This is short but it made me smile. I was getting a car washed today and was in line behind a couple people, one of whom was an in-uniform Saint Paul police officer. Now, there are several groups of people in cities which tend to be less liberal than the population as a whole: police officers and people getting their cars washed.
I'm not going to get in to why, and I know many liberal police and progressive people who take pride in a clean car. (I get cars washed for work, my own car, which I rarely drive, is a mess and I like it that way.) In any case, they had the following exchange (below the demarcation...)
Guy in line: So how are you doing preparing for the RNC.
Police officer [with a suddenly longer face]: Don't get me started.
At this point I edged closer. I wanted to hear what he was going to say.
GIL: Really?
PO: I don't like Republicans (he made it seem like all Republicans, but especially the RNCers) and I don't want them coming here. The're the most condescending people I know.
*****
Maybe good officer [redacted, but his name was on his uniform] has had some run-ins with some condescending Republicans, you know, the ones driving Lexus SUVs 50 on a side street who couldn't care less for people on bikes or their feet. Or maybe the RNC is being totally unreasonable with the upcoming convention and he's discovered a new distaste for Republicans. But to say, point-blank, to someone he's never met (and someone whose party affiliation he does not know -- it wasn't like the guy in line was wearing an Obama button or anything) that Republicans are "the most condescending people around" is interesting.
We'll see how the RNC plays out. It sounds like the police are going to do their duty, but they don't seem too excited about it. It seems that the unpublicised narrative is that the RNC is being totally inhospitable to the city. Which might be a good thing, it could be a royal mess here if the citizens aren't at least content with the presence of a bunch of carpetbaggers from far away, and a media narrative of "RNC a shit show" can't hurt. FWIW, Saint Paul is a pretty liberal place, and no one seems too happy about the RNC.