SamHenry: Sarah Palin’s Followers – The Other Half of Sarah
The most outstanding thing to know about a Sarah gathering is that the people you will find there are good people, approachable and warm people – bright, well-informed, civilized and intelligent people. They do not appear to be the strong and organized army that they are.
They aren’t into taking on protesters beyond yelling at them in passing- at least in Rochester, NY where she had a book signing just before Thanksgiving.
I was able to interview a picketer who was a member of a socialist group because he realized that although shouted at, he was free to go about his picketing.
When the protesters grew louder and introduced a tuba into the proceedings, Sarah’s supporters who had been waiting in line for hours to see her simply replied by singing the National Anthem or chanted the familiar “Sa rah, Sa-rah, Sa-rah.”
Another important characteristic about Sarah’s followers is their sense of empowerment that she has inspired in them. They feel they have or will find all that they will need to take back America. And these unwavering followers, give her back their own share of inspiration and the gift of their loyalty. It is a combination like no other seen in politics.
It is rare to see such a well-organized event involving more than 1,000 people (good numbers for western New York). Many people spent the night to be first in line. At 9:00 AM, the store handed out 1,000 color coded wrist bands. Each color was assigned to 50 people who could bring a friend on that wrist band and one book each to be signed. That meant a total of 100 people in one color group and 200 books! There was no cutting in line and people would save your place if you had to leave for a moment. The line was buzzing with excited chatting and the exchange of Sarah stories.
My focus at the Rochester event was Sara’s followers. I went with that focus in mind. When I got back and uploaded the videos I took for my friends on and off-line, I heard great disappointment that there were only nano seconds of footage of Sarah. I was actually surprised. Weren’t there enough recent pictures out there of her? My “story” was her followers – the people who make up half of that for which she stands. Their enthusiasm fires her own. She has her own veritable army!
Read the rest HERE.
[As excerpted from an article posted on November 29, 2009, by SamHenry. Blogspot: On My Watch - The Writings of SamHenry.]
[...] StandingWithSarah – Sarah Palin’s Followers – The Other Half of Sarah [...]