Some interesting news from St. Paul.

[ArchTeryx]

I'm certainly not as eloquent or loquacious as many of the folks on this board. However, listening to Ed Schultz today, I heard something completely unexpected.

He was giving the opening speech of his radio show to a crowd at a carpenter's union hall in St. Paul, Minnesota. Typical blue-collar crowd, probably moderate to conservative (but not radical right), in a very Republican city.

He mentioned the "I" word as having come up in Congress for the first time. Impeachment.

And the place exploded. The cheering all but overwhelmed the microphones, and didn't stop for five full minutes. You'd have thought that he'd just suggested putting all the union busters, outsourcers and corporate heads to the guillotine. I was expecting cheering and support, but not a riot!

Impeachment itself may never happen, but could this reaction be the start of something big? Like maybe the political tides of the 'mushy middle' -- even if they are trade unionists -- finally swinging our way? I find it hard to not be encouraged by what I heard over the radio today, and I could sure use some considering what's been going on since Bush's fraudulent re-election.

-- ArchTeryx

[rodeodance]

1. thanks for the post--great day in St. Paul!!

[Roland99]

2. Garrison Keillor is speaking here soon (his show is on the road)

Wish I could afford tickets. I'd like to get his book, Homegrown Democrat, signed.

EXCELLENT book!


Must be something in the water in St. Paul, MN. :)

[Carolab]

CORRECTION. St. Paul is a very DEMOCRATIC city!!!

I live here; I should know.

There is some infighting going on between the AFL-CIO and SEIU.

[ArchTeryx]

4. Really?

I'd always heard from my Minneapolis-native friend that it was Minneapolis the college-town city that most of the Democrats and middle class went to, while St. Paul is mostly wealthy, suburban, and Republican. If St. Paul is a good Democratic movement going too, so much the better!

[Carolab]

5. Oh, NO. Quite wrong.

St. Paul is extremely left-wing. Paul Wellstone lived here, in fact, and there are still many homes with Wellstone signs in their yards and windows (as well as on bumper stickers). It's the college town, NOT Minneapolis. There are SEVERAL large (mostly Catholic, private) colleges in St. Paul (notably St. Thomas, St. Catherine's, Macalaster), and the University of Minnesota has a campus here as well as in Minneapolis. St. Paul is MUCH smaller than Minneapolis and hasn't got the "suburbs" that Minneapolis has. That's where the wealthy Republicans live, but we have fewer of these and they are smaller. Also, there's a real ethnic, "east coast" feel to St. Paul that Minneapolis doesn't have. Wonderful old architecture and great neighborhoods with marvelous little restaurants and shops. In fact, Garrison Keillor broadcasts "A Prairie Home Companion" from St. Paul and always has (except for when he did so from New York). It's a great town, lots of protests going on and political meetings in bookstores.

[ArchTeryx]

8. That's really good to hear!

I'll have to prod my friend Mirrdae over it, since he's also as left-wing as they come.

I've considered looking for work up there once I graduate (I'm a virologist). I could think of far worse things then ending up in Minneapolis or St. Paul.

[Carolab]

9. It's great here. Been here most of my life.

Lived in Minneapolis up until 2001, then moved to St. Paul. I much prefer St. Paul. The thing is, these two cities are side by side (separated by the Mississippi River), but they are quite different. Most people who live in Minneapolis rarely visit St. Paul (they find it confusing to drive in--you DO have to get used to the street system). People in St. Paul are more likely to visit Minneapolis because they are more apt to work there. But St. Paul is the capitol and does offer a lot of great things to do and see.

[ArchTeryx]

22. Cool!

What is the scientific employment like around those parts? Any medical research, biotech, government work or (yuck) Big Pharma around?

One of my biggest goals is to stay in the Midwest and the hell off the coasts. No amount of salary, especially for a nonbusiness PhD, can keep up with the housing markets there any more. But the vast majority of scientific employment is on the coast. :P

[Carolab]

23. Yikes! Tons of it! Medtronics/Boston Scientific/Scimed...

and of course the University.

