I've received a number of messages not unlike this one from a reader who signs himself "Jim"…
I imagine the goal is to provide an alternative voice to the around-the-clock Republican love-fest that will otherwise dominate mainstream coverage during this convention. If the protests remain peaceful, and if the networks cover them, it will remind undecided voters that everything is not quite as wonderful as Bush and his newscasting toadies would have you believe.
Sure, there could be violence and that wouldn't be good, but the alternative is to do nothing until November 2nd, while Bush's minions produce more "Swift Boat" lies for you to present both sides of.
Bush's boys are using every dirty trick in the book, and they've been hugely successful with them in the past. The protesters are just trying to do something about it…anything.
If you have an effective alternative to peacefully protesting, let's hear it. We're all ears.
Well, as I've said here previously, I think the "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth" are a bunch of Republican stooges who are out to smear John Kerry with claims that are, at best, questionable. And the more I read their assertions since then, including the chapters of the O'Neill book excerpted on the Washington Times site, the more I think they're full of Bandini. The testimony that supports Kerry's version is of eyewitnesses who were definitely present for the events they describe. They have never wavered in their stories and their accounts match all of the available documentation. The testimony that questions Kerry's version is of guys who may not have been there, or been as close as they now claim, and whose accounts are contradicted by the documents and in many instances, even by their own past statements.
The one area where I'm not convinced they're wrong is on this statement by Kerry about spending Christmas Eve in Cambodia…but even if the Democratic nominee has exaggerated there, I think it's a trivial matter. If someone wants to convince me that Kerry is lying and that it's an example of a deep character flaw, they're going to have to also explain George W. Bush's statement that on 9/11, he saw the first plane hit the World Trade Center on live TV or the line about the majority of his tax cuts going to the "bottom end of the spectrum."
Jim may be right that the protests are reminding undecided voters — assuming there are any — that Bush's rosy portraits of the war and the economy are a bit far from reality. On the other hand, I worry about the idea that the protesters are "trying to do something about it…anything." That's the Bush plan to combat terrorism, isn't it? Let's just do something…it doesn't even have to be the right action just as long as it's decisive.