Just now at the Obama rally in Seattle,

he's on the stage, walking back and forth, giving his speech. Without missing a beat, he goes to the side of the stage, leans down and picks up a can of something, heads on back, tosses the can to somebody near the front of the stage. He keeps on with his speech.

The Mayor of Seattle, sitting behind O, is peering around him into the audience trying to see what was going on.

Then Obama stops and says "young lady, are you going to be okay?"

He asked if people could get her a chair, and if an EMT was in the audience that would be great, all the while reassuring the audience -- "she'll be fine, she's just feeling a little faint. She'll be fine" (And kudos to the mayor he got up and went to see what he could do to help.)

Finally went back to his speech.

It occurred to me that maybe this kind of thing happens often. People waiting for hours to attend a rally, skipping lunch, standingin the overheated auditorium.

That's all -- just something I hadn't seen before and hadn't even given it any thought.

He just moaned and collapsed into the weeds (thank goodness he didn't hit the pavement). It was outside, afterwards, but the police came and helped and called an ambulance.

:sarcasm:

I just meant that it is common for there to be health incidents at large events.

did an excellent job of handling that situation, as well.

know how to deal with it. It had just never occurred to me before.

we don't need hope we need Help!

She had to keep sitting on the floor and drinking water. It was crazy hot in there, packed, and had been going for almost 4 hours at that point.

or keeling over in his crowds, and he always notices and responds, which is nice.

in Rock Hill SC. Several people fainted during the rally. One fainted while asking her a question. She handed him her bottle of water and had a staffer seat him on the bleachers beside the stage.

He wouldn't go on until he made sure she got medical attention.

Sigh

Obama will get eatin up by the Republican party and we will be wstuck with W on Steroids! AHHHHHHHHHH!

Can anyone verify that she was not a "fake cripple gone to the revival meeting to be healed with great shouts of Halleluya! and thus prove the preacher is a holy man of God so dig deep and give to the Lord," as my grandfather used to describe such people? A plant to show Obama's preparedness for any emergency as well as his compassionate regard for other people? Can anyone verify that the person mentioned by Unsane is not the same?

I don't mean any insult to the candidates or their campaigns, and I can see how this might happen on occasion, but please: the candiates and their campaigns are stage-managed by people who make vast sums of money by creating just the right kind of public image to sell whatever is the product-of-the-moment. It is very difficult not to feel extremely cynical when I see stories like this.

If you have a theory, gather some facts to support it.

Not to mention my distrust of the "public relations" firms who are paid very large amounts of cash to add those little touches that make people go "Awwwwwww."

To use another of my grandfather's expressions: Sometimes, the hero finds the lost puppy because he knew exactly where he abandoned the puppy in the first place. Not always; plenty of puppies get lost all on their own. But "sometimes" happens often enough that I have to wonder, especially when those puppies are in any way associated with American politics.

But usually when someone pulls a stunt like that, there are things about the reaction that make people's radar go up. You know, the hero tends to play it up a bit. Or if they're really good, they'll go on every single news station to say how they aren't really a hero, blah blah blah.

People are really media savvy nowadays, and getting really good at being insincere. But I think folks like us are also getting better at detecting insincerity.

Thanks, reality TV.

The people here on DU are not at all representative of the American public. The Vast Horde has barely enough "media savvy" to vote for the next American Idol; expecting them to tell bread from pablum is expecting far too. :eyes:

My wife is a prime example. She watches all that crap. She knows it's crap. She likes it anyways.

It happens with some regularity at his rallies.

That sort of thing?

From the heat and lack of oxygen and standing in one place for long periods of time.
I don't think it's made up. Heat exhaustion, or whatever you call it, is bound to happen sometimes just due to the sheer number of people in the crowds.

It happens at Hillary's rallies too.

It's her speaking style. :evilgrin:

it'll show up on YouTube, and you can come to your own conclusion.

I think you're off course.

Obama initially didn't call attention to it at all, just tossed the can of whatever in their direction then kept right on going with his speech - as I said, didn't skip a beat.

It was only after a little bit that he paused and asked if she was going to be all right.

I doubt if either of them need to do that -- besides, from the posts here it seems to happen often enough, and I've not seen it covered by the national media at all, so I think in this case, you don't need to be cynical.

Even if it is just a passing, "A woman nearly fainted at the rally; without missing a beat, the candidate handed her a bottle of water and made sure she was doing alright before continuing with the speech." A single line like that, put into a larger article about the rally, is guaranteed to convince a few undecided voters that this is their person. And isn't that the point, start to finish, of these campaign stops?

And, as you yourself pointed out, there is always the chance that it will have been videoed and end up on the net; call it interest from the money in the bank.

I kind of wish that I were a Clintonista or Obamaniac; as a fanatical devotee, maybe I could quiet my doubts. But, alas....

I'm neither a Clinton OR an Obama supporter, but if this had been a Clinton function I was watching and the exact same thing happened and she handled it the same way, I wouldn't have interpreted it as staged.

I hope you get a chance to see it yourself.

Do any of his supporters care about anything other than his popularity?

:evilgrin: Didn't Sen. Kerry while campaigning in Florida stop at the scene of an accident that had happened in front of his motorcade? He stopped to provide assistance, didn't he? Seems I remember that. :shrug:

Almost by divine decree, campaign speeches are 35% smoke, 35% mirrors, 10% attacks on opponents and 19% (if that little) outright lies. In 25 years of being politically active, I have yet to see much deviation from this formula, even from candidates that I like and respect.

We don't need Hope we need help!!!

Hillary will kick McCains Ass!

Obama will get chewed up and spit our!

http://blogs.tnr.com/tnr/blogs/the_stump/archive/2008/02/08/obama-swoon-watch.aspx

08.02.2008
Obama Swoon Watch

"Nothing is more fundamentally powerful than how I felt when I met him. I stood, my hand embraced in his, and ... I felt something ... something that I can only describe as an overpowering sense of Hope."

--Actor Eric Christian Olsen, via somewhat embarrassed Obama supporter Joel Stein.

--Michael Crowley

Hope Hope We need help

Hope Hope we need Help

Hope HOpe WE need Help!

Hope HOpe WE need help!

HOPE HOPE WE NEED HELP

Hope Hope ....we need help!

Can you please stop?

and the subprime mortgage crisis will be fixed.

about an occurrence I observed without people using it as an opportunity to get on their own bandwagons.

You know, I keep out of the obvious candidate related threads to avoid all this since I don't have a candidate.

Are you going to drive me away by bringing your shit to my non-candidate related posts, too? It's like you're poisoning the entire environment here.

Thanks, friends.

would have "reported" the same thing if it had been a Hillary event I was watching.

Guess I'd better get with the program.

DU-ers unite. We need votes at day of fame. We are going to miss out on a great opportunity for free publicity to the internet masses. Vote for the DEMS! http://www.dayoffame.com

He asked someone to get a chair for a woman who was faint.

Interesting, ain't it?

Not surprising either. When you crowd a lot of people in a space, things happen.