Queue longer than Downtown Mall for Obama
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The line as seen from the Hook's newsroom seven blocks from the Pavilion. The line stretched past the Omni hotel.hawes spencer -
Photographed at 8:55am August 29.hawes spencer
Crowds gathered, and materials were moved into place for the Wednesday, August 29 arrival of the American president, Barack Obama, who zipped into Charlottesville during his reelection campaign, for what was supposed to be a college tour. "I was not going to close 186 classes," the University of Virginia president told her faculty Tuesday night. So Obama returned to the Downtown Mall's nTelos Wireless Pavilion, a venue which he most recently graced nearly two years ago in an ultimately unsuccessful effort to keep then Democratic Representative Tom Perriello in office.
– 1:16pm update: original headline ("Readying for Obama") changed, and lead photo added
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55 comments
Why are the public schools closing ?
Because their logic was to have the kids home before the President's route down 29 North into the city of Charlottesville. I don't think they did a good job of it though - they knew of this weeks ago and they could have made alternative arrangements.
"I was not going to close 186 classes,"
But they closed most of the local public schools early. Who loses here.
Typical UVA arrogance! The place is a dump anyway!
@Fratboy...I totally agree with you. I think it's ridiculous for UVA to snub any president who would like to speak on campus, I mean...really? He's the president. I don't think the "equal time" argument holds much water either. If Romney wants to come speak on campus, he should be welcome as well. What a great thing for the students to be exposed to. Shame on president Sullivan for not welcoming our nation's leader to the campus with open arms. Popular or not, convenient or not, he runs the country we all live in.
Michelle cancelled. I expect he will to. That storm and all.........Go Hoos
I am not so quick to criticize Sullivan over this. Shutting down the entire University for the day at the last minute is a big deal, and it's more so with the amount of security involved. I also think it makes it a lot less accessible to anybody but the University. Now it's equal opportunity. Students can get DT as easily as anyone else.
UVA officials offered the JPJ arena but the Obama camp declined that offer. So to make it clear, UVA didn't snub anyone.
Ahhhh .... @OMGitspaul, you clearly did not attend/graduate from UVa. We don't call it "Campus," bud. It's called "The Grounds." Now, I anticipate you and everyone else will respond by calling me an arrogant snob. Fire away!
here is the text of the speech...
Good Afternoon Charlottesville.....
Did everybody get some koolaid? Drink up.... its free ... well sort of, I did bill it to the taxpayers like all my vacations and golf games.....
Joe Biden couldn't be here today... he is suffering from a little "foot in mouth" disease, but I am sure he will be "unchained "within a few days...
As I look down this downtown mall and see thie sides lined with able bodied homeless people, I want you to know that starting in 2014 we will be giving them all "obamacare" addition to the food stamps I already extended their way... so once they can lie about back pain and get vicodin for free,you won't need to give them as much money for drugs when they panhandle.... thats how I roll!
As I look off to the west towards UVA I can see "Westhaven," the high rise where people have been living free since the 1960s when urban renewal taxed the rich and built that for them so they could have a place to live while they looked for work... I want you to know that this 50 years of free rent is NOT at risk with the "welfare to work" rules... we found a loophole through the use of housing grants.. so just like the food stamp program and obamacare, these poor people won't have to deal with the indiginty of having to earn a living working for people who are more succesful then them. Think of it as their "participation trophy"
and as I look past Westhaven I can see UVA.... the University built through the hard work of Thomas Jefferson... and I think back to that moment in time where a local guy "Jack Jouette" made his famous ride through the woods where no trails existed, to warn Jefferson and others that the British were coming... ...and I want to take a moment here to point out that although he gets the credit... Jack Jouet didn't "build that" on his own.... in fact if it were not for the British GOVERNMENT trying to Jack up taxes and intrude in the private lives of citizens with the quartering act there wouldn't have even been a war in the first place... so make sure we give proper credit where credit is due.... but back to UVA, ..... I know that there are a lot of smart kids over there who need our help.... they are the victims. They have been poisoned by a public school system that forced them to say the Pledge of Alliegance and to stand for the Star Spangled Banner, some of them actually had to endure "christmas " parties. They need our help. It is unfair to expect them to make it through college without student loans that can be left unpaid, it is unreasonable to expect them to have to use a complicated laptop and software when all their predessors had to do was learn how to use a manual typewriter, a protractor and slide rule. The youth of today have it so much harder. In 1965 all students had to do was sort maybe 50 record albums, in todays dorm their ipod might have 2000 different songs, they have to navigate through you tube videos, cat memes and 100s of porn sites.... it is so unbearable that it has caused many of them to binge drink from the pressure.... Well I am here to say today that if I am reelected I will EXPAND government with all kinds of new programs to give these kids a government job so that they don't have to work so hard and actually learn anything because they will all be working for ME.
