triangle Man said...

Allegedly, the line is a half mile long.

I'm Full of Soup said...

That's Obama - he could sell ice in July in Ecuador.

Sofa King said...

In other news, Pope draws huge crowds at the Vatican!

Anonymous said...

Ben Harper fans...

How many people can stand on the Library Mall?

Roger J. said...

seems to me it is safe the think that u wis students are idiots--much like their professoriate

AllenS said...

I can hear the students chanting:

"More stimulus! More green jobs!
More beer!

AllenS said...

Interesting video. Normally, on a Tuesday afternoon there is nobody on that street. Especially, students sitting on that wall. I'm impressed.

Gird your loins!

LouisAntoine said...

Yeah but since they are going to see Obama, these people are probably communist automatons, or at least not real americans. If you threw a few misspelled signs, a ben franklin impersonator, a few gadsen flags, and reduced the size of the crowd by 4/5ths-- then it would be real americans. All these fake americans should be deported, back to mexichina, where they can stop polluting our way of life.

Also, where are the open-carry machine gun people? You can't have a proper political gathering without them. Just more proof of these people's lack of citizenship/union membership/comkiefascsocialistic thinking.

Ignorance is Bliss said...

I can hear the students chanting:

"More stimulus! More green jobs!
More beer!


Funny, to me it sounded more like Peace, bread, and land.

Triangle Man said...

Damn, Roger J, bringing the heat!

Lincolntf said...

Do you people have any idea how many badger heads you could buy if you sold tickets to this thing?

Roger J. said...

If Mr Obama's base is the Wisconsin student body, then he is really screwed

Dust Bunny Queen said...

There are probably more people ready to get in line to buy Cataclysm, World of Warcraft's newest expansion.

Lincolntf said...

Last minute focus groups save the day!!!!
More likely, Obama told him to get his goddam ass over there before the "Dems avoid Obama" meme gets any more traction.

Big Mike said...

There are more "people of color" at Tea Party events. Says something, I think.

LouisAntoine said...

What does it say, Big Mike? Just curious.

Lincolntf said...

There are more "people of color" at Tea Party events. Says something, I think.


On Wikipedia, the most recent stat has Madison with about a 5% black population. If the City was a corporation, Obama and the students would probably be boycotting it. But since it's a reliable Liberal factory, no standards are necessary or accepted.

LouisAntoine said...

Are you guys saying that blacks don't support obama, since they aren't at this rally? I thought your major beef was that blacks voted overwhelmingly democrat, proving that only black people are racists, or something?

I know that no matter what, the point is that librulz and demonrats are The Only True Racists. But how we get from A to B, I am not sure.

Palladian said...

"But how we get from A to B, I am not sure."

We're not surprised.

Roger J. said...

Monty--black voting patterns prove only that blacks tend to vote as a bloc. I will leave it to your powers of deducion to draw any conclusions.

Ned said...

obama draws student crowd in madison WI...now there is some real news for you....LOL!

BJM said...

Wonder what President PanderBear will pull from his bag of hackneyed rhetoric tonight?

The parable of the car in a ditch and the Slurpee?

Like that would be so much awesomeness, Dood.

Automatic_Wing said...

I know that no matter what, the point is that librulz and demonrats are The Only True Racists. But how we get from A to B, I am not sure.

I think it might be because liberals and Democrats are the ones who want to government to discriminate on the basis of race.

The Crack Emcee said...

If there's a better way to self-identify as a rube, somebody's going to have to explain it to me.

And - oh, yea:

Hey, you kids, get off my lawn!

kjbe said...

I'm reading that the line is going all the way down University, as far as the Nat. That's well over a mile long.

Roger J. said...

There will be a hell of a lot of U WI graduate who have spent in excess of 100K of their parents money for an education only to find they might, if they are lucky to get a job in walmart--this, of course excludes the students who actually majored in hard sciences--I am sure that attending an Obama rally will get them that great job

AST said...

This would be a good time to listen to "Chained Lightning" by Steely Dan, although "Bodhisattva" might be apropos in honor of BHO.

And that's about all I know or care about Nietzsche.

Roger J. said...

AST--that nitzche guy was a great linkebacker for the bears--what more do you need to know :)

AST said...

No new post, but I noticed that the next wv is "racipst."

KCFleming said...

Cool video.

Felt like I was in the back seat, bumming a ride.


You can let me off at the corner; I'll walk the rest. Thanks for the lift!

