I'm breaking my rule on youTube (because I can ) because the post discusses the video and there's no point in saying Franken calmed the crowd and not letting you judge the video yourselves.

Blogger Dusty Trice posted yesterday about Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) talking healthcare reform opponents away from the deep end ledge at the Minnesota State Fair:

Here's what Trice wrote about the experience:

"About a dozen tea party activists had staked out Sen. Al Franken’s booth at the Minnesota State Fair and confronted him loudly when he arrived. But within minutes, he’d turned an unruly crowd into a productive conversation on health care. The discussion went from insurance reform, to the public option, to veterans benefits, to cap and trade. He made a few laugh and even told a touching story that moved a few to tears. A whole lot of common ground was found."

Allow me to disclose at this point that I was born and raised in Minnesota. You may have already assumed as much by my lead paragraph; after all who would keep such antiquated trivia about the state fair in their back pocket but a Minnesotan?

"The Great Minnesota Get-Together" is characterized in my mind by two things: food on a stick and direct access to everyone from the biggest sows around to your representatives in St. Paul and Washington. So I'm not surprised to see Franken smushed on all sides by his constituents. And honestly, I'm not that surprised to see him react calmly to the conservatives challenging his thoughts on healthcare.

This is not the place to look for an angry mob. Minnesotans aren't generally inclined to yell unless they're in a hockey arena, I'm afraid.

While I'm not surprised by the exchange, I am heartened by it. Sitting here in Chicago, sweating through August stories about town hall gun-toters, fistfights and disabled people being laughed at and shouted down for sharing their healthcare troubles with their elected representatives has really gotten me down lately.

But it's not just Minnesotan reticence that accounts for this calm exchange; it's Franken himself. After all, Trice reports that one conservative politician said the Minnesota Republican Party is not even allowing its elected representatives to talk at the state fair GOP booth. Perhaps they prefer to stick to cheap publicity stunts and town halls where a reasonable discussion of the facts of reform is virtually impossible?

Anyone who wants to have a reasonable discussion would likely prefer the truer democracy of the state fair to a town hall, regardless of party affiliation. However satisfying it was to hear Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) tell a crazy town haller that he'd rather have a conversation with a dining room table then endure her mindless shouting about how Obama is a Nazi, it's probably not the best approach.

On the other hand, softening both your tone and volume causes the listening audience to lean in to hear you. And the closer their heads are to you, the more likely it is they'll see your point of view.

To be sure, Franken spoke softly and respectfully. For that alone, Minnesotans should be proud. But what about the big stick?

Not only did he make it clear that he votes his own conscience and would not be swayed by poll numbers and unreasonable arguments against any and all reform, Franken also made it clear he would not bend to the will of the president either. In the case of Big Pharma, Franken registered his displeasure with the White House, saying he's "exactly on the same page" as one woman who said she was worried that the administration appears to be "getting into trouble because it looks like the pharmaceuticals are getting into bed with them."

"I want Medicare to be able to negotiate with the pharmaceuticals and Medicare Part D, just like the [Veterans Administration] does. And the VA pays less for pharmaceuticals than we get with Medicare Part D. I think that would be -- we'd save an actual lot of money that way. And sort of the pharmaceutical companies have said, 'We'll put in $80 billion toward closing the donut hole,' and that's some of the way the Obama Administration has been talking about paying for it," Franken said. "I would rather that Medicare be able to negotiate with the pharmaceuticals."

While the conversation only briefly touches on the public option issue, Franken is one of the few senators who have come out recently and forcefully in favor of it. An interview published at MinnPost earlier this week describes Franken's support for the public option as adamant. Though the junior senator admitted that the likelihood of the measure's inclusion in the final bill is "touch-and-go," he's not putting down his stick, so to speak:

"I am going to fight for it. I am going to speak out on its behalf, lobby my other colleagues, and use all the tools I have learned in my first five weeks being in the Senate," he said. Franken will get his chance to lobby next week. But will the president have his back?

With the end of the August recess, Obama is scheduled to address Franken and his fellow congressional colleagues next Wednesday, and speculation abounds over what the president will say on healthcare reform. I've already put in my two cents about what I think Obama should say to his critics. Many progressives have suggested Obama come out forcefully, abandoning any pretense of speaking softly.

Now, I can't imagine the president yelling. But however weak the media and conservatives wish to paint Obama, he still has a few sticks up his sleeve. Therefore, there may yet be some century-old state fair sagacity the president could draw upon in his speech.

Instead of relying on the same wisdom which he has in the past, such as in 2008 when he quoted President John F. Kennedy's call "to reach out across the aisle and talk to people you don't agree with," perhaps Obama's speech to Congress next week could include an homage to Roosevelt and an offer of healthcare reform on a (big) stick.

As we Minnesotans know, everything tastes better on a stick.