I also would like to announce a new program like Obamacare but for cars.... I call it "Obamacar" ... we wil issue everyone (except the rich of course) an auto repair card, where you will be able to bring your car in for service to any shop you want and the government will fix anything and everything on the car by taxing the rich and borrowing more from our friends in china. We will also help pay for this program by putting a tax on all mechanics tools, and a surcharge on any parts they use. These fees of course will be charged to the repair shop and not the consumer.
In closing, I would like to say that I know the Republicans say that my vision for America is financially unsustainable, they will try and confuse you with facts, like taxing the rich will only cover 8 days of my overspending and that I have no answer for how to deal with the other 357 days. They will tell you that I golf too much, and that I lied about the true cost of obamacare... they will tell you that Mitt Romneys tax returns should be less important than my college records and papers that I spent millions to conceal, They will tell you that my passport and unexplained trips to the middle east when I was younger should be fair game as should be who actually paid for my college and ... They will try and confuse you with facts like I am spending MORE in Afghanastan than George Bush ever did, that I didn't close gitmo as promised, that I gave GM to the Unions... well I am here to say none of that matters because I KILLED BIN LADEN WITH MY BARE HANDS...... So the choice is clear.... vote for me and get more free crap at your grandkids expense or vote for Romney and have to get up and go to work everyday.....
Goodnight.......
The real story is that the length and cost of campaigning is out of control and everyone is sick of it - and it's still August.
We need to change this .
Campus/Grounds who cares? ***yawn****
It's kind of like, "Is it an ottoman or a footstool?"
After the Sullivan fiasco UVA is more like a footstool stuck in the Grounds.
I'm proud of UVA for making the right decision.
felonoius munk has weighed in on the campaign,,,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRmZ9zH-mYM
I want this election to be over for hundreds of reasons, but the most important reason is that after November I will no longer have to read Bill Marshall's twaddle about the 8 days.
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If our law makers truly cared about the economy why wouldn't they direct all campaign contributions to efforts to put people back to work - why would they stress cities and towns around the country with campaign events that take security workers away from their normal jobs and disprupt the local economy - not to mention the cost ?
This is not directed at any one party but at All elected officials .
One month of this would be plenty. I am looking for a candidate with the common sense to end this insanity .
Guessing this 500K plus for cville is coming out of the taxpayers pockets.
@OMGItsPaul...Did you not hear the UVa situation? Obama asked for one of two locations right on campus (I don't subscribe to that "Grounds" BS either). The college refused due to many factors (cost, disruption, cancellation of classes on what for many is the first day of school). They offered JPJ. Obama refused, saying it was not "academic enough." Really, they did not want the pontiff seen speaking in a 1/5 full venue.
So, Obama selected the highly academic nTelos Capshaw Memorial Pup Tent...real classy, eh? Why didn't he approach PVCC? That is an educational venue and a prime location to tout the need for post-high school education (be it academic or trades).
Therefore, whilst you'd like Obama to plead martyrdom by saying he was "snubbed," it was his arrogance that kept him from UVa.