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Its apparent the University cancel classes so the Obama Youth could go and see the maximum leader... its not surprising they went and obediently lined up.

Issob Morocco said...

Maybe that is what passes for a 'huge' crowd in Madison, but it was a shade under 2K total. Not exactly meeting a definition of huge. Huge is Camp Randall filled. This is like seeing Ben Harper play at the Kiva. Oh wait he is playing....

AllenS said...

The Badgers football team, will always outdraw Obama.

Ever go to a Badgers football game, Althouse?

That would give you a sense of proportion.

Bushman of the Kohlrabi said...

I hope the media beams those images of Barry and Rusty together at last across the entire state. People need to remember who Russ works for.

w.v fitin - Russ was fitin to be tied when he found out he couldn't avoid the Barry's show.

holdfast said...

Wow - he can draw a bunch of Obama-Zombies on a leafy college campus - who woulda thunk it?

chickelit said...

obama draws student crowd in madison WI...now there is some real news for you....LOL!

The throng remains the same.

mesquito said...

"We cannot win with egg heads and African-Americans."

Paul Begala

Calypso Facto said...

Roger, you can badmouth politicians of any stripe here, and I'll only be amused, but when you pun that GREEN BAY PACKER great Ray Nitschke was a CHICAGO BEAR, you sir, have crossed the line!!!!

Calypso Facto said...

AllenS: UW vs Austen Peay (Who?... Exactly!) outdrew what Obama will.

Scott M said...

But how we get from A to B, I am not sure.

That's not surprising. It took a committee and a few non-binding resolutions just to get you that far.

Calypso Facto said...

Coming into Madison from the north, I encountered approximately 30 state troopers posted along the interstate. So, how many LEOs are involved this afternoon? 200? More? From what I can discern online, these costs are borne by the individual state and local agencies. So, not only did Obama's visit paralyze traffic and freeze out area businesses, but we get to pay an unfunded mandate for overtime at his partisan political endorsement rally? Nice.

But I'm really pissed because if I had known every available cop in the state was sitting in a patrol car on the outskirts of Madison eating donuts, I could have made MUCH better time on my trip!

Unknown said...

I saw a lot of kids walking past, but, what the hey, no class, so they get to hang out.

Montagne Montaigne said...

Yeah but since they are going to see Obama, these people are probably communist automatons

By George, I think he's got it.

Actually, these are a bunch of 19 year olds with nothing else to do on a slow Tuesday. Your average kid that age is only interested in food and sex and I wouldn't be surprised if the rumor was started that they'd get free food, like the rally in Berlin.

Are you guys saying that blacks don't support obama, since they aren't at this rally?

Not any more. Even blacks are abandoning The Zero.

Big Mike said...

@Calypso, Nitschke played in the Bears backfield twice a year.

Opus One Media said...

Calypso Facto said...
".... but we get to pay an unfunded mandate for overtime at his partisan political endorsement ..."

Ol' facto(ry) longing for Bush's days in the white house when he hid from the world...little beedy eyes dartin' here and there...always looked like he was waitin' for cheney to put his hand up his ass and make him talk...and then he shifted to that dumberthanshit grin...realizing that after cheney did it he could relax until the next time they took him out in public...

miss that don'tcha? ya'betcha.

Unknown said...

Roger J - I assume that you are trolling :)

on a Wisconsin blog yet!

Michael said...

HD House: But without a teleprompter (other than the invisible Cheney) he didn't uh and ah quite as much as the talker in chief, yabetchaback

William said...

Kierkegaard is also difficult to spell but, when you screw it up, it looks misspelt. Of all the major philosophers, Nietzsche has the most mangled name, but it has only made him stronger.....I'm sure that the Secret Service are just as glad to have the Nietzsche fans stay in class. Anyone carrying Catcher in the Rye or Nietzsche to the event should be given full body cavity searches.

mtrobertsattorney said...

What would Nietzsche say? Taking liberties with Thus Spoke Zarathustra, he would say something like this:

"What is love? What is creation? What is longing? What is a star?" asks the Obamaman. And they blink.

"We are no longer able to despise ourselves" sayth the Obamaman. And they blink.

"We are the ones we have been wainting for" sayth the Obamaman. And they blink.

"We have invented happiness" sayth the Obamaman, and they blink.

"We have left the regions where it was hard to live, for one needs warmth. We still love our neighbor and rub against him, for one needs warmth."

