# How many jackasses can you cram into Williams Arena? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 31, 2002, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-jackasses-can-you-cram-into-williams-arena/134609 "2002-10-31T00:12:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2002, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-jackasses-can-you-cram-into-williams-arena/134609/21 "2002-10-31T13:38:13Z")
Why wasn’t the Vice-president invited? ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2002, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-jackasses-can-you-cram-into-williams-arena/134609/22 "2002-10-31T13:41:54Z")
To answer the OP, it depends if you’re taking human jackasses or actual jackasses. If human, I would imagine it’s theoretically possible to have 20,000 jackasses or more in Williams Arena. I think it sits about 13,500, plus you could have floor seating and standing room. A full sized arena can usually sit at least 3000-5000 on the floor for a rally or concert, plus you could easily get in a few thousand more in standing room. Now, if we’re talking jackasses as in donkeys, that’s different. A jackass takes up a lot more space than a human, and the more sloped seating makes it ever harder to fit them in, so… … Oh, shit, this isn’t GQ, is it? ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2002, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-jackasses-can-you-cram-into-williams-arena/134609/23 "2002-10-31T13:42:48Z")
Are donkeys about the same size as jackasses? ---
**Author:** ![december](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/838e76/32.png) [@december](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/december)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2002, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-jackasses-can-you-cram-into-williams-arena/134609/24 "2002-10-31T13:49:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by lno \* > \*\*As someone who was also there, I’m going to chime in with a belated “me too” to what **Diogenes** said. It was not organized as a rally, it was not scripted as a rally, and it is unfortunate that Kahn chose to politicize it. \*\* In the course of criticizing the memorial/rally, Rush Limbaugh claimed that union members were bussed in to fill the arena. While I was listening, he didn’t give a source, and he didn’t sound too specific. Does anyone know whether or not union members were bussed in? ---
**Author:** ![scotth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b9e5f3/32.png) [@scotth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scotth)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2002, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-jackasses-can-you-cram-into-williams-arena/134609/25 "2002-10-31T13:55:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Diogenes the Cynic \* > \*\*May I remind everyone that Hillary Clinton was booed at the 9/11 memorial. Conservatives loved it then. Why is this different? > \*\* I really dislike Hillary as well. That said, I would call anyone that booed her at that service a shit heel asshole as well. Until shown/stated otherwise, a republican (or someone of any other ideaology) attending Wellstones service should be assumed to personally care for Wellstone. Booing them while they are there to pay their last respects indicates pure asshole to me. If Wellstone’s son had no idea any of the speakers invited were going to turn their fairwell remarks into campaign remarks then we he was wronged and I hope he calls those people out publicly and distances himself from their insensativity. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2002, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-jackasses-can-you-cram-into-williams-arena/134609/26 "2002-10-31T13:55:17Z")
The official take from the family is that they didn’t want the additional security concerns of Cheney attending. I also think that given the reception Mr. Lott got, the family was rightly concerned about Mr. Cheney’s reception by the crowd. wring, you missed Kahn’s speech - which was an embarassment. The sons were articulate (amazingly so) and did their dad, mom and sister proud. Kahn used the event to try and make political hay - it was in poor taste. My understanding is that the media is currently leaning to give Bush extra coverage when he is in town to compensate Coleman. ---
**Author:** ![lno](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a8b319/32.png) [@lno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lno)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2002, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-jackasses-can-you-cram-into-williams-arena/134609/27 "2002-10-31T13:55:44Z")
The vice-president was not invited because the family requested that he not come. The White House agreed. Perhaps you can spin a conspiracy theory that the DFL party pressured the family into asking Cheney not to attend. Or perhaps the family told the DFL “Hey, Cheney’s not coming, let’s get out the vote!” Or perhaps the family is as aghast at this as most people are. On preview… **december** , that’s the first I heard about union members being bussed in. The stadium was -packed-, the overflow lots outside were packed, parking was godawful. My guess is that a group of suburban or outstate people came in on a bus, got off, and someone saw that and thought “Aha! The Democrats are trying to inflate the numbers!” ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2002, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-jackasses-can-you-cram-into-williams-arena/134609/28 "2002-10-31T14:03:21Z")
