Wyden: Peaceful protest yes. Violence no.

Senator Ron Wyden came to Medford to stand in front of the Post Office, and defend it.

He set an example. He wore a blue mask--and a red Trail Blazers cap. 

If this were one of his 970 in-person Town Meetings he would repeat the story of disappointment that he never played in the NBA.  Regular attendees know his quip: "I couldn't shoot baskets, but made up for it by being really slow."

Wyden in Medford

He came to town to communicate his--and Democrats'--interest in protecting the Postal Service, and to meet with local media. 

Upon arrival in Medford he told a small group of local residents  he was surprised that President Trump seemed to have made little effort to disguise his intent to hobble the Postal Service to meet his political goals of suppressing the mail-in vote in states where that would, Trump thinks, disadvantage him. There have been personnel cuts and changes in work rules that have created noticeable delays in service levels and warnings from the Postal Service that although they regularly handle Christmas mail, they couldn't handle the election mail. “I’m sure the post office doesn’t have enough time," Trump said. "Millions of ballots, all of a sudden, coming out of nowhere.” Trump said the Post Office needs the money, but "that doesn't mean we're going to agree to it" and so far he hasn't.

On local television Wyden said that pressure from him, other Senators and the general public created a "tidal wave" of opposition, and that the pressure had succeeded. Wyden reported the Postmaster General had just backtracked, saying they were reversing plans to cut service prior to the election. Universal mail voting has been long established in Oregon and it has had bipartisan support and bipartisan results, Wyden told television station KOBI in an interview.

Wyden arrived in Medford just as video went public. It showed a Portland man being badly beaten, apparently at random, by rioters in Portland. The scene played repeatedly on Fox News on Monday evening. Wyden told the small group that the violence was a moral and political disaster. He said that the District Attorney for Multnomah County--the county containing Portland, Oregon--was getting it right, announcing prosecutions for acts of violence. Violence should not have been tolerated at first and it shouldn't have been allowed to persist.

"Acts of violence need to be stopped and the criminals should be prosecuted, period, full stop."  He said he was hopeful that federal paramilitary forces leaving Portland would change the atmosphere and that the city would return to peace. 

Meeting, but keeping distance

Wyden repeated the "period, full stop" phrase when he spoke to local media.

     "Peaceful protest is not only acceptable, it's what the First Amendment is all about. But if somebody is violent, if they are anarchists, we have to have a clear message that violence, in any way, shape, or form is unacceptable, period, full stop."

Speaking informally with residents he said that he thought Kamala Harris was a good choice for Vice President and that it gave her a leg up over other Democrats on policy leadership and as a presidential candidate in a post-Biden era. 

He said he suspected Pete Buttigieg would get a Cabinet position and that this would give him national exposure and experience. "But he probably needs to win a big election."  

Wyden said there were a number of younger generation Democratic colleagues with presidential potential.  He mentioned a Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, who got visibility as a potential VP pick.  He suggested people begin watching Chris Murphy of Connecticut, age 47, who currently has little national visibility.

Chris Murphy

He said Trump missed an extraordinary opportunity to get something big done right out of the blocks in 2017. He said he and Orrin Hatch met with Trump in February, 2017, and told him there would be overwhelming bipartisan support for a big infrastructure bill. It would have made a real mark, Wyden said, but Trump's people did not pursue it. They were focused on one big thing, a tax cut bill. The bill became a political liability in the 2018 election when its effect of increasing the deficit and targeting tax cuts on the very wealthiest became evident.

Wyden's original political home was the Portland area, but he has created a statewide network and presence, in part due to the rigorous demands of his every-county-every-year pledge. For the first time, due to the Covid virus, he has attempted video Town Halls to respect the need to avoid assemblies of people--his typical format. He won his last election handily, including winning a majority of votes in Oregon's most rural and agricultural Congressional District, District Two, which the Cook Report lists as safely red.