Andrew,

Say what you want, it looks like more people came to the rally than actually campaigned for conservative legislative candidates in the 2010 elections.

All kidding aside, I'm glad the turnout was low. Lets not be phonies. We conservatives are too lazy to stick up for ourselves during election season, so why bother showing up for a rally?

I would also note that the two previous rallies were on much warmer days than today. Sunshine Patriots indeed!

I would estimate the crowd at its peak around 5:00 at 2000.

The drones at Channel 10 described it as "a couple hundred people." So much for "objective" journalism.

Those pictures indicate "a couple of hundred people" might be accurate. Not enough to "put the skeer" in the legislature.

RI is a "tough state" for conservatives. Many RI'ers are descended from groups whose introduction ot America included "ward heeler" politics. As "getting out the youth vote" regularly proves, people vote like their parents. It may take quite a few generations. The "growth sector" in the population is recent immigrants, many drawn by state largesse. I am sure the politicans recognize that. It is accepted political wisdom that inside every recent immigrant group are Democrats waiting to get out. Florida Cubans are the only solidly Republican immigrant group I can think of. That is because they blame the Democrats for failing to support them at the Bay of Pigs.

State and country; we are divided into 2 camps.
One, working people who think we are Taxed Enough Already (TEA).
The other, rich marxists, welfare parasites, illegal aliens/anchor babies and government/non-profit "workers" who want to see Stalinist levels of taxation: some to support their "better world" ideology, others to just feed their faces at taxpayer expense.

I agree the Channel 10 estimate was absurdly low, but whatever the exact number, it was definitely lower than the past two years (and they've all been held on sunny days). I was expecting a lot more people, given the strong rebuke the Chafee budget received.
Also found it interesting that despite how hard he's pimped this event, John DePetro was not on the speaking program, and Helen Glover instead brought out Matt Allen to close the show. Has The Independent Man's act finally worn thin for Tea Partiers, too?

From a recent thread at Rescuing Providence

So I’m reading the comments here, (much appreciated, by the way) and Joe’s questioning why shouldn’t taxpayers question pensions gets me angry, then Barberaelizabeth’s expecting 90% of her highest average earned wage gets me angry, and I’m angry with the Medicaide situation to begin with, then I realize that a lot of people are angry with me and my 50 % pension after “just” twenty years (see “Twenty, Rescuing Providence) angry with the CEO’s of big corporations, and people making over a hundred thousand, and people disabled (supposedly-put down that cane and get a job!) and it occurred to me that everybody is angry with everybody, and with all of this anger a person like Karl Marx or John Lennon, never mind not him, the other Beatle, opps, the other Lenin I mean could actually rise to power by convincing the masses of how unfair Capitalism is and we could have a violent revolution that very well could end quite badly.

Another run-on sentence, I’m on a roll, but these things keep me up at night. I used to laugh at Rodney King and his brilliant observation following the riots following the acquittal of some police officers who beat him,

“People, can’t we all just get along?”

There is a lot of anger out there, and it needn’t be. Time to take a deep breath, appreciate what we have, which just happens to be quite a lot, close our eyes and be grateful.

There is no way there was 2000 people there. I'll be generous and say between 300-400. Rhode apathy at its finest.

A Lefty looks at the last election through the looking-glass. Thanks Lewis Carroll.

“O middle class come vote with us!”
The Elephant did beseech
“A pleasant vote, a pleasant revolt
To practice what we preach.
We cannot pay a penny more
We’re broke, and that’s our speech.”

The eldest senior looked at him
But never a word he said
The eldest senior winked her eye,
And shook her old gray head
Meaning to say that they did not choose
To believe what Elephant said.

But four young voters hurried up,
All eager for their treat
Four other voters followed them
And yet another four;
And thick and fast they came at last
But never came the poor.
No one thought of giving them
Hope or help or cure.

"The time has come," the Elephant said,
"To talk of many things:
Of cuts and vouchers and billionaires
Of treating them like kings
And why the economy’s not so hot,
That’s what a union brings.

"But wait a bit," the voters cried,
"Before we have our chat;
For some of us are out of funds,
And most of us broke flat!"
"No hurry!" said the Donkey.
They thanked him much for that

“Big tax cuts,” the elephant said
“Are what we chiefly need:
Loop holes and subsidies
are very good indeed.
Now if you’re ready voters dear
We can begin to feed.

"But not on us!" the voters cried,
Turning a little blue.
"After voting for the Elephant
That would be a dismal thing to do!"
"Your vote is fine," the Pachyderm said.
"Why not support the few?”
"It was so kind of you to vote!
And you are very nice!"

The Donkey said nothing but
"Cut another tax slice:
We’ll cut it once, and if you want
We’ll cut it more than twice!"

"It seems a shame," the Elephant said,
"To play them such a trick,
After we've brought them out so far,
And made them blind so quick!"
The Donkey said nothing but
"The rhetoric’s spread too thick!"

"I weep for you," the Elephant said:
"I deeply sympathize."
With sobs and tears he sorted out
Cuts of the largest size,
Stuffing his pants pockets
Before their unseeing eyes.

"O voters dear," the Donkey said,
"You've had a pleasant run!
Shall we be trotting home again?'
But answer came there none--
And this was scarcely odd, because
They'd eaten every one.
OldTimeLefty

Bravo Lefty

Clever for a seventh-grader, but the adults here aren't impressed.

Isn't that precious-OTL and Phil are starting a little AR left wing support group.Maybe bell and Russ can join.

Good one, Lefty!

I would estimate the crowd at its peak around 5:00 at 2000.

Wow, that's hard to believe. I was there at 5:00. What I saw looked about like the photos above (hundreds there certainly).

And, Joe, I support anyone having fun with Lewis Carroll!

Russ-I actually like "Jabberwocky" better.
BTW Gahan Wilson,the weird cartoonist,wrote a short story based on The Walrus and the Carpenter.I think the title was "The Sea Was Wet as Wet Could Be"but I'm not 100% sure.It was pretty good.
Lewis Carroll was also suspected of pedophilia,so maybe not EVERYONE should've had "fun"with him.
Anyway,it was never proven to any degree.

BobN
Perhaps in the distant future when you somehow achieve seventh grade level and actually acquire a soul you may be in position to make a critical judgment worthy of comment.

FYI, in the future I will ignore your entries in this blog, as they are truly ignorant, that is, 1)Lacking knowledge or awareness in general; uneducated or unsophisticated, 2) Lacking knowledge, information, or awareness about something in particular, and 3)Discourteous or rude
The exception being that I will not let your Goebbels lies go unchallenged.
OldTimeLefty

It would be better if you just went away. You Leftists always talk about how you want to make other people happy. Think how many AR readers would be please to know they never need to see your juvenile drivel again. If you really care about humanity as you say you do, stop inflicting yourself on us.

Somewhere there is a quote about the most evil tyrant being not the one who wants riches or power, but the one who inflicts himself on the people "for their own good" because he is never satisfied. A good description of Lefty.