"A fool, whoever still stumbles over stones or human beings! A little poison now and then: that makes for agreeable dreams. And much poison in the end, for an agreeable death." So sayth the Obamaman.

"One still works, for work is a form of entertainment", sayth the Obamaman. "But one must be careful lest the entertainment be too harrowing. One no longer becomes poor or rich: both require too much exertion. Who wants to rule? Who obey? Both require too much exertion."

"No shepard and one herd," sayth the Obamaman! "Everbody wants the same, everybody is the same: who feels different shall go voluntarily into a madhouse."

Formerly, "all the world was mad" say the most refined, and they blink.

"We are clever and know everything that has ever happened" sayth the Obamaman. "We may quarrel, but are soon reconciled--else it might spoil the digestion."

"We have our little pleasure for the day and our little pleasure for the night, but we have regard for health."

"We have invented happiness" sayth the Obamaman. And they blink.

Unknown said...

HDHouse said...

Calypso Facto said...
".... but we get to pay an unfunded mandate for overtime at his partisan political endorsement ..."

Ol' facto(ry) longing for Bush's days in the white house when he hid from the world...little beedy eyes dartin' here and there...always looked like he was waitin' for cheney to put his hand up his ass and make him talk...and then he shifted to that dumberthanshit grin...realizing that after cheney did it he could relax until the next time they took him out in public...

miss that don'tcha? ya'betcha.


First, it's spelled beady. Second, I recall Dubya spent his days taking care of business, like winning the campaign in Iraq, as opposed to The Zero, who spends his days golfing and whining about how the Demos don't love him.

YA BETCHA!!

dbp said...

Kids are attracted to big events, that is fine and understandable if it is the main reason for good attendance.

If they are sincere in hoping to hoping to hear great words from a great man, then this is incredibly sad. How can they not know it will be just more empty platitudes they are herding themselves off to?

Irene said...

Seventeen students attended my afternoon class.

Forty-four are enrolled.

Methadras said...

dbp said...

If they are sincere in hoping to hoping to hear great words from a great man, then this is incredibly sad. How can they not know it will be just more empty platitudes they are herding themselves off to?


Well, it is consistent that they are going to listen to platitudes from a professor who became a president, so it will be easy for them to understand since they are already maturated, trained, and properly equipped coming to already have heard platitudes from their classroom professors. At least they will response properly as trained to do already.

chickelit said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
SteveR said...

The simple fact that he's in Madison campaigning for Democrats and Feingold isn't even there (and behind in the polls) tells me an awful lot.

chickelit said...

The Madison Man jumped into their midst and pierced them with his eyes. "Whither is Change?" he cried; "I will tell you. We have killed it---you and I. All of us are its murderers. But how did we do this? How could we lower the level of the sea? Who gave us the sponge to wipe away the coal dust horizon? What were we doing when we chained this earth to its solar power? Whither is it moving now? Whither are we moving? Away from all suns? Are we not plunging continually? Backward, sideward, forward, in all directions? Is there still any up or down? Are we not straying, as through an infinite nothing? Do we not feel the breath of empty space? Has it not become colder? Is not night continually closing in on us? Do we not need to light lanterns in the morning? Do we hear nothing as yet of the noise of the gravediggers who are burying Change? Do we smell nothing as yet of the decomposition? Change, too, decomposes. Change is dead. Change remains dead. And we have killed it.

From The Parable of the Madison Man

rcocean said...

What a Lilly-white crowd. Thought I saw some racist signs there, but maybe not.

Didn't see many Asians or Hispanics either. Guess Progressive Madison doesn't welcome "their kind".

MadisonMan said...

The Madison Man jumped into their midst and pierced them with his eyes.

No, I didn't.

I missed everything, but I did hear from other parents that the line to get in was from Library Mall, down University, past Babcock, and to the Nat and beyond (!). And five abreast. That's a lot of people.

It surprised me that they shut down the beltline. But someone told me at the meet that the cars were too heavy to go down Johnson, which is how I'd come in from the airport. And that there are a lot fewer buildings to clear along the Beltline and John Nolen.

The Musket said...

When I was their age, I voted for Reagan! If Reagan had visited my campus and classes had been canceled, I would have gone to see him. However, I doubt my Engineering classes would have been canceled.

My daughter is their age now. If Obama were to visit her campus and classes were canceled, she would not go see him. She'd either get ahead on her classes, or spend some time working for the GOP candidate for congress.