Sully was spot on with this call!
R.I.P.: Wilt Chamberlain
(1) I love you, Bill Marshall.
(2) And to the Obama campaign, what's wrong with JPJ? It was good enough for the Eagles, Dave Matthews, Jimmy Buffett, etc., etc., and if I'm not wrong, Paul Tudor Jones has ante'd up some $$$ for Mr. Obama. Maybe it's because the few thousand people who are showing up would look like BBs in a boxcar in a large arena.
(3) UVA made a fair and square offer. Get over it, you complainers.
(4) Give me a pad and pencil to count the welfare cheats, foodstamp frauders, etc. I agree with Dennis Miller . . . I'm happy and willing to help the homeless. I'm just sick of helping the clueless.
Ha Ha, typical white people running scared from a black president. Naw, I'm just messin wit you. Y'all should've seen Between Barack and a Hard Place at Live Arts this weekend. It was the creamy dessert to the full meal that is the presidential elections. It was talking about issues that people were really concerned about like diversity and how if we can all laugh at black comics then we can all laugh at the same things because if we don't diversify then our nation is all but contigulated.
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People waited in long lines for underwear in the Soviet Union too.
Jeez, you all are touchy.
Bill Marshall- You're all mad because you say Obama says he killed Bin Laden with his own bare hands. But obama never said that, so why get so upset about something that never happened? You should be more upset up facts like the fact that Bill Marshall has a dog turd for a brain. Naw, I'm just messin' wit you.
You shoulda checked out Between Barack and A Hard Place at Live Arts this weekend. It could have given you a good look at politics from a hip hop point of view.
UVA couldn't handle the Presidential Protection with campus cops. Just sayin ....
If it was a Republican President, the University would have been honored.
Tinkerbelle, if the president had been white UVA would've been honored. Let's not beat around the bush. Sullivan is already close to being fired, she don't need to be letting blacks on campus to talk. This actually came up in Between Barack and A Hard Place and the hip hop president gave a great answer about race, diversity and healing wounds.
Tinkerbelle . . . the UVA Police Force (officers of which are probably clearly more intelligent and well trained than a lot of the posters on this site . . . )
And Ty Cooper . . . what about this story don't you get . . . what the h-ll is wrong with Scott Stadium or John Paul Jones? The offer was made. It was rejected. There has to be a rationale behind the Obama campaign. This is not about Ms. Sullivan.
Of course Lynne, black president so we'll let him talk at one of our sporting venues? Typical slave owner mentality, blacks are good enough for our sports teams but when they want to be on the lawn? Oh no, that's massa's territory.
You probably could've used some time at Live Art's Between Barack and A Hard Place this past weekend. The hip-hop president would've presented you with a view other than the priviledged white one you currently own.
I am glad he is not coming to UVA. UVA is more than just an institution of higher learning. We have a major hospital here, folks, with people coming in for surgery, cancer treatments, office visits, etc.
All these road closures make it difficult for patients and staff to get to the medical center. We are disrupting thousands of people when you consider the school closures, downtime and revenue loss for businesses along the closed streets, CHO,etc. The city and county have to provide security which is costly. And this is in exchange for what? We will have a few extra people in town, eg reporters and the DNC officials boosting the restaurant and hotel businesses for a day or two, and the Secret Service looking for companions, otherwise, just an inconvenience. He isn't coming to Cville as President. He's coming to beg for votes, no more, no less. He wanted UVA students, not just any college students, because he heard about the Sullivan mess and thought UVA students would loyally support him the same way that came out in large numbers for her.
The news media should stop dreaming about the masses coming to see him; they still have tickets left that they can't even give away.
The president refused to pop his collar, and therefore was denied access to "Grounds"
(It's a campus, people. Get over yourselves.)
Ty Cooper . . . there's no way to reason with people who see racism everywhere. How about the white exterior of the UVA Hospital? Or the white lines on the highways? Or the background on this Hook page--it seems a little too white. Obviously, this is a silly topic--so don't even remind me. We'll all live in a better society when we're all color blind and not looking for a racist reason behind every decision. We are better than this.