Lots of pharma and insurance companies too.

[SaveElmer]

10. It gets a bad rap from the Pioneer Press

Endorsing Republicans every 4 years!

[Carolab]

11. Right. The Pioneer Press sucks. The StarTribune is much better.

Strib lately has really been coming out with a lot about the DSM.

[Carolab]

13. BTW, there isn't one single elected Republican in St. Paul.

This is a city with a history of not ONE elected Republican city official as far back as anyone can remember. Norm Coleman initially ran as a Democrat (for mayor) and then switched to Republican after the election. Randy Kelly (current mayor) basically did the same thing, although he didn't officially switch parties (he came out and endorsed *). Now he is being challenged by a LEFT-WING Democrat, who is VERY popular (Chris Coleman, no relation to Norm).

[dissent1977]

21. I live near St. Paul too, and it is very liberal

While some of the suburbs can be pretty right-wing, the city of St. Paul is definately far different than the suburbs. There are protests here all the time, and a lot of colleges which for the most part tend to be very liberal (with the exception of Concordia which happens to be in the only precinct in the entire city of St. Paul that Bush won.) I went to Hamline University here, and I can tell you it is a very liberal campus. We were one of the first campuses in the nation that had our student congress vote to ban military recruiters from campus and the measure passed with something like 80% support. While Hamline and Macalester are probably the two most liberal campuses, most of the surrounding neighborhoods are also very liberal. You still see many peace signs in the yards of the homes around here.

[napi21]

3. I don't think you were hearing people moving left from center as much as

you were hearing the middle revolting against the extreme RW!

Lots of people on DU disagree with me because I'm NOT and extremist LW either! I happen to be looking for those we elect to use some logic and concern for the National interest!

I suspect what you heard today was the middle getting really disgusted with the BS that's been going on in DC for the last 4 1/2 years.

I do believe the pendulum is swinging, away from the extreme RW, I only hope it doesn't swing too far, and hanges in the middle for a long time.

[AndyTiedye]

6. I Hope the Pendulum Still CAN Swing Leftward

It seems to be stuck pretty far to the right.

[snowbear]

7. It was a great show today !!

You're right Arch.. everytime Eddie said the word "Impeachment" ~~the place literally went BONKERS! :o

I loved the soldier who served in Iraq and was one of Eddie's guests today. :hug: He talked about how the media (ALL of the media) does the same thing that the administration does when it SCREENS out people. (The administration does it for their Bush and GOP audiences, and the media does it because they've become programmed to do it --- because they're chicken-shit and maybe because they have no Galloways?

He went on though.. Maybe the media isn't 100% to blame? Too few troops will openly and willingly speak their mind.. :cry:

Still - the media works hard to ensure that their final cuts are only of soldiers portraying Bush as a "leader". As "their" leader. Regardless of how they really feel.

Negative comments and stories of severe depression are never shown.

Face it. :shrug: John Q. Public has the impression that majority of troops in Iraq are so focused on the mission at hand that they don't ever stop to ponder if their 1,718 comrades died because of a big fat lie.

But today this soldier wasn't afraid to speak out :) . I only wish there were more venues for people like him to get out and speak the truth! :cry:

Aside from that awesome soldier, President Clinton :hug: , Joe Wilson :hug: and I can't remember right off who else were guests.

What a a ruckus rockin' crowd in St. Paul !! :bounce:

[smoogatz]

12. That's great news.

Any union member in the US who doesn't see Bush as the devil incarnate is either too dumb to live or just not paying attention. Let's hope these guys translate that anger into action in '06 and '08.

[calimary]

15. Truly great news!

I think more people are finding that IMPEACHMENT IS INDEED an option. It's no longer a taboo. It's no longer unthinkable or untouchable regarding "our popular wartime president" and his status as "primary emissary and anointed messenger from God."

BELIEVE ME, if you're saying this, and Ed Schultz is saying this, and the people he's saying it to are roaring with cheers and applause, you know it's on other people's minds, too. A LOT of other people.

