My Brother at the DNC

My little brother was able to secure tickets to the Democratic National Convention last week.  Specifically, tickets to the Obama speech night at Invesco Field/Mile High Stadium.  He wasn't picked or vetted, he was just a lucky caller - one of 20,000 out of some 80-100,000 people that called.

He said he'd try to get video of the event, but I thought I'd share his thoughts and reactions from the evening.

The convention was an experience I will never forget. And to be honest I feel guilty that I got to go. I felt really small while I was there. I kept wondering how a kid from Broomfield ended up at the DNC. I know that sounds weird but there where so many people and famous people too.  So many cameras and journalists and radio talk show hosts and well..me.

   Put that all aside and WOW! It was alot of fun. When we arrived the line to get in stretched from Invesco (Mile high) to the Auraria Campus. Given my agraphobia I wanted to go home right then and there but I calmed myself and decide to maintain. To be honest getting in was a breeze. I really like seeing Al Gore. Stevie Wonder was really cool and sings like he's still 20.  Obama's speech was somethin. I don't think I've seen a better speaker in my short life. I (as cheesey as this sounds) wondered at that moment if that's how people watching Kennedy speak, or Lincoln for that matter, felt.  Man when he was done the place just exploded in both fireworks and some sort of combustible human fuel.  The roar was deafening.

    Leaving was another story. What demon of the ninth gate dreamt up that exit plan I'll never know. Half the police were not informed of the closure of the closest light rail station. The other half were not informed of street closures around the exits. Combined these two events resulted in 80,000 people being marched around Mile high for about two hours. Grown men in business suits reverted to their primal selves and started yelling at cops. Yelling boiled over into aggression and frustration which was vented on nearby fences, which collapsed under the weight of the tired and angry mob. People were seen to be scrambling up the side of the freeway given they had nowhere else to go. I saw old ladys waiting in wheelchairs alone with nobody to help while a gang of police stood above us on the freeway bridge pointing and laughing. We left the stadium at about 9:15 and got to the train station at Auraria at about 11:45. I was ashamed to be a Denver resident after that and to be honest I had to try real hard not to let it ruin the whole experience. 

        But It didn't. He has my vote. He had it when he picked Joe

I was only able to watch on TV, and yes I watched both conventions.  I'm jealous of his experience.  I doubt I'd ever be able to go to one of these unless they come to Austin and then it'd like be the RNC which isn't something I'd want to attend.

At any rate, we've got less than 60 days to sort it all out and I'm not really looking forward to having all the new fall shows being peppered with political ads.