Dispatches From DC?

Dispatches From DC
Hi NeoGuin and welcome

We arn't hearing all news reports regarding those not wanting a war with Iraq.

Will disscention make a difference with the administration. Probably not.

so called anti-war march is a minute minority of america
NeoGuin,

actually most reports are saying about 30,000 in DC - but be that as it may, the main points are that the so called anti-war marchers, are a minute minority of America. True peace cannot come while terrorists blow up buildings where innocent civilians work, or blow up restaurants and other places people congregate. Those who support terrorism, both here and in other countries, are the ones who are opposed to peace.

I am interested why you were looking forward to hearing Cynthia McKinney speaking. Do you support her anti-semitic speeches in the past? As for Al Sharpton - do you know of his past, such as the fiction of Tawana Brawley and the Freddy's fire causing a death?

It isnt Bush who wants war, Saddam can stop the war at any time, but Saddam is a guy who has broken every treaty and UN resolution since the Gulf War. Let's put the blame where it belongs!!

My husband and I marched in the October 26th Anti-war march which was touted to be 100,000-150,000 or more...this one was even bigger. WE were there marching and can attest to the numbers. 30,000 is not the number, sorry. Despite the cold, elderly, middle-aged, people with small children in strollers and on their backs, handicapped in wheelchairs were there. It was phenomenal! ANSWER says 500,000, but that has to be an over-estimate. Chief Ramsey of the DC police has been quoted in the Sunday Washington Post...that the numbers far exceeded that of the October march. My estimate is 200.000-250,000...there were marchers as far as the eye could see and not all that were at the rally marched.

This was middle America speaking and they were saying something loud and clear. Bush will have his war, but the numbers will only increase. The number of counter demonstraters was pitiful. I was so proud of the number of VFW there from WWII through Gulf War I. This is just the beginning.

Jimnass wrote

Actually I realize that one can oppose ZIONISM but not be Anti-Semitic.

As for Sharpton, I simply though he gave a good speech.

I saw on TV
I saw on TV and the CNN, and thus anti-war, reporter said well, there aren't many people here (there were about 20 people behind her on the TV screen, lol) and she said, well they all left to march to the Navy Yard, about 30,000. The NY times says tens of thousands, not hundreds of thousands.

YOu can belive what you want, but middle america is supporting the troops and the president as we seek to combat evil, terrorists and those that support terrorism. The simple fact is Ramsey Clark and his group has communist connections. Even some of those who are opposed to President Bush, wont get involved with that group. Of course the usual suspects like jesse jackson, al sharpton, cynthia mckinney don't mind that connection.

Neo:

It could have been 350,000 there. Most people there didn't go for the speeches. It didn't matter to me who spoke and who didn't. It was the same in October. The people that attended were there to protest pre-emptive war against Iraq, they did not necessarily agree with what any individual speaker had to say. I am sore and tired two days later, but it was worth every step. The euphoria is still with us! The administration can call us "fringe people", but we know the truth. More and more Americans are against this administrations policies and they are shouting it loud and clear.

please explain
NeoGuin,

please explain the difference, as you see it, between being against zionism and anti-semitism. also, cynthia mckinney, in comments i have heard from her, is blatantly anti-semitic. that is why she lost her election to a more mainstream democrat in a primary.

And there were marches all over the world. So many in America. The paper initially put the figure at about 30,000, but that was early edition. Later editions estimated the crowds in Washington at closer to the 250,000 - 300,000 figure. Pretty remarkable, when you consider the weather and all.

This won't make a dent in the administration's cause, because they want and need this war so badly. But if so much of middle America supports this, how come it's middle America (all over the country) who are marching against it? And the polls show the support only if the U.N. is joined, and we have other support.

And more significant is the march all over the world - peaceful, no demonstrations, but united?

I don't think speeches were the attraction or the draw. For months, the emphasis has been on the march, not who was speaking where.

As for Sharpton, well, Bush has a past, too, doesn't he? And his DUIs are certainly not anythig to be proud of, but his records were suppressed. I am not a Sharpton fan, bu he has grown up, which cannot be said of everybody.

Re: please explain


I'm not Neo but:

Zionism often has goals that are counter productive to the stability of the region. The dream of greater Isreal is one of the reasons violence continues. I recognize that many Zionists realize that greater Isreal would lose its identity if it were to incorporate the Palestinians and remain democratic and that kind of Zionism is benign.

The "God gave us this land so we are going to stall peace till we get greater Isreal" type of Zionism can be opposed without being an anti-semite.

Craven:

You're on the right track.

Jim:
Could it be that the quotes you hear are designed to give that impression, as McKinney was also one of the few Progressive Democrats left in Congress, and has now been replaced by a more docile Demo?

VNN:

I didn't have TIME to be tired--I had to go in and do an inventory at a TjMaxx the next day at 7AM.

Then inventory a Kohl's today at 7AM. I can finally get some SLEEP tonight and until Sunday when I have another inventory.

I have my pics edited--they'll soon be on "The Next War"

well it seems pretty obvious to me that anyone marching or protesting the upcoming war in Iraq is a Jew hating, Communist loving, Anti-American, Bush bashing, secular humanist, abortion loving, drugged out, athestic Intellectual who should be sent to Gitmo for "re-education".

OK, Dys! My mother called from Texas...apparently the news there is reporting 500,000. No matter the number, though, or the speakers. People are not supporting the war in the numbers that the Bushies would like and even if they go ahead, this will be trouble for them. The number of VFW there were significant. That should tell you something.

It would be far better and more effective if people such as Sharpton, Jackson, Ramsey Clark and McKinney would stay off the podium. They do nothing but detract from the message.

au,

clark and his ilk arent going to stay off the podium. it is clarks group that set up the rally - clark and his group are pro plo, pro terrorist here and in the rest of the world. clark has defended milosovic, those who tried to topple the wtc in 1993, arafat, etc. he is an admitted america hater and all those who join with him are either anti american also are useful fools (as clark would call you!)

neo, please answer
neo,

rather than answer about mckinney, you now call her a progressive, well, please define what that means to you. what does a progressive stand for, in your view?

au1929

I don't think it mattered to any of us who spoke. It was the right of the ANSWER group or any of the other organizers to choose the speakers. We were there to march for peace and without the nonpareil organizational skills of these folks there wouldn't have been a march at all. The intellectual left was too busy pontificating and arguing with each other to be effective, and btw, too busy criticizing what they call "fringe" people. With war on the immediate horizon, who in his right mind can afford to wait around while the political purists drown each other in verbiage?

Joan

Joan
But it would have been much better to have the message carried by people who were respected rather than those four lumps of coal. They denigrate the message.

No doubt. But perfection just isn't attainable, is it? I will be eternally grateful for the tolerance of all the marchers, who understood full well what a gigantic job putting this rally together was and their refusal to negate it by being nit-picky.

AU:

Joan's right. If we had waited for the "right" faces to lead us, we would never have gotten started. ANSWER had the organizational skills and the various groups realized that it was imperitive to act as fast as we could. The National Council of Churches, the various Veterans organizations, grass roots in communties, were what made this march and the October march a success. Most did not go to hear the speeches...we went to make a statement. That we did. If we had waited for the so-called "intellectual left" to move, we would be waiting still. David Corn of
The Nation and Robert Kuttner of the Boston Globe echoed your statements before the October march. They have since changed their tune.