Is it over yet? I work a couple blocks from the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul and am a police reserve officer as well, so I have a few thoughts on this whole brouhaha.
First, why St. Paul? I love the Twin Cities–I’ve been here for almost 15 years, and would never move anywhere else (unless I win the lottery, in which case I’ll be buying a condo on Santa Monica beach), but it is not by any stretch of the imagination an appropriate place for a convention. There is nothing to do here that would be of the remotest interst to people from around the country. The geography is boring, there are no landmarks to speak of, and there is little to do here. Sure, you can go out to the Mall of America, but, truth be told, it is simply a really, really, big mall. You can also go to the Guthrie Theater, but there are lots of comparable theaters all over the country. If I was FORCED to have it here, I would have it in Minneapolis, NOT St. Paul. Downtown St. Paul is shabby (I work there), and there are hardly any good restaurants to speak of. Most major businesses have moved over to Minneapolis. We have a skyway in both cities, and, while the Minneapolis one is largely thriving, the one in St. Paul is run down and and dying. Practically every other spot for a business is empty down here. Or at least it was. Interestingly, all these long deserted spots have been filled with temporary businesses. I’m not entirely sure if that is to take advantage of the increased foot traffic (which I’m not sure there really is any–there don’t appear to be anymore people down there than there would be for a playoff sporting event), or whether St. Paul is trying to give the illusion that it isn’t a backwater, dying midwestern city. I wouldn’t be surprised if delegates and news personalities were abandoning the event for “hurricane” Gustav, simply because they don’t want to waste a week in this ho-dunk place.
Second, speaking of farts in a hurricane, I can’t believe how politicians fell over themselves to scale back events here and rush to the gulf coast for that non-event. It always amuses me how they fall over themselves to please people who will never vote for them anyway. I can see making preparations to cancel events if things go badly, but preemptively shooting oneself in the foot has become the GOP’s favorite pasttime as of late.
Third, I worked several police reserve events this weekend, and there is almost no excitement in the air. The only thing people seem to be interested in, is how many smelly hippies get tear-gased. Maybe things will heat up this week. The majority of city council members in both cities are anti-police, so the cops are doing their best to keep order while be undermined by civic leaders who hate Republicans and both law enforcement and the enforcement of laws.
Fourth, Sarah Palin . . . yikes. This chick’s middle name must be Samsonite, because she is carrying some heavy baggage. Hmmmmm . . . let’s see — she’s from a far-removed state, has zero experience (even less than Obama if one can believe that!), and her family is a mess. She should gracefully bow out, go home to focus on getting some experience and spending time with her young baby. She might also do well to swing by the Safeway to pick up some cucumbers and a box of condoms and have a long talk with her kids. What’s the point of preaching abstinence to your kids if you’re not going to keep a close enough eye to assist them in managing those raging hormones? One might think that being from Minnesota this is just sour-grapes, but I think Tim Pawlenty would have been a lousy choice for VP. I’ve heard him speak a number of times, and he comes off as an empty suit (though his wife is wonderful). Don’t even get me started on his “no new taxes pledge,” and then imposing a tobacco tax that he described as a “fee” to save face. Don’t pee on my shoe and tell me it’s raining. Also, I think he would have been chewed up and spit out by Slow Joe, as I suspect Palin will be. What’s wrong with Condeleeza Rice, or any number of other people that might actually have the experience to be President today, or next month? Does anyone really believe that if McCain is elected and drops dead in February that Palin is ready to be leader of the free world?
I’ll walk around later and get some pictures up, though there’s not much to look at.
“Does anyone really believe that if McCain is elected and drops dead in February that Palin is ready to be leader of the free world?”
Yes.
Because . . . . . . . . . . . . .
She has more leadership experiance than Obama, so not sure where that is coming from. The “mess” as you call it is what i would call a normal family for most of the country. Is she ready to be pres if Sen McCain dies, hmm with a good team around her yes i think she would be, though she has a whole lot of stuff to learn before then.
OMG! There’s trouble a-brewin’! The lefties are riled, and the MSM is tut-tutting all over the place! We’d better drop everything and run!
Jeez.
Maybe instead of abandoning ship at the first hint of ‘baggage’ we could help her to carry it.
