My Republican haircut; your Republican questions

[barondave]

The calm before the storm, literally. I just got a haircut, so I pass the Republican "only first impressions matter" test. I hope. In the meantime, I've been following stories and doing some research. A Highly Placed St. Paul Capitalist (a friend of mine who works downtown on an upper floor) described the security measures taken by downtown businesses, at least some of them, for the RNC: Armed guards, increased security checks for employees entering the building, no sending packages through interdepartmental mail (!), evacuation drills in case of an emergency, better security for the tunnel system, and so on.

No new word on the arrests from yesterday, though the story is growing in scope and importance.

The GOP is getting the best from Gustav: At the moment (4pm Sunday) it looks like they'll still hold the convention but the storm has scared away Bush and Cheney. The Pres and VP were expected to speak on Monday, and the storm gives an excuse for the most unpopular two-termers in US history to avoid passing the sputtering torch to McCain/Palin.

Tomorrow morning, the Fresh Air Radio team will be given credentials and assignments. I'll be doing what I usually do: Buttonholing semi-random people and asking them questions. I have a few standard questions prepared, and have gotten some advice from others, but now it's LiveJournal's time for input:

What questions would you have me ask Republicans at the Republican National Convention this week?

What questions would you have me ask any protestors I might chance upon?

Remember: I'm Fair and Balanced, and don't want to get into a debate. I just want to ask fairly simple but specific questions and record their answer. If an answer leads to further questions, that's fine. I'll probably be talking to medium-to-low level goppies, but you never know. Maybe I'll stalk Jon Stewart...

What pictures should I try to get?

No guarantees that any of these situations will come up, and I'll probably wing it or be working on assignment, but I like to have Other Stuff prepared. Thanks in advance.

Now, it's time to do a pre-con laundry and refresh my mind at Trivia, get some sleep and figure out if I should drive to the convention and try to find parking or just take a long bus trip. I'm leaning toward the latter.

Comments

[cakmpls.livejournal.com]

Memorize a lawyer's phone number.

Let us know if we should start a bail fund.

I hope you don't need either of those, but the way things are going, I will worry about you. But THANK YOU for doing this!

[joel-rosenberg.livejournal.com]

Memorize several -- Jeff Benson and Marc Berris are the obvious local choices.

[barondave.livejournal.com]

Thanks, I hadn't considered this aspect. I must admit, I'd probably think of J or Rob first. More likely, the station's lawyer will be on tap. I'll bring it up at the meeting tomorrow.

[barondave.livejournal.com]

Don't know them. Why are they the obvious local choices and what are their numbers?

[joel-rosenberg.livejournal.com]

Because they're local, very good at criminal defense. and utterly unafraid. Politically, they're not in the same crowd as you are, but they're vanishingly unlikely to give a rat's ass.

Jeff's at (612) 492-7325; I don't have Marc's number handy, but check out berrislaw.com -- it's got it, and it's funny.

[barondave.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[skylarker.livejournal.com]

You could ask them if they are aware of the raids that have been conducted locally, in an apparent attempt to quell and intimidate peaceful protest (along with any other sort of protest.)

(I suspect that rank & file Republican attendees won't be aware of them, and many will not approve.)

[freeimprov.livejournal.com]

I suspect most of them would cheer the arrests...

[davidschroth.livejournal.com]

What questions would you have me ask Republicans at the Republican National Convention this week?

Why do you hate freedom?

[invader-tak-1.livejournal.com]

I used to be a Republican before the neo-con invasion, it just makes me sad. I'm certain I'm not the only one.

[rmeidaking.livejournal.com]

I have found, in general, that asking, "What do you think are the key issues this election season, and why?" gets to the meat of the conversation pretty quickly.

There are half a dozen issues that they'd be likely to bring up (e.g. Iraq, the economy, the mortgage crisis, education, immigration, Roe v. Wade, etc.) and it wouldn't be hard to come up with a targeted question based on the subject they pick. How pointed are you willing to be?

[barondave.livejournal.com]

I usually ask about global warming, one of my key issues, and go from there. Depending on how much time I have and how loquacious they are, I often ask a generic question of the type you describe. "Why do you support ____?" Usually followed by "could you be more specific?"

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

Put your money where your mouth is, that's my advice.

K.

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

Where do you get your news? Do you think your news source is biased? What are examples of biased news sources that you can think of/read/refuse to read? What is the least biased news source you can name?

K.

[sleigh.livejournal.com]

Do you think the choice of Sarah Palin for VP blunts the message that Barack Obama isn't ready to lead?