Redstate

Keep up the pressure on that dirty so-and-so.

Great post, by the way.

And props to Baron von Steuben.

Good post.

pesky First Amendment thingy that allows free speech and peaceable assemblage.

Blast! When will that John Kerry learn about not letting the "public" into his rallies without a waiver or oath pledge like that other guy. ;)

Yeah, like Kerry's campaign didn't try to stop them from getting in.

There was also one sign that read...

"Pontius Pilate was also 'personally opposed'"

Ouch.

Exactly, glad you agree -- the Kerry campaign doesn't do as good a job keeping the "public" out of their campaign speaking events.

Looked at the photos. Several dozen protesters seemed about right by me.

I can well imagine the Franciscans pumping up the numbers, not out of dishonesty but rather enthusiasm for the cause.

It's just human nature.

That same group puts 35-40 people on buses every saturday morning to go to Pittsburgh to pray at clinics. I'm waiting for a good crowd shot, but am reassured by not only someone I trust, but someone who doesn't go for enthusiasm blinding.

As someone who was there, perhaps I can clear up your uncertainty. The photos do not show the extent of the crowd because the photographer could not stand back from it and get the whole thing.  He was with the protesters in the "white ticket" section at the back of the crowd.  There were a couple of photographers from the press corps who stopped to get shots on their way back to the press buses but I don't expect those will see the light of day.  I think the reporter from the local paper who estimated the protesters at half of the crowd was as far off as the AP reporter who tried to swallow the notion that there were 3500 people there.

According to the Sherrif's department, about 400 people marched down from the campus praying the rosary.  Since I was standing on Third Street talking to Sherrif Abdalla when he got the call on his radio, that number is fixed.  

After waiting a couple hours, everyone was allowed in.  Then, around 5:30 or 6:00 the families started showing up.  

Shortly before the speeches started, the clergy arrived having finished their Saturday services.  My guess is that there were 600-800 of us total if you count the little ones (and of course we do , which is why we were there).  

By the time the event got going, I needed my cell phone to re-find the people I came with.

Thanks for the description and numbers.  Your presence was obviously noticed and it is inspiring.

The fact that the Kerry campaign would conduct a rally in Stuebenville reveals a fascinating blindspot: For many Catholics, particularly in the greater midwest, the very word "Stuebenville" is synonymous with a sort of neo-evangelical Catholicism. Many of us send our high-school age children to "the Stuebenville conference" each year. This is a mainstream part of Catholic life in this part of the country.

It is striking that no one in the Kerry campaign made this connection.

Partly, I suspect the error was that of the local Democrats who were certain that they had politically neutralized the University.  

When a Republican alum ran for office locally in a recent off year election, there was some fear that he would just organize and turn out the campus and thus sail to an easy victory.  One woman in an unguarded moment on local radio coined the phrase "Charismatic Carpetbaggers."  As it turned out, he pounded the pavement and organized the neighborhoods and won anyway.

But the University's administration has always been careful to keep well out of politics, even to the point of actively discouraging students to be politically engaged.  This response was organized entirely by the students themselves.

On the other hand, the University has made a real commitment to pro-life activism.  Every January classes are cancelled to allow anyone who wishes to go to the March for Life in Washington.  When I was a student, we would usually be about 700 strong (about 1/3 of the total student body).

Kerry's reception in Steubenville was the direct heir of that legacy of pro-life activism.  At the March, Steubenville always waits a few extra hours at the ellipse in order to be the very end of the marchers, and they always march in prayerful silence all the way to the Supreme Court.  Those who go on the buses spend around 24 hours (midnight to midnight) without bed or shower to be able to march.  With that tradition, Saturday's little hardships (showing up seven hours early and a little bit of standing in the rain) was literally a walk in the park.