Posted on 01/25/2003 10:52:48 AM PST by forest
If nothing else, we have to give them credit for making noise and getting noticed. Sure, for those of us who follow politics, it was more comedy than seriousness. But, that's not the point. Unlike conservatives, the far left made big news and had a little fun.
Watching the anti-American & anti-war protests of last weekend was very instructive when you know the players. About 5% were mainline socialist/communist organizers. Nearly 20% had no reason for being there other than to try to get lucky. Another 20% were has-been hippies who just do not fit in anywhere anymore. At least another 20% had issues other than protesting a war that may or may not happen. And it looked like the rest were just there because someone made them think it might be a good idea. It was something to do, in other words. A party.
Washington Times Editor in Chief Wesley Pruden pegged the leaders accurately in his column last Tuesday: "The organizers pretended, like many of the young people, to be something called 'peace activists'. But anyone who remembers the demos of the '60s, when the crowds actually did number in the hundreds of thousands, recognized the organizers for who they really are, a collection of Karl Marxists (now mostly stumbling into their eighth and ninth decades), Groucho Marxists (who nurture the conceit that most Americans are like themselves and thus see America as worthy only of contempt), and assorted panhandlers, grifters and beggars with a gift for haranguing the gullible."
Fact is, this time the socialist/communist organizers admitted their complicity on web sites. They coordinated some of the actions through the Progressive Challenge (1), which is a kissing cousin of Social Democrats, USA (2) and Socialist International. This time around, Progressive Challenge tried to hide their actions from an inquiring public by not linking to it on their main page. But, the information is there, on their web site. (3)
Yet another kissing cousin of the socialist Progressive Challenge is the Congressional Progressive Caucus. (4) Card carrying members of the socialist Congressional Progressive Caucus, Cynthia McKinney, Reps. Charley Rangel (D-NY) and John Conyers (D-MI) were there, as were the Revs. Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson.
David Horowitz identified some of the organizers in Front Page (5): "America's enemies within turned out in force on Saturday in Washington, D.C., and San Francisco under the auspices of the Communist Workers World Party operating under its front organization, A.N.S.W.E.R. (6) Once again the demonstrators pretended to be peace activists, who found violence abhorrent and a willing media played along with the charade. Neither the New York Times nor the Los Angeles Times, nor any media I saw, identified the organizers as Communists who have a long record of support for world terror and its leaders, including the Ayatollah Khomeini, Kim Jong Il, Slobodan Milosevic and Saddam Hussein.
"As reported by the unfiltered cameras of C-SPAN, the pretense, in fact, was pretty thin. One of the featured speakers was a spokesman for the narco-terrorists in Colombia."
Brent Baker described some of the sympathetic liberal media coverage for Media Research (7):
"Though Saturday's anti-war with Iraq 'peace' march in Washington, D.C., was organized by a far-left group, had a bunch of zany leftist outfits as sponsors, featured some far-out rhetoric from the stage which belied the notion that the organizers simply want a peaceful solution, and ended with a march to the Washington Navy Yard to demand access to U.S. 'weapons of mass destruction,' as if the U.S. and Iraqi possession of them is equivalent, major media outlets, both print and broadcast, ignored such realities which might have reduced empathy for the cause.
"Instead, the networks painted participants as sympathetically as possible, trying to make them identifiable to viewers as people next door, stressing how they were made up of 'grandparents,' 'honor students,' 'teachers,' 'businessmen,' 'military veterans,' 'soccer moms' and 'Republicans.' Plus, CNN really turned on the syrup by focusing on an elderly [Holocaust] survivor who caught 'a ride with a busload of young people, all to stop another war, to stop more suffering,'"
So there you have it, from somewhat different viewpoints. The far left socialists and communists held a protest and a few useful idiots showed up to party -- for whatever reasons. And, as happened way back in another era, the liberals in the American media helped them out by not even mentioning the trash responsible for coordinating the protests.
1. <http://www.ips-dc.org/netprogress/>
2.<http://www.socialdemocrats.org/>
3. <http://www.ips-dc.org/citiesforpeace/>
4. <http://bernie.house.gov/pc/>
5. <http://www.FrontPageMagazine.com>
7.<http://www.mediaresearch.org>
Fact is, this time the socialist/communist organizers admitted their complicity on web sites: PC, SD, SI, CPC = McKinney,Rangel and Conyers. Toss in Sharpton and Jackson. Add Communist Workers World Party (CWWP) and its ANSWER.
Media did not report Communists who supported world terror and its leaders like Ayatollah Khomeini, Kim Jong Il, Slobodan Milosevic and Saddam Hussein. One of the featured speakers was a spokesman for the narco-terrorists in Colombia.
The liberals in the American media helped them out by not even mentioning the trash responsible for coordinating the protests.
;^)
5.56mm
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