I don't really want to post a blog, but something this funny must be documented. A few Ron Paul supporters and I went to the a SF GOP Straw Poll at the Holiday Inn in SF. It was also had a dinner and a raffle which cost $35, but we were told we could pay just $5 to skip the dinner, raffle and candidate speeches. We would instead just be voting in the straw poll. When we got there, they told us they were delayed for 2 hours.
Here is a snapshot I took right after we walked in. Notice how upset the Fred Thompson Supporters look.
Here are the Ron Paul supporters filing in to the rear of the room. There were already 15 or so Ron Paul supporters who paid for the entire dinner and sat through over an hour of speeches in support of Fred Thompson. The only banner on the walls was for Fred Thompson as well. Many of those that paid for the meal wondered if the Ron Paul speaker was going to be allowed to speak at all, because, they began a raffle as soon as we walked in.
At this point the supporters began to spill into the sides of the room, which began to slightly interfere with the raffle because they were blocking the prizes (and making lots of noise as large groups of people talking tend to.)
So the event organizer (who also invited us) went up and told us that she was overwhelmed by the support that Ron Paul has and that she hopes that we continue to be this active for the Republican party. However she then says that she now has to cancel the straw poll.
Obviously this pissed off the Ron Paul supporters, but none were more upset than those who sat through all the Fred Thompson speeches. Hopefully this will be in one of the videos that people shot of this event. Many shouted about how this the Republican party will lose next year if they continue to exclude Ron Paul supporters.
Here is Vince, the guy who made
"Don't Tax Me, Bro!" famous. He still credits me making it up because he heard it from me first and I don't remember where I saw it originally. Also behind him is Ralph, who is talking to one of the Fred Thompson supporters. He overheard the security guard leader, who is standing in the doorway, eventually asking her if anyone here was uninvited! It did almost appear as if we just stormed in but in reality it was because they made us wait out in the lobby until the dinner was over.
I wish this could be bigger, because it is one of the funniest moments. The lady who organized the event let the Ron Paul speaker talk to kind of quiet us down, which they helped by putting him on a tiny portable PA. After that two of the girls who were calling the raffle started singing with another guy. I wish I could remember what they sang but I was lauging really hard but trying not to make any noise, so I couldn't pay attention to it. You can see one of the girls singing in front of the tree.
At one point, a Fred Thompson supporter bellowed, "You guys are just plain rude!" Obviously they were not expecting that many of us to show up for their poll. What did they expect with $5 tickets? They refunded our money but some of the people who paid for the whole dinner also wanted their money back because they said all they really came for was the poll. As some point the organizer had to come out and explain that they paid for the dinner as well so they couldn't get their money back. Afterwards she tried to go back inside the room but was locked out, so she started pounding on the door and shouting for help. I wish I could have stopped laughing enough to get a picture of that...