Partying with CodePink at the RNC

So, Thursday evening about 9:15, as John McCain was starting his acceptance speech, my brother-in-law, Randy, and I headed into the LoTo bar in St. Paul’s Lowertown neighborhood just off downtown, about eight blocks from the Xcel. And a bunch of crazy-seeming women were screaming and cheering and jumping up and down on their seats on one side of the oblong bar.

I couldn’t figure out what the six or so women were making all the fuss about – were these McCain fans? The way they were dressed – in a general style I’d call “crunchy,” with a lot of pink, so perhaps “crunchy pink” – they didn’t look like McCain fans. And, man, were they loud

Actually, I was a little annoyed – I just wanted to have a couple of beers with Randy and maybe catch a bit of what McCain had to say. Unfortunately, the only available table was a table away from the obstreperous women. Though Randy and I were right next to a nice big-screen tube, we couldn’t hear a damn thing McCain was saying.

These women were loud and excited and in almost constant motion. As different members of the group kept running in and out of LoTo, new members kept showing up, eventually even a couple of guys – a young black guy with dreadlocks and an older white guy wearing a baseball jacket with “Kenya” written across the back.

It didn’t take me long to figure out these folks were not Republicans. Especially as, during brief lulls in the wall of sound, I started hearing what they were saying – uh, let’s just say their sentiments toward John McCain were not kind ones. Then it happened: In the midst of McCain’s speech, as Randy and I were watching the big screen but not hearing any sound, the TV cameras zoomed in on two women breaking free of the crowd and the arms reaching to hold them back; they were obviously screaming something at McCain, but I couldn’t hear what.

The interlopers were wearing pink. And the group of women in the LoTo went nuts, screaming, yelling, pounding on their chairs – one woman even got on top of the bar and stood for a few moments, her arms raised in angry triumph. It finally dawned on me – these are CodePink women, anti-war protesters known for interrupting high-security speeches and political events to bring attention to their cause of bringing all U.S. troops home from Iraq and Afghanistan.

The cameras zipped back to McCain’s face and he tried to play it off with a smile and some comment I couldn’t hear, and the crowd stood up and started applauding as hard as it could, apparently to draw attention away from the protesters. But as McCain paused and then worked to pick up his speech where he’d been interrupted, it was plain to see he was annoyed.

For a second I thought the short temper he’s well known for would show, but he didn’t allow that to happen. I was officially intrigued. It took me a while, but finally I decided to make a move and so caught the glance of one of the women as she zipped past. I stopped her and pointed to the big screen and asked, “Do you know those women?” The young CodePink member looked at me with quick derision and scoffed, “We ARE those women!”

Eight blocks away at the Republican National Convention, two of their compatriots had just interrupted about as major a speech as is possible, garnering in a few thrashing moments more attention than CodePink could have hoped for in years of activism, and these women were elated and defiant – and they were partying right next to me at the LoTo in St. Paul. Randy and I ordered another beer. I kept glancing over in the direction of the CodePink group, a bit hesitant, caught between the weariness of a couple of beers and several long weeks of work, and my normal curiosity.

Eventually my curiosity won out. Especially after another uproar not too long later, when a tough-looking woman was ushered into the bar with much fanfare – one of the women who’d interrupted McCain’s speech had shown up. While both Randy and I recognized her, we were surprised she wasn’t still in jail. Several of her friends secured two bags of ice for this warrior for the anti-war cause, and as she was applying the ice to her shoulder and one of her legs at the table next to me – results from her struggle with security officials – I decided to interrupt her.

“How come you’re not still in jail after your arrest?” I asked. “Because I’m a nice person, buddy!” I wasn’t going to argue.

She then moved off to continue her icing elsewhere. I stopped another of the CodePink women, who seemed to be a leader, and we started talking. She said her name was Deidra Lynch, and that she was from Florida. I asked her what McCain had said when her friends had interrupted him, and she laughed and said that McCain had said: “I recognize that voice,” which Lynch said made sense, since the woman I’d briefly met was from Arizona and had interrupted McCain maybe 10 times the last few years. (Liz Hourican of Arizona and Nancy Mancias, CodePink’s RNC coordinator who’s from San Francisco, were hauled off the convention floor Thursday night, arrested, detained and released.)

Lynch and I spoke for maybe five minutes; she was gracious and careful and excited. I asked her how her two compatriots got into the RNC, and she said the group has friends who’d gotten for them two guest passes. I asked who the friends were, and she shook her head, looked away and said, “We don’t reveal our sources.”

I laughed, and asked Lynch a few more questions, about the history of CodePink and how she got involved. She answered with that mix of patience and urgency that committed people usually do. But then it was time for Randy and me to leave. I was tempted to try and tag along with the CodePink group, as they were talking about heading to another bar – obviously still amped on their big success Thursday night – but I was too tired. I wimped out.

As we walked outside, Randy and I encountered Hourican again on the LoTo patio, icing her pains in the cool night air. Randy was wearing a sweat shirt that read, "Canada." “Good luck,” I said to Hourican. “Thanks, buddy!” she shot back, and then added, "Viva Canada!"