> [@](#): > > Why wasn’t the Vice-president invited? The tuesday papers said that it was because the organizers didn’t want to deal with all the security hassles involved in keeping Dick safe. Makes sense, many democrats don’t like the government interfering with their private affairs. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2002, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-jackasses-can-you-cram-into-williams-arena/134609/29 "2002-10-31T16:12:57Z")
The local media will have no obligation to give “equal time.” > **[The latest from the StarTribune](https://www.startribune.com/)** > > Follow the StarTribune for the news, photos and videos from the Twin Cities and beyond. The demand for such is basically just cheap grandstanding by the GOP. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2002, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-jackasses-can-you-cram-into-williams-arena/134609/30 "2002-10-31T16:21:33Z")
I’m afraid cheap had already been redefined at that pep rally. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2002, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-jackasses-can-you-cram-into-williams-arena/134609/31 "2002-10-31T17:12:05Z")
Since they’d overflowed onto the streets during the coldest October in years, I don’t think they needed to bus in union members to inflate numbers. Maybe they bussed in union members because union members wanted to be there. A friend was at an antiwar rally on Saturday. They had a reported 8,000 people. They had no reason to believe they would need to bus people in to fill the stadium. ---
**Author:** ![december](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/838e76/32.png) [@december](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/december)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2002, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-jackasses-can-you-cram-into-williams-arena/134609/32 "2002-10-31T17:38:23Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Dangerosa \* > \*\*A friend was at an antiwar rally on Saturday. They had a reported 8,000 people. They had no reason to believe they would need to bus people in to fill the stadium. \*\* On the related GD thread, **IzzyR** found a WaPo comment on the bussing: > [@](#): > > This official also said White House advisers worried that the memorial service, with unions bringing supporters by the busload, would double as a Democrat get-out-the-vote rally and be awkward for Cheney. [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A36517-2002Oct29.html](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A36517-2002Oct29.html) ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2002, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-jackasses-can-you-cram-into-williams-arena/134609/33 "2002-10-31T17:41:21Z")
A more smarmy affair can hardly be imagined. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2002, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-jackasses-can-you-cram-into-williams-arena/134609/34 "2002-10-31T17:42:31Z")
**Libertarian** > [@](#): > > Spinning this travesty with words like “honest” and “goodness” pulls tastelessness down to a new low. Wellstone was not a party lacky. He voted his conscience. And conscience was missing from this event. Piffle! Were you there? Do you know these people, that you can pass judgement on thier motives, thier feelings? What Olympian insights to you bring to this discussion? This is politics, Scooter. It’s gritty, it’s tasteless, it’s _human_, far more akin to rock 'n roll than a minuet danced with pinkies akimbo. If you live with these folks as long as I have, you understand that wildly racous behavior is not their thing. When the Twins won the World Series, they honked a few car horns and went to bed. Period. No riots, no bonfires. Of course, the bars around here close at 1 am, which kind of gives you a hint as to the party animal nature of the average Minnesotan. They are not a people given to wild and untrammeled displays of emotion, they regard upper class Englishmen as rather too demonstrative. Paul Wellstone was an honest to goodness Populist of the old school, and in an age when the Democrats have devolved into a spineless bunch of wussies, he represented and embodied a ferocious conscience, a conscience of outrage and confrontation, tempered by a instinctive sense that one’s opponents are wrong, but not wicked. Way to go, Paul. Rest now. We won’t. We promise. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2002, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-jackasses-can-you-cram-into-williams-arena/134609/35 "2002-10-31T17:50:08Z")
Elucidator bellowed: > [@](#): > > Piffle! Were you there? Do you know these people, that you can pass judgement on thier motives, thier feelings? What Olympian insights to you bring to this discussion? I wasn’t at the signing of the Declaration of Independence, either, but I can see the damn signatures. The governor and his wife were there. I believe them over you. > [@](#): > > This is politics, Scooter. It’s gritty, it’s tasteless, it’s human, far more akin to rock 'n roll than a minuet danced with pinkies akimbo. What vacuous puerility. > [@](#): > > Way to go, Paul. Rest now. We won’t. We promise. Why don’t you stop pissing on his grave? ---
