Rally for McSally

Today is the first day of El Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, when Mexicans celebrate their deceased family members.  I thought of my dad and my German grandmother, both of whom were dealt some shitty hands in life as I walked the pups for a sunrise walk around the 'hood.

Both dogs did well, even Gretel.  She is less obsessed with biting her brother in the face and more focused on lunging at rabbits, ground birds, and other dogs behind fences.  The pups are a strong group together and when they both lunge at rabbits, it can get difficult to restrain them.  They tire out after the second mile and are much more manageable at the three-mile mark.

At 9:30am I drove into town for the McSally rally.  She is running for Arizona Senate and is a moderate Republican, but I didn't vote for her even though I think she is doing a good job.  I was more interested in listening to what she had to say.  She flew in with Texas Senator Ted Cruz, who claims to be a good friend of McSally, whom he described as a "badass woman."

I arrived at 10am.  The meeting was scheduled to start at 10:30am and there was plenty of parking.  Expecting to walk a mile or so for parking, I instead found plenty of room across the street from the Cochise County Republican headquarters next to a Karaoke bar.  There were plenty of city police in the immediate area, including Cochise County sheriff Mark Dannels.

The second thing I noticed, after the many police, was the low number of mask wearers. Even the older people in the crowd were mostly maskless. I noticed a few people I recognized, including a security guard from Buena and a former student, but I was looking for interesting flags and t-shirts worm by the audience.  Some people even brought their dogs and standing there in the warmth was probably no fun for the canines.

There were donuts and coffee inside the building, but I felt more comfortable outside.  I didn't wear a hat (it was 70F and overcast when I arrived) but after two hours of standing around, I got hot and tired.  Luckily there was bottled water passed out by the event sponsors, including by one woman I recognized by the Black Lives Matter event. I estimate the crowd at its peak to be around 500.

Cruz and McSally finally drove up at 11:22am with honking horms.  That's when the sound system was put together.  I had been standing upfront and got good views of everyone.  McSally arrived with her Golden Retriever.  Both she and Cruz were masked when they first walked out into the crowd (but stayed under the red canopy) and spoke their usual anti-Biden thetoric.  I admire McSally for suing --and winning--the US government during the Operation Desert Storm for making American service women wear black tshadors while in Saudi Arabia (I wore black, long-sleeved clothes but not a black tshador) but was not allowed to drive even a military vehicle.

Congressman Brandon Martin, a tall and very heavy man, spoke first, then Cruz, then McSally.  Cruz spoke mostly about the "Chinese Communist" Mark Kelly, McSally's opponent and I had to roll my eyes a first time at what he said.  He's a charming speaker, no doubt, and got the crowd cheering  No one on that stage mentioned the pandemic, or even healthcare, though.

At noon it was all over. McSally sang a beautiful version of "God Bless America" to which even I clapped. The candidates went inside the building but I left, as the small room inside would have been too crowded for me. I was able to get to my car and leave without any traffic holding me back. The car next to me displayed a life-like window sticker of Trump and it did not show Trump's best profile.

I'm glad I went to this event, but standing outside for two hours tired my legs!  I had plans to meet up with Susan at 1:45 but I needed to get home, rehydrate, and chat with Kevin first. I got home at 12:30pm

tbc with more detail

https://www.myheraldreview.com/news/elections/mcsally-cruz-rally-in-sierra-vista-ahead-of-election/article_8091b736-1cbf-11eb-bfe6-5bfa4c7cd02b.html#tncms-source=infinity-scroll-summary-sticky-siderail-latest

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