PORTLAND, MAINE: Thousands lined Portland's Congress Street on Friday to cheer for the state's servicemen, its emergency workers and the NFL champion New England Patriots.I can't help but wonder if it would be the same in Portland, Oregon. Posted by Vanderleun at April 9, 2004 7:04 AMBilled as the city's biggest ticker-tape parade, the event featured hundreds of soldiers, sailors and other members of the military marching in front of an enthusiastic crowd, estimated at 30,000.
Onlookers bellowed excitedly as each contingent of soldiers paraded into view. The marchers were met by shredded paper, a multitude of small U.S. flags and signs that read: "Welcome Home Heroes" and "America Rocks!"
My thoughts exactly, as at first I had assumed it was Oregon. There's still a lot of "insurgent" activity in FallEugene, isn't there?
Posted by: Stephen B at April 9, 2005 9:06 AMYeah Stephen there is and it ain't ever going to change. I go there every now and then for my 'tie dye' dose. They made it legal for women to go topless in Eugene ... the bad news is that they don't shave.
Posted by: Steel Turman at April 9, 2005 9:32 AM"They made it legal for women to go topless in Eugene ... the bad news is that they don't shave."
...shudders...
Posted by: Final Historian at April 9, 2005 11:29 AMYes, I believe it would be exactly the same in Portland, Oregon. The reason is very simple: Portland, Maine is almost the exact equivalent, politically, of Portland Oregon (i.e., extremely liberal, extremely anti-Bush, extremely anti-war). For example, the 2004 election results in both towns are almost identical, and Portland, Oregon is even slightly more pro-Bush than Portland, Maine: 71.92 Kerry to 27.28 Bush in the Portland, Oregon vote; 72.16 Kerry to 25.61 Bush in the Portland, Maine vote. (see here and here.)
I believe that what you are seeing in the photos of the Portland, Maine parade is an actual demonstration of the fact that, despite the extreme liberalness of the town, people really do "support the troops," and are overjoyed at their safe return. I bet it would be the same in Portland, Oregon--at least I like to think so.
Posted by: neo-neocon at April 9, 2005 9:42 PMYou've gotta love it when facts get in the way of a good strawman argument.
Posted by: Spiffy Slybek at April 10, 2005 2:48 AMSpiffy--Strawman argument? No. Merely an understandable assumption that Portland, Maine isn't a liberal stronghold like Portland, Oregon. The political orientation of Portland, Oregon is fairly well-known, especially to those out west; the situation in Portland, Maine is mostly a local New England phenomenon. On looking at the photo, anyone not familiar with Portland, Maine would certainly be well within his/her rights to assume a difference between the two that doesn't really exist.
Posted by: neo-neocon at April 10, 2005 9:28 AMYes, I believe it would be exactly the same in Portland, Oregon.
It seems very unlikely to me, for whatever the opinion of someone who lives here is worth.
It is possible to get up a demonstration in support of the troops here, but there would be a much larger counterdemonstration. I don't think it would be possible to have such a parade in Portland itself without its being seriously disrupted by counterdemonstrators.
Posted by: jaed at April 10, 2005 11:30 PMI'm a few days late here but some friends and their children attended the parade and said that it was as terrific as the photo accompanying this post would lead you to believe. Also, the crowd was estimated at upwards of 60-70,000. Like so many other places that are largely liberal there is still a sizable amount of support for our military here and the overall 2004 elections results for Maine gave GWB 45% of the vote. That the New England Patriots were also in attendance certainly didn't hurt either.
The local newspaper also has a special section online for coverage of the parade and a blog that was updated throughout the parade, all of which they've left up highlighted from their main page (pressherald.com).
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