Buzzbomb re: "Grounds" versus "campus" . . . I'm guessing your application was denied. Practically every college/university has a distinguishing characteristic of tradition . . . it's really not that big of a issue.
Lynne, if you can't see the obvious message sent by only allowing the black president to speak at the atheltic facilities then I can't help you.
But you're employing a classic white devil maneuver- instead of answering the questions, obfuscate and confuse with illogical ruminations.
Like I said earlier . . . there's no reasoning . . . I give up!
And when your charlitanism is revealed, retreat. Straight out of Saul Alinksy. Nicely played Lynne, right out of the bigot's handbook.
I don't think there should be any Black v. White stuff. Isn't the president a mixture of both? Just asking.....
Ty, the Democratic Convention is going to be in a sports stadium.. are all those Democrats bigots too?
Obama 2012: Continue the failure.
Ty . . . I guess you meant charlantanism, not charlitanism . . . I'm neither a fraud nor a fake . . . just a grown-up.
Bill, a (D) after your name don't take the racism from the game.
Lynne, I didn't realize you were the official editor of the internet. Somebody is mixing up 'your' and 'you're' over on Facebook, better head on over.
Obama 2009: Failure
Obama 2010: Failure
Obama 2011: Failure
Obama 2012: Failure
No PhD in Computational Statistics needed to see a pattern here.
Apparently, the Obama "planners" didn't do a very good job planning this particular trip. Not a lot of forethought or expertise involved and certainly not a lot of "caring" for his voters. PCC would have been a better site, for this particular time of year, considering our school children, UVA students, UVA Hospital and Martha Jefferson patients and senior citizens. Obama, meet with your planners and do a more thoughtful job next stop. The rest of us have jobs on the downtown mall and surrounding areas and now we have a pay cut AGAIN!
Let's just hope he does for HIS re-election campaign what he did for Tom Perriellos' at this location !
@Liberalace...I know man, I get it. I'm just saying that it should be viewed as an honor, not an inconvenience for any president to speak at any school anywhere in this country. Obviously there are folks that don't agree with that...not my problem.
So many butthurt people commenting. Go back to Lynchburg.
he wants uva because the campaign is once again targeting the youth, who are adrift in a fantasy world of no taxes and no consequences while mom and dad pay their tuition to drink, bang, and eat at the dining hall. College is the ultimate socialist experience for the student. And that only applies to the average student- Uva dominates the snob out of touch attitude.
Do we really want our President to be chosen again by folks whose frontal lobes haven't fully developed ?
It's great when folks like "tony stark" post. He SO exemplifies the snotty, elitist, liberal mentality where you look down your nose at others (like people who live in Lynchburg) and think they're all too GD stupid to make their own decisions. They need government mandates and programs to survive.
With all of the other comments being made about Obama's visit to Charlottesville, I would like to add the following.
I was in Charlottesville today (29th) having two appointments in Charlottesville, I arrived in Charlottesville at about 10:45AM and left about 3:15AM. I would like to comment about the number of police in Charlottesville today, at most intersections on Route 29, Rio Road and down Route 250 there was at least one police officer and in many cases as many as three officers, all with their engines running and lights flashing, sitting in their cars and doing nothing. Also there were many police cars setting in parking lots at places such as McDonalds, and many other fast food joints. At one point I saw an accident on Route 29 with two police cars not 25 feet away and the gentleman driving the car was on his cell phone calling (I presume 911) the police officers were setting in their cars doing nothing, at this time.
I counted over 100 State Police cars and what looked to be most all of the Albemarle County Police cars, plus most of the City and county sheriffs vehicles. In addition I also saw many heilcopters (not sure how many) flying over Charlottesville, and these are not cheap to operate.
