Saradise Lost - Chapter Fifty-Six -- The Importance of The Saturday Demonstrations Nationwide

The photographs of Alaska women - with a supporting cast of supportive males - demonstrating outside the biggest public library in Alaska (insert subtle inside joke), are circulating across the internet. They give a strong validity to two important aspects in the growing nationwide awareness of Gov. Palin's vast shortcomings.

One is the GOP point that Palin is a strong woman, supported by Alaska women. The other is the growing national perception about how Alaskans, particularly, in this case, Alaska's women view our future, if it were somehow left in the presidential hands of Sarah Palin.

I find it quite disgusting that the Alaska press, so far, has so fully and inaccurately portrayed comparisons between the GOP Palin lovefest, and the Loussac Library women's event. I just heard Steve Heimel, on APRN's morning Alaska summary, inaccurately compare the two, in favor of the faux event organized on Palin's behalf. Every person I've spoken with who was at both events, estimated the Palin crowd at the new convention center, as less than 1,000. And everyone outside the MSM Alaska media, including the Anchorage police, has categorized the women's crowd at around 1,500 or more. And Heimel - as is the case with other reporters - failed to accurately compare Eddie Burke's mostly mael, pathetic counter-demonstration.

More importantly, to those who were at the GOP event, well, almost a third the crowd may have been drummed up, and some others were most likely paid to be there. Here's from one reporter who chooses to remain anonymous:

The oil companies have plants in the Palin/McCain audience. I saw a guy on TV a few days ago yelling "Drill, Baby, Drill". This was in a city down south somewhere at a rally. The SAME guy was at the Palin rally in the stands behind Sarah. And he was in coordination with a McCain campaigner who handed him one of the "S-A-R-A-H" letters in the stands behind here on the podium. Twice he stood up and shouted "Drill, Baby, Drill".

There were a group of three women behind me that had Palin/McCain hats and shirts too with the same slogans. Who cares about drilling but the oilies? Everybody uses plants, but do they fly them all over the US to do it??? I'd love to go to these rallies and start taking pictures of themes.

Outside Alaska, women's groups, inspired by the Loussac demonstration, are starting activist organizations and information distributing web sites. And comparisons of the Alaska crowd, interpolated on the size of other city or state populations, are being made:

some very rough cypherin’

1700 women within the Alaskan population =

80,000+ jampacked at the Los Angeles Coliseum in California

65,000 at DisneyWorld in Florida

62,000 at Madison Square Garden

60,000 at Texas Stadium in Dallas

This morning's Ed Schultz program, airing and streamed soon on Anchorage's KUDO, and at hundreds of stations across the country, will also show how strongly and independently Alaskans feel and express themselves on Palin.

I'll be quite busy working this week, so expect less posts. Sorry! Stay tuned at Mudflats, Alaska Real, Celtic Diva's Blue Oasis and Just a Girl from Homer, though.