Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Palin's backers united
Read Shanna's blog
Shanna Flowers is The Roanoke Times' metro columnist.
Shanna Flowers
Recent columns
Joe the Plumber, make room for Beth the mom, Stephanie the small-business owner, Brian the nurse, Jacob the home-schooled teen and countless other Sarah Palin enthusiasts who introduced themselves to the vice presidential nominee Monday by way of homemade signs.
"When I look at her, I see myself," said Beth Thomasson, clutching a bright orange "Moms for Sarah" sign with large, blue block letters as she stood on the field at Salem Stadium. "I see a woman raising her family and running a business."
Thomasson, of Roanoke, was one of thousands of people at the political rally who represented the different constituencies drawn to Palin and presidential candidate John McCain.
The crowd wasn't racially diverse -- one woman singled me out of a line of people standing along a wall and whispered, "God bless you for being here." I'm pretty sure she was talking to Shanna the black woman because Shanna the reporter's ID was inside my coat.
But it was a united, enthusiastic crowd.
The nurses, the mothers, the college students and Joy Strickfaden, the "Vet's wife for McCain-Palin," all identified with Palin as the one who can help bring the change they say the country needs.
"It's economic, it's moral, it's the direction of the Supreme Court," said Stephanie Farmer, who owns a staffing company in Roanoke, ticking off the reasons she supports the Republican ticket.
"I want to support her," Farmer said. "I so appreciate them coming to Virginia." Her sign, which she made hours before the rally, was forward-looking. It noted, "Palin" and "2012," suggesting front-runner status for the Alaska governor in four years.
Brian Beaulieu held a sign that said "Firefighters [heart] McCain-Palin. But he held it for a friend. Beaulieu is a nurse.
"This is an important election," the McCain backer said. "He's not promising everything. He's not promising everybody a big Christmas tree."
On one end of the stadium, Ellen Black urged passers-by to sign her poster that read: "Educated Women [heart] Sarah Palin." She got plenty of takers.
"The reason I did this sign is because the way some women have treated her and stigmatized her and treated her like a bimbo," said Black, a graduate professor at Liberty University in Lynchburg.
But to Black, educated meant anyone willing to have educated discussions about Palin.
"As women, we have the right to disagree, but I'd like to see more civil discourse," the Palin backer said.
At the edge of the football field, a man and a young, preschool girl danced enthusiastically to Stevie Wonder's "Superstition." Presumably he was trying to keep the child from getting bored and from getting cold.
I didn't get his name because I was overlooking them from the top of a hill. But it probably would be safe to call him a "Family Man for Palin."
