St. Paul MN Mayor doing a Zell Miller....endorsing BushCo.

[Ronin1]

http://kare11.com/news/news-article.asp?NEWS_ID=67485

St. Paul Mayor Kelly Supports Bush for Re-election

St. Paul Mayor Randy Kelly broke Democratic Party ranks on Sunday to announce his support for President Bush's re-election.

"George Bush and I do not agree on a lot of issues," Kelly said in a statement. "But in turbulent times, what the American people need more than anything is continuity of government, even with some imperfect policies."

Kelly, who said he's remaining a Democrat, said the economy is going in the right direction. "There's no reason to believe a change of course will produce better or quicker results," he said.

And the mayor said the United States will bring the troops home from Iraq a lot sooner if "we don't try to bring in a whole new leadership team to run the show. We must stay the course."

Governor Tim Pawlenty, who co-chairs the Bush-Cheney campaign in Minnesota, praised Kelly. "His bold decision is courageous and a welcome move toward working across party lines," Pawlenty said in a statement.

U.S. Senator Norm Coleman, the Bush-Cheney campaign's other co-chair in Minnesota, called Kelly's announcement "bipartisanship at its finest."

"Mayor Kelly recognizes that jobs are being created and that tax cuts have stimulated that job growth. He has done the same for St. Paul," said Coleman, Kelly's predecessor as mayor of Minnesota's capital city.

But the St. Paul DFL Party said Kelly "has traded the values of St. Paul for the agenda of the Republican Party's far right."

"Rather than advocating the needs of St. Paul, Mayor Kelly's decision to not support John Kerry's strategy for building our cities does the voters of St. Paul a disservice," the party said.

Kelly, who was elected mayor in 2001, is up for re-election next year.


All I say is GOOD LUCK!

[kikiek]

1. I have not ever felt that he was really a democrat. Just like Zell.

St Paul is pretty liberal despite having had Coleman as it's mayor at one time. He was a democrat then I think too. Just a way to get into office. The very obvious problem with this argument is that they have created the chaos in hopes it will keep them in office. Bush has said you don't change presidents during a war. Think that didn't occur to him while considering whether to attack Iraq or not. I think he believes his father didn't keep the war going long enough which led to his defeat.

[Wickerman]

2. He was hedging earlier in the week

this explains it. Still remains a democrat. My ass.

[olddem43]

3. The Democratic party needs to, very publicly, eject him.

[Old and In the Way]

5. Agreed......without a second thought.

And any other Democrat that supports this junta should make their position known and dump them as well.

[kikiek]

7. I think St Paul will next year. Make him run as a repug tho.

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

4. I guess he never heard of the expression "When you're in a hole...

...stop digging."

The two quotes that have my head still spinning:

"But in turbulent times, what the American people need more than anything is continuity of government, even with some imperfect policies."

"There's no reason to believe a change of course will produce better or quicker results," he said.

...which lead me to believe that he's also not heard THIS quote:

"If you want what you have, keep doing what you're doing, because that's how you GOT it."

You'd better believe he has a golden parachute all prepared somewhere...Bush wins, he gets a comfy cabinet appointment. Bush loses, then the BFEE supporters in the private sector put him on a board of directors somewhere.

My response to this dink can best be summed up in John Kerry's words near the end of the DNC speech:

[WI_DEM]

6. why is it that we can't get any prominent repukes to break ranks

with this pompous failure of a president and endorse Kerry?

[dflprincess]

8. I'll guarantee his career with the DFL is finished.

The party doesn't take well to folks who pull this crap. Granted, he could still file as a DFL candidate when he runs again but he'd never get endorsed - which means he gets no official help from the party. I suppose the next announcement will be that he's gone over to the dark side. I wonder if there's something in the water at St. Paul City Hall? First Coleman, now Kelly.

[VolcanoJen]

9. Dupe... locking

Please continue discussion within the original LBN thread on this topic, which can be found here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=721819

Also, the Rules for Posting in the Latest Breaking News Forum require posters to use the published title of linked-to articles as their subject line. In this case, the subject line to this post should read "St. Paul Mayor Kelly Supports Bush for Re-election."

Ronin1, it would be very helpful if you would add your kare11.com link to the other thread.

Thanks!
VolcanoJen
DU Moderator