Obama table in Madison: Sept. 20 Edition (eighteenth one in 2008) with bonus Willy Street Fair table

[zulchzulu]

It was the eighteenth Farmers Market Obama table for this year and was a very spectacular day with people from all over the globe walking along and choosing from all kinds of locally grown, baked, crafted and political flavors. The Obama table is one feature to many at what the New York Times mentioned "The Dane County Farmers' Market in Wisconsin is now recognized as the largest in the nation, and is still growing."

The night before the tabling, I made sure the weekly war scorecard was updated and visible.

Here's this week's ever growing sad news:

Weekly War Scorecard

Cost of Iraq Occupation:
(running total):
$556,660,420,235
- $4,681 per household.
- $1,721 per person.
- $341.4 million per day

American Deaths:
4,171

American Wounded:
30,642

Iraqi Body Count:
1,399,02

As of September 20, 2008 at 12:00AM

Sources:
www.iraqbodycount.net
www.justforeignpolicy.org/iraq/iraqdeaths....
www.defenselink.mil
www.antiwar.com/casualties
www.costofwar.com



It was going to be a long day, and in fact a long weekend in Madison with the Willy Street Fair (Willy Street is short for Williamson Street) on both Saturday and Sunday. It was hot with barely a breeze, which makes commanding a large sign pretty easy. The Barack Obama cutout was going to have a busy day and was soon to be in a few hundred photos.



The day, as has been happening, started off with a bang. People were a LOT happier with the news that Sarah Palin's approval numbers were tanking. It could be a number of reasons, but Tina Fey's SNL skit sure had people talking.

There was the news about the economic crisis happening and gallows humor was the norm. Several people had a lot to say about McCain wanting to fire the SEC commissioner as well as the FEC commissioner (the Federal Elections Commission?). Many pointed out how clueless McCain was and how Obama had been working on Wall Street reform for a while.



There was also a lot of discussion about the McCain absentee mailers with erroneous information and Wisconsin's attorney general Van Hollen, the main poo pah for the state's McCain campaign trying to disenfranchise voters with some sneaky election software.



We were absolutely overwhelmed with people wanting to register to vote... at some points, we had a dozen people crowding the table getting registered. It was fantastic!



Someone came by the Obama table with a big chart sign that he wanted to display but had to leave to do other things. We said "sure". The chart illustrated how Republican and Democratic administrations run up deficits or not (kind of like this chart:http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph... ).

Anyway, a lot of people walked up and looked at the chart and walked away sad or nodding their head in disgust.

Except for this one guy, in his mid-forties and obviously "wrapped a little too tight"...

He came up to me and said he can't stand Obama and wondered why I was out in the street with a table and long lines of people getting registered to vote, getting their picture taken with an Obama cutout, getting stickers and signing up for the campaign.

I asked him why he hates Obama. He pointed to the photo of Michelle and Barack next to the info about how Michelle would be in town Monday (today) and laughed... "Look at them!", he chortled. OK. They're black? He waved me off.

It appeared that he was so used to talking to his racist fuckhead friends that he didn't realize a white guy like me may not be ready to join the Klan next Thursday.

So he then went over to the chart and asked me what I think was wrong with the graph. I said it clearly illustrated that the Republican, while saying they are for small government and "fiscal conservatism", were always the ones who spent money like drunken sailors. He disagreed.

He said it "doesn't matter" how much we spend because it always gets "fixed".

I kid you not. He actually said this: "I mean, look at this week! It looked real bad this week on Monday and by the time Friday came along, everything was fixed!" "Fixed?, I asked. Like fixed means throwing the trillion dollar bailout at the middle class to pay for to the tune of about $7,000 a person?

He then said "Well, look at Bill Clinton!"

I promptly cut him off at the pass about bringing up Clinton. This is 2008. Disappointed, he released his Clinton card and then asked me the ultimate stupid Repig nonsense:

"What does it matter to you anyway? Have you really ever been affected by this stuff anyway?" I was stunned. I haven't been affected? Like that's all that matters anyway? I pointed out that we pay more taxes, get services cut and the dollar is not exactly the standard internationally. "China owns us, dude", I said. I asked him if he has had to deal with cut services and other cutbacks. He said no. Of course he was lying.

Just as he thought the economic crisis was "fixed" by the end of the week, he also felt it doesn't really affect him anyway.

He then asked me if I had been in the military, since he had been (I didn't ask for details). I told no. He then said that's one reason why he likes McCain. I then asked (already knowing the answer) if he supported Kerry in 2004. He laughed like a lizard on crack. I told him I have met hundreds of vets for Obama in the last couple years. He seemed befuddled.

So I asked him if he knew about how John McCain started his career getting busted for being one of the Keating Five, which cost taxpayer by some estimates over $90 billion to "fix". He had no idea what I was talking about.

He then sort of backpedaled on his support for McCain but told me that Obama has links with Moammar Quadaffi. "He admitted he was a muslim last week", he smiled... I knew about how Obama had semi-gaffed but recovered on the IDIOTIC question on whether he's a Muslim or not and asked this fellow if we should assume McCain thinks Putin is the President of Germany (on YouTube), for which he had no idea what I was talking about...

I decided I wasted enough time and had to register people to vote since another line was forming. I shook his hand and thanked him "for his military service" and asked him to check out Obama's web site and maybe look up the Keating Five.

He disappeared into the busy crowd.



The morning went by very fast and it was then off to the Willy Street Fair to set up the Obama table and meet up with the many volunteers who were ready to work in the hot sun.





These are screenshots from some video I shot when I had a chance to. Unlike the Farmers Market, where we can't sell merchandise, yard signs and various bumper stickers were for sale and by Sunday, everything was sold out.



As the Sunday evening events rolled down, there were a dozen tourists from Russia who stopped by. This photo is of one of them next to the Obama cutout. All of them knew about Obama and were hoping we are smart enough to vote for him for President.

There were dozens of people of all ages, sizes and races registered to vote. I couldn't be more proud of the many volunteers who stuck it out and did a fantastic job. We're taking this thang to the finish line!

GOBAMA!

[yourout]

1. Even though it was a little warm it was a beautiful day on the square.

[AtomicKitten]

2. You kick some serious ass, Z.

Thank you so much for your hard work.

:hi:

[zulchzulu]

5. There's nothing like being in the streets getting people ready...

I can't wait until this Saturday for the next chance at tabling already! Thanks AK!

[Frances]

3. Great photos

Thanks for posting and thanks for all the work you are doing for Obama and for all Americans

[zulchzulu]

9. I thank all the people I work with as volunteers as much as possible

People of all ages, not just young folks... some with crutches and wheelchairs... it indeed has been very inspirational working with these people...

[gblady]

4. thanks, once again....

for the great report
and all your hard work.

GOBAMA, indeed!

[zulchzulu]

6. Thanks to you and all checking it out

The last Obama table is the weekend before the Election...

[flpoljunkie]

7. Great work! Great photos! Thanks, zulchzulu!

[zulchzulu]

8. I always look forward to your photo posts as well

Some very cool stuff indeed!