Who’s this A-hole?
I guess the one good point about Cadet Happy is that he’s clearly not FrankJ/Harvey. Is this Frank’s retarded neighbor?
i’m hoping that whole last paragraph about sarah palin was a joke……..
Come on cadet Grumpy, you know St Paul is a much better city than Minnipeepee. At least in St Paul they don’t have to travel the 35E bridge. You just wish the protesters would burn down Minnipeepee instead of St Paul.
And the Saint Paul that the city is named after is NOT Ron Paul, so don’t be such a hater.
Frank, get your personalities in line. This one’s kind of annoying.
Cadet, we dig on your photoshops of Frank in his Aquaman fetish outfit. More of those please. And tell us about the lutefisk and hockey. And pull out your reserve-cop badge and truncheon a few hippies. You could singlehandedly energize this whole convention. All ya gotta do is be a doer not a complainer.
Does anyone really believe that if McCain is elected and drops dead in February that Palin is ready to be leader of the free world?
Yeah, I do. Her life tells me she’s got guts and character, doesn’t take shit from anyone, puts integrity ahead of expediency, and not only talks the talk but walks the walk when it comes to following through on your principles. That’s my kind of President.
You speak as if being President was like flying an F-18 or scoring a perfect 10 on the balance beam in the Olympics, where you need a million years of practise practise practise, split-second reflexes, and a detailed instinctual knowledge of what this little button here does — because you don’t have time to just ask one of your umpty Presidential advisors standing around.
That’s obvious nonsense, as anyone with a lick of history inside their skull knows. Being President doesn’t involve making insanely complex and subtle decisions. Send military aid to the Georgians, “humanitarian” aid, protest in the UN, declare war, or what? That’s the kind of decision you need to make. There’s no subtlety about it. Everyone can understand the different options, and write down the possible consequences of each.
What you need to make such decisions correctly, again and again, is character (so your decision reflects the interests of the United States, not — hello Bill Clinton! — your own political interests). You also need to be a good judge of people, so you can grasp in a quick glimpse their strengths and weaknesses. How likely is Putin or Medvedev to mean what they say? How much is just bluster? What are his weak points — vanity? arrogance? — that we can exploit? These are, of course, just the kinds of skills you need to be a leader at any level. Even the captain of a high-school basketball team — a winning team, that is — needs this ability to quickly size up an opponent. Do you need it to be a “community organizer” or U.S. Senator? Uh, no, not so much.
Finally, you need plain guts, because the correct decisions, if not obvious, usually need you to push through some dark days to get to the bright happy ending. (If that were not true, the correct decisions would be obvious, and anyone could make them.) Like Churchill in 1940, or W with “the surge,” or Lincoln in 1864, or Reagan in 1988, you need to have the guts to stay the course and not flap around in the public-opinion breeze like…hmm, well, like a certain former state senator from Illinois who reshapes his “core beliefs” (ha ha) at the drop of a public-opinion poll (Did I say no public funding? Oops, staff mistake! Dedicated opposition to FISA? Pull the troops out right now? Well, that was then (the primary) and this is now (the general).)
I’d be perfectly happy with Sarah Palin as Commander in Chief. Perhaps even happier than with John McCain. The guy’s a hero, got character and guts up the wazoo, yes, but he’s been a talker and consensus-builder for the past 25 years. He hasn’t had to sit in the hot seat and make tough decisions and follow through on them, even when it costs you personally, all by himself, the way she has.
Dude.. you really shouldnt stand so close to the protetors before you blog…. the smoke has “fogged” your brain cells. How can you possibly say that Obama Bin Biden has more management experience? WTF has he managed sucessfully? He personally. Lets see… he managed Acorn…. how successful is that? What else… and HE WANTS TO BE POTUS not VP. All this talk of McCain dying in office is speculative. She’s going to be VP.. worse case scenario is that she has six months to learn for the job kills McCain…. whats better? OJT or handing the ball to a completly inexperienced POTUS.
dang, Cadethappy, you musta been f…n with us, right? I mean, you know we got nothin’ but Love for you, but you done got us all riled up now.
