Depopulated Protest Marches: Making a Vietnam-Era Mountain Out of a Puny Iraq Molehill
David Johnston reportedfrom Saturday'santi-climactic anti-war march in D.C. in which protestors under the umbrella of the radical leftist group ANSWER apparently baited the police into arresting them by climbing over a wall near the Capitol.
"A rally on Saturday to protest the war in Iraq, which began with a peaceful march of several thousand people to the Capitol, ended with dozens of arrests in a raucous demonstration that evoked the angry spirit of the Vietnam era protests of more than three decades ago."
The text box read hopefully: "Shades of the Vietnam era, with the focus on Iraq."
The Times might be excited about the apparent parallel, but there's one important difference: During the Vietnam era, people actually showed up for these things, for better or worse. Johnston failed to make an estimate of the size of the rally, but the front-page teaser claimed "several thousand people" were there - hardly a Vietnam War-worthy effort.
Blogger Roger Simon wasn't impressed :
"What's interesting is why this low turnout when, according to many polls, the public is supposedly massively against the war. If they are so antiwar, they certainly are pretty apathetic about it. This is another example of why Iraq is not Vietnam when filling the streets with demonstrators was a simple matter."
