Operation Completion Rally

I went to the “Operation completion” rally on the statehouse on Wednesday evening, and I’m posting a few pix below. The main reason I went was to check out Bill Sali, who was scheduled to speak.

Sali did speak, briefly, and spoke about having a good start in Iraq, and now we need a good finish. He did not mention his name or candidacy, and was not politicking the spectators. There were no Sali stickers spotted, and no campaign literature.

One of the rally organizers did the introductions. First off was Sali’s daughter Anna, who sang a song she wrote, accompanying herself on guitar. Pretty good song, nice voice. Next was Rep Sweet, who gave a prayer in which he referred to “Father” or “Heavenly Father” about a dozen times. He did not say “God” that I heard.

She next introduced “The Right Brothers”, who she billed as a musical Sean Hannity. I didn’t find them to be that, exactly. They sang a few original songs which were unabashedly patriotic almost to the point of jingoism.

The local grand poobah of the VFW spoke for way too long, and read a few treacley poems and stories. Following him was the alleged brains behind the rallies. It had been an hour by then and I took off after listening to him for a few minutes.

I say allegedly because according to KBCI, “The program is a project of the Declaration Foundation which is headed up by former Republican presidential candidate Alan Keyes.”

Overall impressions. Sali came across fine. He has kind of an engaging smile most the time. I was impressed that he didn’t try to politicize the rally supposedly in support of the troops. I say supposedly because I sure didn’t get that feeling. It seemed sort of contrived; an excuse to hold rallies.


Anna Sali



Blogger is really sucking tonight, and I can't load up more than these two pix. I'll try to load more later.