Drink up, lads! The GOP is coming to town!

Now that the St. Paul Police Dept. has stocked up on hundreds of new tasers in anticipation of the GOP National Convention here this summer, the next step is too loosen up the liquor laws. Now the Legislature is looking at 4 AM as the last call, and allowing liquor stores to stay open on Sunday, but only during the Convention.

Currently, selected bars are allowed to sell until 2 AM, and all liquor stores across the State are closed on Sunday. Extensive empirical research that I have conducted shows that both Republicans and Democrats have managed to get drunk just fine under the current law. Ironically, it is the Republican legislators that have always fought to restrict bar hours and liquor store sales. Now, the Party of family values needs to be able to drink until 4 AM and pick up a bottle on Sunday to keep that buzz going. That's what "sophisticated" people do, after all.

Perhaps Garrison Keillor was correct when he surmised that, "Republicans seem to need alcohol to maintain their beliefs".

The Twin Cities hosts hundreds of conventions each year, and one must think that these include 'sophisticated' people. Why does this particular convention need special liquor laws? And a ten mile radius from the convention is really quite broad. Are there really that many delegates that will need to drink between 2 and 4 AM that we need hundreds of places for them to do it in? Even all of the way out to Bloomington? And if so, don't the local Republicans deserve the same opportunity to be 'sophisticated' year-round? It should be interesting how many of the neighbourhood working-class bars that Republican delegates would be unlikely to frequent will take advantage of this temporary relaxation of the laws.


story from The Minnesota Monitor

Under an amendment proposed by Rep. Phyllis Kahn, bars in St. Paul and parts of Minneapolis and Bloomington would remain open until 4 a.m. between Aug. 29 and Sept. 8 to accommodate the Republican National Convention.
The amendment to a state appropriations bill would allow late night bar sales within a ten mile radius of the RNC, and would allow for liquor stores to stay open on Sunday throughout the period. Kahn says the amendment is offered to make Minneapolis-St. Paul more "sophisticated" while the Republicans, media and protesters are in town.
The bill would also provide local liquor licensing boards to reject the later bar hours and extended liquor store operations.
The bill was passed by the State Government Finance Division Committee on Wednesday.
A similar Senate bill was withdrawn shortly after being offered earlier this month.