Ed Shultz will be going to Alaska for a town hall meeting on Saturday

[still_one]

September 13th at the WILLIAMSON AUDITORIUM, on the campus of the UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA ANCHORAGE.

What is good about his show is that he attracts moderate republicans and independents

We could get a sense what the people of Alaska really think about palin

[Quixote1818]

1. Sounds interesting. nt

[still_one]

2. He indicated he would ask the tough questions, with nothing held back

[snowbear]

3. I'll be there!!

And I can't wait to meet that feisty redhead from Fargo!!

[still_one]

4. Cool. I like Ed too. I know some here at DU have differences with him

but like it or not he attracts all sides, and not only has convienced some to our side, but also at least gets them to listen to our point of view

Please post back what happens


Thanks

[FKA MNChimpH8R]

5. Ed is a great "halfway house" for moderate independents and doubting Repugs

I'm a lot more leftist than he is, but he reaches an audience that is much more centrist and exposes them to a sensible Dem viewpoint. Ed's a guy who can make converts, Randi, Thom and Mike are pretty much preaching to and stoking up the converted.

[still_one]

7. I agree /nt

[Quixote1818]

6. Ed helps us a lot! He appeals to the type of people who Dems have a hard time courting

Most of the other talk shows on AAR are preaching mostly to the choir but Ed has the largest audience because it is the most diverse. DUers may not like him that much but he helps us more than any of the other progressive talk personalities by far.

[still_one]

8. Technically Ed is not AAR, he is Jone's radio network, same as Stephanie Miller

You hit the nail on the head regarding his large diverse audience

[Quixote1818]

9. I know, I was just trying to shorten the sentence.

Ed and his show may be just enough to put us up over the top in a close election.

[still_one]

10. North Dakota is definitely in play, and I attribute a lot of that to Ed /nt

[AzNick]

12. Ed is a former Republican converted to the Democrats

As such, he is priceless, because his demographics (as he advertized them himself: gun-toting, football-loving, meat-eating, whatever...) should place him in the Republican party, but because he is a free-thinker, he found the light.

He knows better than anyone how to convert others like him to our side.

He has been invited to many public debates and has surprised more than one red necks who expected a tree hugger and instead saw a big red haired corn fed midwestern rural dude with more common sense than the entire Bush cabinet.

Now I see a lot of myself in him and me being more of a red neck has given me more credibility when I defend my democratic opinions with other folks like me.

[FKA MNChimpH8R]

14. Yup.

He was "converted" by his second wife, Wendy. I do not doubt for a minute that that conversion was sincere.

From wikipedia:

"In the late 90s, several events occurred which he said changed his attitude. One was his mother's illness. A former educator, she got Alzheimer's Disease and began a long, slow decline. Schultz found it frustrating trying to get her the services that she needed. The other was that he met a psychiatric nurse named Wendy who ran a homeless shelter in Fargo. He attributed much of his political change to her, and although he had frequently made fun of the homeless on his show, he said in his book that she helped to humanize them; to his surprise, he found some of the people he had insulted were veterans, and many were unable to get the psychiatric or medical services that might help them. He says that began to look at poverty differently. (Schultz, 9-10) In June 1998, they were married, the second marriage for each.

While he claims to have become a Democrat in 2000, the political evolution seems to have been gradual. He went out to do radio promotions in rural parts of North Dakota, and told reporters about how he met farmers who were suffering and hard-working people who were going hungry, even though Republicans said the economy was doing fine. (Vowell, 2004) He began to hold benefits to raise money for people in the heartland who were going through tough times. (Winter, 2002) And he began questioning some of the assertions of George W. Bush; although he supported several Republican candidates in the 2000 election, he was becoming critical of other Republicans. For example, Schultz considered running for the Democratic-NPL party nomination for governor against incumbent Republican John Hoeven in 2004, but decided to continue his career in radio."

______


Ed is a classic example of the axiom Repukes who see misfortune up close, if they have a conscience, will become Democrats. At least if they are not religiously insane.

[AzNick]

15. So it's not just his free thiking...

Well, I turned my wife, who was a Reagan Republican.

Her dad was a Union guy from Chicago who voted Dem but started to vote Repug after Reagan. I guess the whole Reagan warm & fuzzy thing converted a lot of people after Carter's term.

So she voted like her dad. I did convert her. It took time. Now she even votes in the Democratic primaries (ok, she asks me who to vote for).

It seems more likely that, in a Demoblican home, the dem usually tends to win the debate. Or am I too optimistic?

[Kool Kitty]

11. He said that it will be taped and

the whole three-hour town hall will be broadcast aon Monday, September 15. Sounds very interesting.

[still_one]

17. good, I will catch it then. /nt

[kingpin8399]

13. i love ed, cant stand randi rhodes

ed is great, thom hartman isnt bad either. i cant wait to hear what happened at the meeting.

off topic, but i think randi rhodes is the worst, i used to listen to her, but she thinks too highly of herself, and yet she wonders why nobody will have her on any talk shows.

[AzNick]

16. Agreed, Randi is more Limbaugh-ish

I hate insulting and deriding others for their opinions. I like a debate. Randi Rhodes tends to insult the Republicans a bit too much to my taste, while Ed does not mind a rightie caller every now and then and debates them. Randi tends to push the mute button and gets into automatic firing mode and hangs up on the caller, which is something you expect more on Limbaugh.

I have a feeling Ed will go for it and run one day. Each time someone asks him, he does not say he will not do it.