What I would like to know is how much all of this cost the taxpayers in restuarant bills, fuel costs, overtime for the officers and costs to private citizens who had to sit and wait for this event to take place, not to say anything about the fact that about 3:00PM when I left CHarlottesville all of the major thruways were closed to traffic.
I am in agreement with several of the people above who thought that this event should have taken place at PVCC, Mr. Obama could have been landed at the school without all of the streets being closed to traffic. What would have happened if someone had to be transported to the hospital by rescue while all of this was going on?
My personal feelings about this is that these costs should be billed to the DNC for payment as I don't believe that the taxpayer should be responsible for these costs.
A desperate ploy for votes from people who are already going to vote for him.
I would imagine if we added up the money spent and divided it by the new votes he may have garnered with his rhetoric it would come close to 500 bucks a vote.
somebody needs to tell him that spending benjamins like that does not qualify as a "green " job......
No wonder he can't create a job for less than 300k.
Obama a failure? Stock market at 7500 and now 13000. It's been great for us investors. Isn't that whom the GOP is supposedly supposed to be for? You know, those investors who create lots of jobs?
Oh, and all the tickets were given away. 3500 tickets 3500 in the tent and another 4000 on the mall gathered to listen. 7500 people. Sounds like a pretty solid rally to me.
The stock market is showing profits because companies are sitting on cash which makes them "healthy" That unfortunately is the result of companies not taking risks or expanding for more growth ... which is what we actaulally need. So you are correct that there are currently some companies who are good deals because of their healthy balance sheets, but conservative healthy balance sheets seldom yield the gigantic growth needed to help with the lack of employment. These cmpanies wil continue to sit on this cash until they see a light at the ned of the tunnel that is not the obamacare and government regulation freight train.
If you heard a rumor that Virginia was going to triple the car tax to pay for whatever would you run out and buy a new car ot think twice? If Virginia were to make the car tax 1.00 for the first two years on any new car bought in 2012 would you at least think about whether it might be a good time to take advantge and replace the hooptie in the driveway?
... and the car thing is a good example of Obamas failure.... if the car tax forgiveness were implemented people would trade in cars, allowing the trickle down economics to kick in so everyone in the chain could move up a notch and the deathrap could be scrapped. instead obama had cash for klunkers and took a million or so decent cars off the road and created an artificial shortage driving used car prices UP in a recession instead of down. putting a burden on the very people he proclaimed to help. He scored points with the greenies and fooled some peole inmto thinking it was a sound economics program but like almost everything he sticks his nose in he screws it up.
as for the number of people at the rally, C-ville is a liberal city with a liberal University. 7500 is a nice turn out but itt appears that Mark Twain was right.... "get the fools in town on your side.. thats a majority most anyplace"
@Ty Cooper - contigulated?? Don't you mean contagenated?
Now that it's over ... it went well, didn't it?? And the real reason the President of the United States didn't speak on campus .... Gov Bob McDonnell. The Republican Convention needed Bob McDonnell and he was not about to let Obama speak at his Flagship University while he was tending to business in Tampa......
@bill marshall, amusing speech. Thanks for taking the time. However, I was told that many blacks labored at UVA for its building.
@Ty Cooper, blacks have lived on the lawn through years so I doubt if there was any objection to the President's speaking there because of his race. Also, if you can use "white devil" is it also okay with you for me to use "black heathen?" Please come to see my production next weekend at Live Arts called "Romney, Obama and A Bout of Constipation."
@Geek, there was a time when over 12,000 buttons were SOLD for First Night VA so 7500 freebies is not that impressive.
@Bill, I think the candidates' campaigns should pick up the tab. If the DNC or a superpac wishes to kick in, fine. He was not here to conduct the business of government. He was here conducting his own personal business of getting re-elected.
@NancyDrew, campaigning has become a year-round billion dollar industry that is providing tons of jobs and is pumping a lot of money into the economy. Let the money continue to flow from the fat cats. It's not as though I can't use my mute button when watching TV. I hope they send my more junk mail. USPS can use the business.