McCain/Palin Rally in Fairfax, VA

sources :
NRO
wizbang blog
The rally was held at Van Dyke Park in Fairfax, VA. Attendance, as at their other recent campaign stops, was massive and enthusiastic. Former Rep. Tom Davis, and Former Sen. Fred Thompson introduced them.
When McCain and running mate Sarah Palin appeared this morning at Van Dyck Park, in the city of Fairfax, Virginia, the people spilled out of the natural amphitheater, over the sides, out the back, and nearly all the way to the Old Lee Highway. The rally had originally been scheduled for Fairfax High School, but some school board members objected. With controversy brewing, the McCain campaign moved the event to the park. It was a good idea; the high school facility could handle 6,500 people, which would have been a huge crowd in pre-Palin days. But today, the school wouldn’t have been nearly big enough. After the rally, McCain officials told me 23,000 people had been there.
Everybody else seemed to think the same thing. I approached a woman named Carolyn, from Arlington, who told me she helped found the Independent Women’s Forum several years ago. “I am so proud of what she represents,” Carolyn said of Palin. “I wish my friend Barbara Olson were here to see this, because she would be thrilled. This is an incredible moment.”
NOTE from Wild Thing….Barbara Olson was killed in Flight 93 on 9-11
Carolyn’s friend, Colette, was standing nearby, nodding. “I’ve been a member of Feminists for Life for 25 years,” she told me. “I am the mother of seven, including twins — six girls — and I am just so proud today for all women. Sarah Palin is showing that a certain segment does not speak for women, that we have something else to say.”
With an audience primed like that, it almost didn’t matter what Palin said. When she appeared onstage, dressed in black, the crowd whooped it up with chants of SAR-AH! SAR-AH! SAR-AH! It wasn’t quite as loud as the O-BA-MA! chants two weeks ago at Denver’s Invesco Field, but it was pretty big. When Palin reached the microphone, she hit all of the main points from her speech at last week’s convention. And while her performance was a little rote, she seemed to put something extra into the section of her speech devoted to energy. She clearly knows a lot about the oil and gas business, and it shows when she speaks. Whatever the other hoopla about McCain’s choice of Palin, the fact is, in the midst of an election dominated by concerns about energy, he picked someone with real knowledge of energy. Not a bad idea.
As for McCain himself, he does appear to be jazzed by the Palin pandemonium that he has set off. When he began to speak, he got right into it: “My friends, the Commonwealth of Virginia is a battleground state, and we must win it,” he said. “We will win it.” When McCain is feeling good on the stump, there’s none of that weak, sing-song delivery that creeps into his big speeches. Here in Fairfax, he was making his points quickly and clearly.
And this……………………
Overflow crowd, scattered over a plane the size of a football field, with hills surrounding it and packed with people. I’d put it closer to 30,000 people, none with seats. Young, old, newborn babies, ladies with walkers, veterans, Hillary-types, and a smattering of Obama lunatics across the street.
Cindy McCain in a green dress, John McCain was filled with energy and all smiles , a sporty looking Todd Palin and THE star of the show, Governor Palin, who was radiant and sophisticated in a black dress and gold broach. She is stunningly beautiful in person, and the crowd hung on her every word.
There was a massive bottleneck to exit Van Dyke Park, but timing is everything. As we reached Old Lee Highway, the secret service stopped traffic and here came the motorcade. Two or three SUV’s with real serious looking secret service, and suddenly, the Straight Talk Express bus emerged.
When it got about thirty feet from our curb, it suddenly stopped and McCain got out and shook hands. I couldn’t believe my fortune. I didn’t get close enough, but he got back in and stood in the sunlight through the windshield, both he and Cindy waving to the raptuous street scene.

Wild Thing’s comment………
Thank you God! There is so much joy and happiness and confidence too. And yesss hope for America the best country in the entire world.
God bless our troops and Sarah and John and their families.
Does anybody else notice the contrast between the people you see at McCain/Palin rallies and the ones for Obama?
I see smiling, happy and energetic people at McCain/Palin rallies.
Whereas, the Obama’s crowds look like they could have been background extras in “One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest.” They look miserable and if they aren’t before his rallies they would have to be when he is done talking to them or Michellle is done talking to them how horrible America is and how they can’t do anything without the government helping them.