BREAKING: President Obama’s acceptance speech to be moved indoors
Revenge of the empty chairs!
So much for the possibility of thousands of unintentionally “Eastwooding” empty chairs at President Obama’s Bank of America Stadium acceptance speech tomorrow night.
It now appears that the venue where President Obama is to formally accept the Democratic nomination for President has been changed to a significantly smaller one. Officials at the DNC are citing weather concerns as their reason for the change. From Politico:
Democratic officials confirm to POLITICO that President Obama’s prime time address will be moved indoors to the Time Warner Center.
The Thursday address was scheduled to be at Bank of America stadium — an outdoor venue with more than 70,000 seats. But forecasts are predicting thunderstorms, forcing a last minute change in venue.
Campaign officials have been saying all week that the event would go forward “rain or shine” — but reversed themselves Wednesday.
The move has an upside for the campaign, which has reportedly struggled to fill all the seats in the massive outdoor arena. Still, the arena only has a capacity of just over 20,000 — meaning that tens of thousands of potential supporters will be denied the opportunity to see Obama speak.
In a statement, the DNC organizing committee CEO Steve Kerrigan said: “The energy and enthusiasm for our convention in Charlotte has been overwhelming and we share the disappointment of over 65,000 people who signed up for community credentials to be there with the President in person. We encourage our community credential holders and Americans across the country to continue to come together with their friends and neighbors to watch and participate in history. The President will speak to these credential holders on a national conference call tomorrow afternoon, and we will work with the campaign to ensure that those unable to attend tomorrow’s event will be invited to see the President between now and election day.”
WAJ adds:
So, it turns out empty chairs really were a main concern for Obama. Interesting.
— Emily Zanotti (@emzanotti) September 5, 2012
Weather update for Charlotte tomorrow: Partly gloomy with a large chance of Eastwooding is.gd/A1924K
— EdMorrissey (@EdMorrissey) September 5, 2012
After promising to speak at Bank of America stadium rain or shine, Team Obama is moving inside. Troubles filling the seats?
— Reince Priebus (@Reince) September 5, 2012
h/t to commenter for this:
#EmptyStadiumDay official hashtag of Obama acceptance speech
— Legal Insurrection (@LegInsurrection) September 5, 2012
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Comments
Is it too late to fill the stadium with a counter-rally?
Now *this* is a grand idea.
Why not have Romney or Ryan show up for a counter-rally, kind of like the GOP response to the POTUS’ SOTU speech or something?
I think that would show who has the real issue drawing crowds (and I bet BoA stadium would have to turn #RomneyRyan2012 supporters away).
Barack Obama: “Please tip your waitresses and bartenders!”
gee, I guess they couldn’t get those 80K people to fill the seat. Nice excuse.
Well weve had a couple of focus group tested rumors and viola! Should have been done long ago. Its just plain insulting to all struggling Americans to have a separate big stadium egocentric event.
But you know? Weather? Please.
There is no way to spin the sad fact that Obama wont be seen in an empty stadium….the 30,000 dead NC voters and 40,000 fake twitter followers dont fill stadiums.
For sure. The “climate” just might not be suitable to fill the stadium. If you interpret a double entendre, it’s intended.
(I did construct, as in build, this statement and I approve it).
“That speech went off without a hitch, despite the risks and uncertainty of holding such an event outdoors”
Yeah, but that was back in that whole “sea-lowering” and “planet healing” era, before he lost his super powers, and just started ACTING like a demigod and dictator wannabe.
Now we need a Twitter hashtag #EmptyStadiumDay.
http://themagicnegro.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/empty_stadium_day.jpg
Or, as Ed Morrissey would have it…
“Partly gloomy, with a large chance of Eastwooding.”
Heh! Great meme…
Who would’ve thunk it? Any empty chair could have such an impact. . .
Yet, we are very image-driven society.
Reelection campaign song: “Give Me Just A Little More Time” by Chairmen of the Board
Could someone, anyone, PLEASE get a photo from inside the stadium at the time Obama is speaking? I think a photo of 80,000 empty chairs would be an outstanding statement – all the people who couldn’t even be bothered to show up.
You know, for a man who can cause oceans to rise and fall, and planets to heal, you think he’d be able to redirect a rainstorm for a few hours.
Rush reported a Charlotte weatherman said Thursday was going to have the best chance for good weather for the week.
Now the DNC will be praying for rain just to justify the move.
OOPS! My error. They won’t be praying. I forgot they took God out of their platform. Maybe they’ll as their Messiah to open the clouds.
Even better yet, don’t have anyone go, Just send Clint Eastwood to address the Empty Chairs in place of Obama. Brilliant, just brilliant.
There is only a 30% chance of rain tomorrow evening. Can’t Fauxcahontas do a reverse rain dance?
Latest occupation to suffer significant unemployment: 000s of ushers given pink slips.
Spokesmen from the industry were quoted, “We had anticipated a sizable number of swooning and fainting Democratic patrons, especially females. Reality has forced us to revise our estimates downward.”