**Author:** ![Sauron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce7236/32.png) [@Sauron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sauron)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2002, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-jackasses-can-you-cram-into-williams-arena/134609/36 "2002-10-31T17:54:39Z")
**elucidator** , I’m assuming from your statements in this thread that had, say, Trent Lott died tragically, and a Republican speaker at his memorial service exhorted the crowd to “vote Republican” instead of eulogizing the fallen, you’d be perfectly okay with that. Right? Actually, it wouldn’t matter if you were okay with that. It would be just as wrong, regardless. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2002, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-jackasses-can-you-cram-into-williams-arena/134609/37 "2002-10-31T18:14:25Z")
Nobody would give a shit about Trent Lott. He would not be capable of arousing the authentic emotion and passion that Wellstone was able to elicit. Paul Wellstone was a genuinely beloved person in this state. Nothing at the memorial was orchestrated by the DFL to be political, but it was impossible to talk about the man without referring to his passions. One guy, ONE GUY got a little crazy for a few minutes. The memorial lasted FIVE HOURS. It was political for TWENTY MINUTES. WTF is the problem with that? I was THERE. The vast majority of the event was not political. Get over it people. Find something important to cry about. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2002, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-jackasses-can-you-cram-into-williams-arena/134609/38 "2002-10-31T18:18:34Z")
**Sauron** Well, having already asked and answered your own question to your entire satsifaction…why did you trouble the hamsters with this pointless excercise in self-gratification? As a matter of fact, I would be ok with that, in the sense that I wouldn’t give a rat ass, other than a morbid curiousity as to precisely what alleged virtues Mr. Lott might be eulogized for. And **Lib** , that rips it. “Pissing on his grave”, indeed! I have already swallowed your “trailer trash” insult with relative equanimity, but this is contemptible. Shove a rhinestone studded corncob up your Nixon, you self-righteous elitist snob! ---
**Author:** ![xenophon41](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xenophon41/32/253_2.png) [@xenophon41](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xenophon41)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2002, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-jackasses-can-you-cram-into-williams-arena/134609/39 "2002-10-31T19:10:02Z")
**Lib** , I love you, but give that corncob an extra twist for me, 'kay? You say you “believe [Jesse Ventura and wife] over [elucidator]” because _they were there_. Well, Jesse’s a politician, inny? **Diogenes the Cynic** was there, too. For _the entire memorial_, since he didn’t rudely walk out. He has a slightly different take than the redoubtable Mr. Ventura. Do you believe _him_? ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2002, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-jackasses-can-you-cram-into-williams-arena/134609/40 "2002-10-31T19:25:11Z")
Mr. Ventura’s thinness of skin is legend here. Two bits says he stomped out because he was booed. His threat to nominate a non-Democrat to fill the temp Senate position is indicative of his somewhat petty temperment. One should keep in mind that Minnesota was founded by people with a healthy distrust of governance and governors. The office of Gov. of MN is empowered to declare the “Rutabaga Festival” (don’t ask) officially open, and that’s pretty much it. Sure, they elected Jesse “The Booby” Ventura to be Governor. Who cares? Now, King Boreus of the Winter Carnival, there is a hotly contested office. Did I mention these folks are nuts? All the more reason not to move here. Stay away. Too cold. Crazy people. Mosquitoes that carry off dogs and small children. Iowa. Iowa is nice. Move there. PS: I note according to todays paper that Tom Daschle says that Mr. Lott left because he had a plane to catch, and told him so before the brouhaha. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-jackasses-can-you-cram-into-williams-arena/134609.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-jackasses-can-you-cram-into-williams-arena/134609.md?page=3)