BTW - it occurs to me that when IMPEACHMENT becomes an active matter in the House of Reps, there will VERY likely be people and pundits and other assorted apologists who say - "hey, we just had an impeachment. We can't be cheapening the process by doing ANOTHER impeachment so soon. These things have gravitas, you know. Can't just throw another one out there every time you don't like something the president has done. For heaven's sakes, EVERY president from here on out will face impeachment if we press this one..." Watch for it. I'll betcha it's coming.

To that, everyone among us Good Guys should remind: "Let's just remember WHAT this impeachment is about. LYING ABOUT SENDING THIS COUNTRY TO WAR - which caused the unnecessary deaths of almost TWO THOUSAND of our own troops and countless others in the so-called coalition and who knows how many innocent Iraqis. So just because Clinton was impeached for the most trifling, petty, and insignificant faux-pas, we can't hold another president accountable about a GRAVE OFFENSE that constitutes a HIGH CRIME if EVER there was one? That means that we can never use IMPEACHMENT as a recourse against a president who commits a grave wrong and horrendous abuse of popwer - strictly because we just finished impeaching the guy before him??!?!?!? Sorry. Don't think so. Besides, one impeachment has nothing to do with another one. They are NOT interrelated. And there's no time limit or expiration date on the right or necessity to impeach a president who's so manifestly unfit for that office.

[PATRICK]

14. The rage of the decent

Which the foppish sycophant press and nervous party leadership thinks is apathetic and weak in fact is a pressure cooker bound by the rule of decency and values- not apathy. Extra suppression by lack of information and propaganda makes people even angrier. The anger of the just burns brighter than a nova compared to the cowardly bullying of the most rabid freeper, most of whom would scatter like jackals before the lion and slink off into the dark.

The passion is not believed to be there. It is given no voice. It is pathetically replaced by the blowhard outrage of repressed greed and fascism. It is denied courageous leadership. It is denied the vitality and common sense of organizations that are supposed to empower and enable that voice. It is denied the facts, denied access to government. It is actively spit upon and terrorized by usurpers whose flag draped crimes they are supposed not to even suspect.

And yet this is why they fear protests by a hundred, petitions by hundreds of thousands, because it is the tip of a volcano. That volcano is never the creeps and thugs of society. Those are far fewer, far weaker in character, far more controllable. The mass of humanity inverted so the worst dare to tyrannize the rest and sow cynicism and despair will never become "like Bush". And it rumbles as the truth permeates like a real leaven, not a burnt out disease of over-used lies and smoky secrecy.

[glitch]

16. I appreciate your posts Patrick. Have these past 4 years.

Just so you know. :hi:

[PATRICK]

17. That long?

Humble thanks. I hope something adds to Force engendered here by all the committed posters.

(I hope to get that star back soon. Damn the finances full speed ahead.)

[CityDem]

18. Great news from Minnesota

I hope the enthusiasm you heard today spreads like wildfire across this country. If Clinton can be impeached for shooting his load on Monica's dress, AWOL should be in leg irons for the rest of his life.

[Eloriel]

19. Thanks. Here's some other good news.

And btw, your report brings tears to my eyes. AND reminds me of old Abe Lincoln: You can fool some of the people some of the time, but you can't fool all of the people all of the time.

I interpret these unscientific results to indicate that the population could be interested or persuaded to be interested in impeachment:

(WorldNetDaily:) Did Bush mislead nation to war? (94% say "yes"!)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=1556798&mesg_id=1556798

[dissent1977]

20. St. Paul is NOT a Republican city by any stretch of the imagination

I live near St. Paul and I spend a lot of time in the city, and I can assure you it is a very liberal city. In fact in 2000 Bush only won one out of the more than one hundred precincts in St. Paul, and I don't think he fared much better in '04.

Yes, there are right wingers here but they are a small minority. Overall St. Paul is very anti-Bush, not quite so much as Minneapolis but pretty close.