I wonder how many people with free tickets will show up and not be admitted to the 20,000 seat indoor arena? Then the media can spin it as an overflow crowd. If you have no shame the possibilities for success increase considerably.
DNC keeping its options open having engaged a local Kiwanis club as a backup. LOL,
You know… For the first time I am REALLY concerned about the pivotal outcome of a presidential election. In times past you simply accepted the fact that the opposition might be in control for four years but there WOULD BE a “next time.”
Now, I’m not so sure. The democrat platform is beyond radical bordering on the absurd. They seem to have no sense of what the American public feels OR desires. They ARE the ones that are out of touch. They certainly have no shame.
The fiscal problems that face this nation will NEVER be solved by a community organizer. If regime change is not affected this go around, there might not be a “next time” opportunity where a cure can be applied.
Once we fall into the abyss, we will be the same as Greece but a lot larger and with a lot more misery.
Most of you who read this blog are lot younger than I am and my cry to you is that I’m glad that I am not one day younger than I am.
Folks, the fan is running and the doo-doo catapult is locked, loaded and ready and aimed right at us…
Chris Matthews fodder: The weatherman is being racist.
[…] Obama speech moved indoors due to … weather. Yeah right, no one is fooled. As we wrote below, it’s not the weather its the buttocks – not enough to fill the […]
Why am I thinking of that old vibrating football stadium game. It didn’t matter how you set up the guys, they all just rumbled…and rumbled…and rumbled.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lD53RITYps
LOL!
Obama just made Clint Eastwood’s day!
I believe that the forecast was for a 20% chance of showers. That’s a big yawn down here in TX…
30% chance of rain, 70%chance of empty chairs.
ABO2012
[…] supernova scale hypocrisy being offered. However, given the fact that the final event has been downsized, just as this county has been downsized, I have good hope that my fellow citizens are unmoved, […]
Obama and the Democrats are shell shocked. Clint Eastwood’s satire and Empty Chair Day got inside their collective heads. We’re living rent-free in their heads. They’re second guessing just about everything!
What about the Dems who traveled thousands of miles to attend that convention and now will not have a chance to hear their Messiah speak? If I were one of those people I’d be madder’n hell right now.
Or maybe those 50,000 people who won’t be hearing his speech don’t even exist. Maybe 20,000 was all they were ever going to get.
Other than those students that they were going to bus in, I doubt anyone that was planning on attending will have trouble getting into the new, smaller, venue.
Please speak properly about Bank of America stadium. After all BOA has been a big contributor to the Democratic Party since 1996. I was shocked!! shocked to hear Rush refer to it as Black Panther Stadium.
Well, I, for one, am disappointed. I figured that since they were offering tickets in bars and the paulbots were collecting them in droves, very few would show up at the “Panthers” stadium. Hopefully, these same people won’t show up at Time Warner either. It would be nice to see egg on obama’s face. He just might show exactly what he is then.
It’s not the weather, it’s fear of a tsunami from the Costa Rican earthquake. The 20,000 seat arena sits nine feet higher than the 73,000 seat stadium. Plus, being shorter, children drown first, so the move was FOR THE CHILDREN. Why all the hate, Republicans????
“…R (D) convention delay due to Isaac (rain) : I guess God has ways to shut that whole thing down…Jennifer Granholm”…
hm…
Tell those Cherokees stop their powerful Rain dancing prayers, especially Apache Geronimo’s great great grandson. Whew! Red Power Indeed!
Watch out, Lieawatha. The American Indian Movement (AIM)lives!
With raindancing, prayers and the truth of the Living G-d whom the Cherokee called “The Great White Spirit” before the invasion of the Franciscans!
Actually, obama won’t have to fill the Time Warner chamber with 20,000. Those green columns will take up a lot of room. I don’t know how he will work the fireworks in this venue though.
Wonder what the viewership will be for Bill Clinton tonight? I’m watching the Cowboys-Giants NFL opener and I suspect many, many people will as well.
Obama:
“We shall fight on the beaches, weather permitting, we shall fight on the landing grounds, unless there’s the threat of rain, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, unless the sky becomes partly cloudy, … “
Not to worry
Obama Issues Rain Check, Tells Faithful: I’ll Call You
Yeah sure. Like you were going to have a beer with the Seals. They are still waiting
I’ll keep one ear open to Clinton tonight, only on the off-chance he uses the *keynote* slot to slip some more digs in on the hated Obama, like when he endorsed Romney’s
“sterling business record” just as Obama was attacking it.
Revenge is a dish best served cold, and it’s gotten colder since 2008’s Clinton/Obama war. If there is a politician with a bigger ego than Obama, it might just be Clinton. I’ll bet that the whole time Clinton is speaking, Axelrod will have one finger on the kill-the-mike switch.
Elizabeth Warren (Fake-a-hontis) will be doing a rain dance to cover BO’s sorry ass.
Funny thing is, here in NC they call for a 30% chance of rain every day.