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Monday, December 3, 2007

News Some dude from New York crashes Ron Paul rally

Posted by Thomas Wheatley @thomaswheatley on Mon, Dec 3, 2007 at 9:34 PM

A man calling himself Rudy Giuliani astounded Marietta citizens yesterday by swooping down on the suburb and crashing a well-attended rally organized by supporters of presidential candidate Ron Paul.

Operating under the guise of a "campaign stop," Giuliani took the The Good Doctor's peaceful foot soldiers by surprise. While the followers of Paul's dark horse campaign rallied in the park, Giuliani holed up with fellow Republicans Sen. Johnny Isakson and state House Speaker Glenn Richardson in the Brumby Chair Co., hoarding media that had surely intended to cover all things Ron. Supporters were aghast at how a guy who used to be the mayor of some city in the upper corner of the country could steal the media spotlight.

"I don't know who this guy thinks he is," said Marvin Finkelstein, a nonexistent ham radio enthusiast from Mableton, referring to Giuliani. "We wanted to visit the Square on a Sunday and rally up some supporters. Then 'America's Mayor' â€” what does that mean, anyway â€” decides it's time to check out rocking chairs. The gall!"

OK, so there was no Marvin Finkelstein, and it was really a Giuliani campaign stop that the Paul supporters crashed. But judging from the turnout, it was easy to get confused.

Shouting chants such as "Vote for Ron Paul and win a free country" and hoisting signs â€” one of which was roughly the width of a car â€” the crowd took every chance it could to not only drown out the former New York mayor's words, but hog the photo ops as well. They even deterred Giuliani from speaking on the Square, forcing him to turtle down Church Street instead and pop in to some shops. Interesting moment: A Paul supporter, within earshot of Giuliani as he shook hands on the street, asked, "Care to talk about Bernard Kerik?" A young blond chap in glasses â€” who seemed to be hustling and following Giuliani like a journalist but was congenial and sycophantic to the mayor's security detail like an aide â€” told the supporter, "OK, that's enough."

No real tremendous news came from the fiasco: Giuliani says that he and his Republican opponents agree on "90 percent of the issues"; his supporters called him "a wonderful man"; if he makes it to the White House he'll bring six Brumby chairs. A source privy to the logistics of Giuliani's appearance said he wasn't sure why the former mayor chose to make a hastily scheduled appearance in Marietta before scooting to a fundraiser in Atlanta.

By far the greatest question of the day was one that Giuliani left unanswered, most likely because he didn't understand what the person was asking. A blond shop owner â€” what's with the blondes? â€” pushed through the crowd in the rocking chair store and was insistent on asking the candidate if he was going to legalize prostitution. Earlier she mentioned something to me about how it would "get the girls off the streets," and that if he didn't plan on pursuing such a change, she was going to vote for Hillary Clinton. A journalist told her it was a state law, not a federal law, and Giuliani couldn't really do anything about it. That didn't matter â€” she had her question and dammit she was gonna' ask it. When she was finally able to capture his attention and blurt it out, what unraveled was a garbled flurry of jibberish. She left feeling vindicated, though, shouting, "I asked him! I asked him!" as she walked out.

Maybe she should read the Ron Paul playbook and rent a damn blimp. That's how you get someone's attention.

(Photo by Thomas Wheatley)

Tags: News, 2008 presidential election, Marietta, Rudy-Giuliani, Glenn-Richardson, Ron-Paul, Johnny-Isakson