« A Snowy Start | Main | The Pentagon's Intelligence Branch »
January 21, 2005
At the Inaugural Ceremonies
I volunteered for two events: A Celebration of Freedom which took place Wednesday from 4-6pm, and the Constitution Ball, which was Thursday night.
The Celebration of Freedom was on the Ellipse, which is the large lawn/park in front of the White House, inbetween it and the Washington Monument
The Constitution Ball was at the Hilton in downtown Washington DC.
Update
I've rearranged the photos so that they show up in chronological order, the opposite of how a blog usually works. So the first is at top, and goes down from there. I realize that the photos don't all show up right, for some reason gaps between posts are showing up. I'll work on it again and try to clean it up.
Update II
So as you've figured out by now I had a great time. One of the great things about living in the Washington DC area is that you get to do these things. I made the mistake of not participating in the past, and just decided this time I had to do something. Readers of this blog will remember that I worked as a volunteer on Frank Wolf's campaign, and that was a great experience. He was up against this liberal carpetbagger who decided to make an issue of Wolf's religion (Presbyterian, about as mainstream as you can get). We won and it felt good.
So it is with Bush's victory, too. In 2001 it was ok, we got the White House back, but the victory was way too close for comfort. And I harbored doubts about Bush (was he really a conservative?). All doubts are gone now and it is time to celebrate.
And celebrate we did. At the event on the ellipse the snow was worrysome at first (would anyone show?) but the volunteers were all good troopers and we hung in there several hours until the guests arrived. And when they did come, they came by the busfull.
The biggest thrill, of course, was when the President and Vice-President arrived with their wives.
Even though I was maybe 200 feet (I'm not good at distances, take a look at the photos yourself and be the judge) from the President and Vice-President at the two events, it was an amazing thrill to see them live. Even at a distance I could make them and their families out well. I had small binoculars at the event on the Ellipse which I used as long as I could. And I don't feel embarrassed at all to say that patriotic fervor was strong when, immediately after the President and VP spoke, we watched fireworks over the Washington Monument as they played John Philips Sousa's "Stars and Stripes Forever." Leftists, eat dirt!
The Constitution Ball was a lot of fun also. A lot warmer too. On the other hand, the ball did involve renting a tux, which while not terribly expensive isn't cheap either. I see it as my contribution to the cause. This way I'll be able to ignore the seemingly weekly mailing from the RNC asking for money for awhile without feeling guilty.
Was it just me, or did anyone else notice the amazing percentage of young people who are Bush supporters and who came to the inaugural events? I noticed this too at the Constitution Ball. I don't have the demographic trends in front of me, but from what I remember reading, if I was a liberal I'd be very worried.
More on the inaugural events are posted by the photos below. I took a lot of photos that I haven't posted (yet?), mainly because posting them increases loading time so much. Maybe I'll put a few more up, we'll see.
The Inaugural Address
I'm not going to say much about the address other than to say that I thought it great. Take a peak at what fellow bloggers Mark, Paulie, and Marvin had to say about the speach, as I largely concur with their thoughts.
Posted by Tom at January 21, 2005 2:10 PM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.theredhunter.com/mt/refer.cgi/246