Like your blog and I agree that both MPLS and St paul were a poor fit for the RNC. I am no smelly hippie, corporate drone, rather, and I’m not supportive of the RNC prescence. I liked McCain, hate the party he has to suck up to. Palin is a real pandering nightmare to women of any stripe. You guys have plenty of qualified GOP chicks, so you go with Anchorage Barbie? cough Dan Quayle in a Pants-suit!
Like your blog and I agree that both MPLS and St paul were a poor fit for the RNC. I am no smelly hippie, corporate drone, rather, and I’m not supportive of the RNC prescence. I liked McCain, hate the party he has to suck up to. Palin is a real pandering nightmare to women of any stripe. You guys have plenty of qualified GOP chicks, so you go with Anchorage Barbie? cough Dan Quayle in a Pants-suit!
Living in the land of 10,000 losers has addled your brain. I hate going back there (the land of my birth) for a week every few years but do it for the “family unity” and all that. Plus I feel sorry for my few conservative friends still living in the combat zone.
Splitting hairs over Minneapolis and St. Paul is like comparing Hillary and Obama….they both suck so much it just doesn’t matter.
And Sarah Palin…..she is the first good thing coming from this lousy election. And her being a woman is a non-issue for me. She does have more experience than Obama and also is not at the top of the ticket. I was actually wrestling with whether I would vote for McCain or not before she came on board. Now I am putting a yard sign in and signing up to annoy folks with phone calls….
I don’t get this grouching about her…she is gonna win this thing for McCain.
Two words to describe the perfect city for the RNC convention.
Las Vegas.
Sheesh.. when the hell will people learn to shut up about Condi? news flash: SHE SUCKS. Really, have you been paying attention? She is no conservative, and she has done a SHIT job representing the US. Palin get chewed up by Bulshittin’ Biden who says something really f’d up every time he talks???? Yep, ‘Hey Israel, your just going to have to live with Iran getting nukes and blowing your asses into the dust, cause my FOREIGN POLICY experience is telling me that I need to give them blueprints ASAP!! they need it for energy for cripesakes, can’t yall see?!’
BTW, I live it a suburb of Minneapolis and I do agree, St Paul is a dump.. thanks to the leftie mayor Coleman over there, it will be a shantytown in 2 more years.
dude that was a freaking lowwww blow dissing on sarah because her kid made a mistake and saying it was her fault!! no matter how well you teach your children something or how closely you watch them they have to live their own life and discover things for themselves. While Bristol (sarahs daughter) definitely made a mistake, she could not have handled things better, and has proved that sarah does walk the walk for pro life then just talk the talk like so many other politicians we know. SARAH PALIN IS HOPE FOR AMERICA AND THIS ELECTION!!!!
Who’s this gay retard? I live in the cities and I love Sarah! If you don’t like it here and find it boring, move to a sewer like NY or LA!
My take on Palin’s readiness goes up Thursday.
Pretty much hitting Carl Pham’s points, except with brevity.
#13, 14 – MPLS Hostess(es?)
‘you guys have plenty of qualified chicks’
Name three.
BTW ‘chicks’?
I like St. Paul.
I spent a lifetime there one winter in 1979.
Just saw Fred Thompsons’ speech at the RNC. Awesome!
America needs a hot VP who can drop a moose at 200 yards and get it field-dressed before breakfast.
Maybe one who runs a state with the per captia GDP greater than that of the entire country of Germany?
Maybe one who directs the actions of over 25,000 state employees?
Maybe one dealing with issues real people have to deal with, like a pregnant teen daughter or a handicapped kid?
At any rate, she is infinitely more qualified than a guy who usually votes “present” on any tough issue he has been faced with as Senator, if he’s in Washington at all.
My only question is, can’t we get HER to run for POTUS?
I don’t know about you, but I think someone should assassinate Obama if he gets elected for president.
So insulting Palin seems to be the best tac to getting a sub one star post.
Suck much?
St Paul is far more beautiful than Murderapolis. It’s much nicer to walk along St Paul’s brick and tree-lined downtown streets than it is to walk down Murderapolis’ dirty streets. Half of downtown Murderapolis is covered by surface parking lots as well.
MPLs Hostess: Sarah Palin wears skirts.