Colorado Women Vote and Read!

Yesterday, I took my sister to the doctor and had a couple of hours to kill while waiting for her. I was listening to my favorite radio station 760 AM and Jay Marvin, and they mentioned there was a rally at noon on the west steps of the capital - Women against McCain/Palin. Since I was very close to the capital I decided to swing over and see what was going on.

I was a few minutes early so I took my Time magazine to read, the one with Palin on the cover, ironically. I read the article and it reinforced what I already believed about her - that she, while apparently very ambitious and willing to do whatever it takes to advance her career, isn’t particularly, well, “special.” She’s no great scholar. She’s a “regular woman” who loves her family. Also, she does things that a lot of us “city women” probably don’t, like shoot a beautiful animal in the throat, then gut and skin it “for sport.” I‘m from the school of, if you have a gun and the beautiful animal doesn’t, then you have an unfair advantage - and it’s not really sport when you know that the gun will produce sure death if you are even close enough to wound it. If you are a true “sportsman/woman,” then use a bow and arrow and aim precisely and humanely, so the animal doesn’t lay there and suffer with a huge smoking gaping hole in it’s side, but oh well, I digress.

A Colorado woman, with her children, let's us know how she feels

Anyway as I was sitting in the shade waiting for the rally to begin I struck up a conversation with a couple of older women who were sitting near me, expressing distaste at McCain’s pandering choice of a VP. The people who were starting to gather were mostly middle-aged and older women, with some younger moms and their children. Some of these younger women had their mothers with them, so it was truly inter-generational, and there was also a fair representation of men, straight and gay. There was also the occasional indignant tourist, just trying to take pictures of the beautiful gold-plated dome of the capital and resenting the people handing out leaflets and otherwise trying to engage them.

Women gathering on the steps preparing for speakers

Then, almost all at once, the lunch crowd appeared - the downtown workers out for a little afternoon protest during their lunch break, mostly 20-30ish women with their lunch buddies (and my friend who works downtown, who I had earlier called), dressed in business attire, and it was time to begin.

"Sara Palin" awes the crowd with her bullets and beauty-queen persona, with Colorado Senator Betty Boyd in background

Someone waved us over to the steps to gather around the podium and hold up our signs; the woman next to me handed me a lovely, understated hand-made sign that said, “Peace.” We gathered around the first speaker, House Majority Leader Alice Madden, who gave a rousing opening. “Why do women matter? We make up half the population, and gave birth to the rest!” The crowd went wild.

Polly Baca speaks - other speakers included Colorado Representative Alice Madden (in black) and Elbra Wedgeworth (to her right)

Other strong and sassy women speakers followed - former City Councilwoman Elbra Wedgeworth, former State Senator and LARASA CEO Polly Baca, and State Senator (and Health and Human Services Vice-Chair) Betty Boyd. I could relate to every message, things like women having the right to choose for themselves, strong leadership, and an economy that works for all of us - not just the wealthy. The speakers, while strong, were polite and left the heckling to the crowd, like when one speaker mentioned that Palin supported abstinence-only education, my friend hooted “It didn’t work for her!” and the woman next to her screamed “and it didn’t work for her daughter!” The message of a failed Bush administration was hammered home, along with the strong message that a McCain/Palin administration would be just more of the same, and that we, our families and communities simply can’t afford it.

Although there were many news cameras and photographers, apparently the rally wasn’t news because I didn’t see it reported anywhere. Oh well, thanks to the blogosphere I can talk about it anyway, and publish photos that I took with my little digital camera that I take everywhere with me.

Overall it was a perfect day for a rally - a picture-perfect, sunny Colorado day, a lovely way to spend a lunch hour. I’m grateful to live in a community that cares enough to be fed up and wants to do something about it, and the polls as of today are showing that Obama has pulled ahead of McCain in Colorado! I was also heartened to see with my own eyes that women, in general (and of course, there are exceptions) are intelligent enough to not allow themselves to be manipulated by the McCain campaign into believing that he can just pull voters who had supported the smart, sophisticated, educated and vetted Hillary Clinton with another candidate just because she’s a woman. Sorry, but no cigar, we ain’t buying it. There’s no comparison. Thanks though!