I'll Drink to That.
Can you use a person's bar tab to infer his political views?

The Minneapolis Star-Tribune sent Jon Tevlin to the stereotypical native habitat of political reporters--a bar--to check in on the confluence of blogging, booze, and politics. Unfortunately, "With these social groups, the beer flows left and right" doesn't break much ground. Instead, it plays around with stereotypes.

When a group of diehard liberals gathers on Wednesday nights at the 331 Club, they all throw money into a kitty and share pitchers of beer. They talk about social issues, local political races, or if all else fails, football.

Stereotype 1: Liberals are more community minded.

When a group of diehard conservatives gathers at Keegan's on Thursdays, they pay their own tabs. And they drink Guinness or an expensive import. Rather than blather on about politics, they turn their attention to a game of trivia.

Stereotype 2: conservatives are rich and stupid. (Alternately, you might say that they have good taste.)

Sometimes one of the conservatives stops by on liberal night, or vice-versa, and they occasionally gather for a joint party they call "drinking moderately." They are so congenial to each other you are almost waiting for a chorus of "Kum Ba Yah."

Kum Bay Yah is overrated. Yet some people, of all persuasions, could stand to learn to hum a few bars--in, or outside bars.

In an age when politics often shows its fangs on both sides of the fence, dozens of Twin Cities residents with differing opinions seem to have found the great middle ground: Beer.

As long as everyone drinks responsibly, why not?

During recent visits to both camps, even this Star Tribune reporter felt the love. When introduced to Tracy Eberly, the guy who runs a website devoted to skewering my newspaper (www.anti-strib.blogspot.com), this is as rough as it got:

Me: "Let me guess, you drink Scotch, neat."

Eberly: (Laughing). "Yep. Guess I'm a living stereotype. I smoke cigars, too."

Perhaps playing to type, but smoking bans are a concern of conservative bloggers. Then again, one need not light up to see a threat to property rights, freedom of association, and so forth.

It was almost enough to make a hard-boiled reporter tear up. I did refrain from buying him a drink on the company credit card, however.

Is this supposed to be a humor piece? OK, let's have a rimshot.

Blue Night

Drinking Liberally, a nationwide organization that started offering venues for progressives to schmooze in 2004, came to Minneapolis last April. Its motto: "Promoting Democracy one pint at a time."

The idea, says local organizer Robin Marty, is "just for people who think alike to sit and chat about things going on in the world."

Implicit play to type: a nationwide organization is consistent with an approach to government that is often associated with national rather than state-level approaches. (Then again, there's "National Greatness" conservatism as endorsed by The Weekly Standard a few years ago, and endorsed, more or less by George W. Bush).

The gatherings started at Liquor Lyle's, then moved to the 331 Club in Northeast Minneapolis in November. There are about 15 core members, but the number swells to 40 or more for special occasions or when rumors circulate that a political "celebrity" might show; like one did recently when Al Franken was scheduled to appear (he didn't make it).

Many of those involved write blogs that lean left, like Marty's www.dflsenate.com and Mark Gisleson's www.norwegianity.com.

"We run the full lefty spectrum from atheists to Democrats for life," said Marty. "During dry spells [in public policy], we talk about the Vikings a lot. You can always fall back on the Vikings."

I think that should have been "Democrats for Life," as in a pro-life group. Then again, its analogue is not necessarily the local atheist chapter (there are few anyway), but members of, say, NARAL or NOW. Are they in the same room as Democrats for Life? By the way, I've not heard from Democrats for Life in a while.

Marty, who recently "came out" to her conservative parents and admitted she was a liberal, did take one solicited shot at her opposites: "We sometimes joke that the reason they have trivia is because they need something to keep the conversation going," she said.

Oh my, another stereotype: being a liberal is courageous. Perhaps Marty was merely being playful, and I suppose that in some circumstances in which declaring one's liberal leanings is a shock. But not always--say, in Minneapolis.

Red Night

The conservative gathering started more informally. Conservative bloggers including those behind Fraterslibertas.com and Freedomdogs.com started dropping references to their occasional nights out. Fraterslibertas then got Keegan's to sponsor their radio show on WWTC (1280 AM). Word spread, and readers began to drop in.

Two years ago they sponsored a blogger social, formed the Minnesota Organization of Bloggers (MOB) and it spread from there, according to Brian Ward, one of the founders of Fraterslibertas.

The only guiding principle of the evening is "no organization, no rules, no agenda," said Ward. "It's people socializing over beer and competition [trivia]."

Since politics can get overheated, talking about trivia isn't always a bad thing. Besides, it's not as if politics are ignored. Next:

On a recent Thursday, Keegan's was packed and tilting decidedly right. Barry Hickethier wore a T-shirt picturing Che Guevara that read: "Communism killed 100 million people and all I got was this lousy T-shirt."

The political is personal--sometimes, deadly personal, in the case of communism.

David Strom from the Minnesota Taxpayers League schmoozed in one corner with conservative writers from the St. Paul Pioneer Press.

I believe those would be editorial and op-ed writers, not straight-up news writers.

Where else do you go in the Twin Cities if you are conservative?" said Strom. "No one else will talk to you. Here, it's a ready-made peer group."

But Drinking Liberally's Marty was also there -- without gunplay.

Oh cute. See conservative and liberals talk. No gunplay. Haha. Or is this a stab at the state's still fairly new conceal-carry law?

Larry Colson, a regular, acknowledged that "it's easy to be angry sitting in your basement. That's part of the intent of [blogs]; it just flows out."

Face-to-face, however, there is respect, or at least tolerance, for other people's opinions, and recognition there are more important things in life than bickering.

"Me?" said Mark Gisleson of Drinking Liberally. "I'm mostly here for the beer."


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Well, I guess I didn't think too much of the article. Generalizations can be helpful, and they're inevitable. But they can also be tiring, tiresome, and uninteresting. What would make this piece more interesting is a discussion of whether blogging promotes community or polarization along political lines. It suggests the latter, at least if bloggers meet in person, but the topic could have been explored more deeply. Or does the growth of blogging lead to more grass-roots political activity along the lines of lit drops, writing letters to the editor, and so forth.

Then again, this is a feature article, and a fly-by one at that, not a paper for a sociology conference. Then again, that's one conference I may actually enjoy attending. (permalink)