rrizzo@bbncca.ARPA (Ron Rizzo) (11/03/84)
Yesterday 6000 turned out to cheer Ronald Reagan & senatorial candidate Ray Shamie; the rally was held outdoors at the vast City Hall Plaza, but attendance was "by invitation only" and the area was cordoned off by a fence, almost unheard-of for gatherings on the Plaza. The large number of hecklers & protesters that turned out were forced to watch at a distance beyond the fence. At one point, a smiling but angered Reagan turned to the hecklers & said, "You ain't seen nothin' yet!" It turns out the "crowd" of 6000 was predominantly made up of people brought in to Boston on some 150 buses from more conservative New Hampshire, Rhode Island, & Cape Cod, organized apparently by the GOP. Not only must Reagan keep the "people" he represents literally at a distance, but phoney crowds of supporters must be painstakingly assembled to fill the few public places (whose access must be restrict- ed) in which Ronnie is willing to appear. By contrast, Walter Mondale appeared today at a huge rally on the Boston Common at which 80,000-100,000 people turned out; no hecklers or protesters were anywhere in evidence. Cheers, Ron Rizzo
jpg@sdchema.UUCP (Jerry Greenberg) (11/03/84)
> It turns out the "crowd" of 6000 was predominantly made up of people > brought in to Boston on some 150 buses from more conservative New > Hampshire, Rhode Island, & Cape Cod, organized apparently by the > GOP. Not only must Reagan keep the "people" he represents literally > at a distance, but phoney crowds of supporters must be painstakingly > assembled to fill the few public places (whose access must be restrict- > ed) in which Ronnie is willing to appear. > By contrast, Walter Mondale appeared today at a huge rally on the > Boston Common at which 80,000-100,000 people turned out; no hecklers > or protesters were anywhere in evidence. Oh, of course. Liberal demonstrations are as spontaneous as the expansion of a gas into a vacuum. Jerry Greenberg
rrizzo@bbncca.ARPA (Ron Rizzo) (11/05/84)
Whoa! I goofed! The turnout for Reagan's Thursday appearance in Boston\was estimated at 25-30,000, not 6,000 as I'd reported. The latter figure was the estimate for number of hecklers! (The 11/2/84 Boston Globe reported police estimated hecklers at 5000 while a number of reporters put the figure considerably higher.) So people the GOP bused in from NH, RI, & Cape Cod represented only 1/4 (7500) of supporters. But Mondale-Kerry, with 80-100,000 outdrew Reagan-Shamie 3 or 4 to 1, had no hecklers, let anyone attend, & organized no massive busing effort. "Even the perfect make mistakes" -Vince Lombardi Ron Rizzo