![](\"http:\/\/cyber.law.harvard.edu\/blogs\/static\/dowbrigade\/colprot.jpg\")
Occasionally,
\n we get a sense of disconnect between what is happening on the ground
\n and the world as seen through
\n Fox and CNN. Such was the case with the peaceful, "massive" protest
\n march in NYC yesterday at the kickoff for the Republican National convention. <\/p>\n
Today there was scant mention of the march, other than The New York police estimated the crowd at 120,000. The Should this not be historic? These are Woodstock numbers. But occasionally, in key moments of tectonic shift in the Luckily for the class of professional politicians, the However, it is premature to declare the return of the spirit The movement in the 60’s was much more than a protest of Will it happen? Like a terrorist attack, it is a given Meanwhile, according to recent polls President Bush is Poor John Kerry, after keeping it together and putting In early July, just before the Democratic Convention, the Now, with some recent polls putting Bush’s overall The convention seems designed to sway that mythical 10$ For that reason the line-up of prime time speakers at the None of these featured speakers is in accord with the core Meanwhile, the Flying Bush family Traveling Show is seemingly With a lineup like that, and a deep bench including Colin With Maybe they could get Ralph Nader to disappear. They will Let’s hope John Kerry and the boys have a trick or two <\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Occasionally, we get a sense of disconnect between what is happening on the ground and the world as seen through Fox and CNN. Such was the case with the peaceful, "massive" protest march in NYC yesterday at the kickoff for … Continue reading
\n to note that it was peaceful and that it was anti-GOP. Estimates of it’s
\n size vary. Many
\n reports<\/a> speak only in general terms, like "large crowd"
\n and "stretching miles", while a number of others<\/a> refer
\n to a crowd in the "tens of thousands," which to our ear anyway means
\n less than 100,000.<\/p>\n
\n Boston Globe reported 400,000. Organizers peg the total participation
\n at half a million. If any of the latter estimates are correct,
\n it would make this the largest anti-war demonstration in US history. The
\n largest single demonstration against the war in Vietnam was 250,000,
\n in a November
\n 15, 1969 march in Washington, D.C<\/a>.<\/p>\n
\n Something’s happening here; what it is aint exactly clear. There is a
\n movement afoot in the land, and it is not anything the Democrats have
\n come up
\n with to
\n gain
\n an edge
\n in
\n the
\n election. <\/p>\n![](\"http:\/\/cyber.law.harvard.edu\/blogs\/static\/dowbrigade\/bugprotest.jpg\")
The methodology of
\n modern democracy seems to be to lull about half of the potential voters
\n (most young or poor or both) into a distracted complacency in which they
\n feel no need or obligation to vote. Then the two Ruling Parties
\n each take 40% of the remaining half, composed mostly of deluded fools
\n following
\n the
\n herd
\n instinct, and
\n play political games for the precious 20% of the voters, 10% of emancipated
\n adults, who actually think about it, listen to the candidates, and make
\n a decision based on what they hear and see.<\/p>\n
\n social firmament, the great mass of sleeping non-voters stirs. Something
\n penetrates their stupor or cynicism, and they feel the need to change
\n the course of the ship of state and the state of society. The last time
\n this happened was 35 years ago, during the Vietnam War and America’s
\n Cultural Revolution. It is not coincidental that this period has become
\n the focus of the current election.<\/p>\n
\n massive monster that is The People eventually go back to sleep, the most
\n vital and charismatic among them institutionalized or co-opted into the
\n ruling
\n class. And so
\n we have
\n slept
\n these past 35 years. But we are starting to feel the stirring of the
\n beast in stories like those on yesterday’s march. <\/p>\n
\n of the 60’s. For such a movement to have a real and lasting effect on
\n the American experience
\n it must
\n become national, and self-sustaining, and much broader than a single-issue
\n crusade.<\/p>\n
\n the war in Vietnam. It was about rock and roll, and recreational drugs,
\n and
\n the Pill, and the application of the Bill of Rights to a wider range
\n of Americans. It
\n was a period that also saw the birth of Globalization and the emergence
\n of the three axes of the 21st century; America, a unified Europe and
\n a China-led Asia.<\/p>\n![](\"http:\/\/cyber.law.harvard.edu\/blogs\/static\/dowbrigade\/codepink.jpg\")
To reawaken the subterranean fires of cultural renovation
\n in America the War
\n in
\n Iraq
\n must be combined with a gamut of other issues; America’s role in the
\n world, gay rights (the final frontier of Bill of Rights extension?),
\n America’s promises to the Baby Boomers as we approach our just and
\n unjust rewards, and most of all, in the admittedly distorted mind of
\n the Dowbrigade,
\n the development and democratization of the Internet and Cyberspace,<\/p>\n
\n that the sleeping half of the electorate will be roused at some point
\n in the future. This is the saving grace of our system. When,
\n however, is anyone’s guess.<\/p>\n
\n sitting pretty. The guy is a magician. Suddenly, without really doing
\n anything, he is standing tall and looking trustworthy and decisive. When
\n media magic works right its almost impossible to detect.<\/p>\n
\n on a pretty good show in his hometown last month, got NO BUMP in the
\n polls after the convention, not even the customary and almost automatic
\n 3-5 points from increased media exposure. Somehow, that tricky rascal
\n George Bush has managed to get a 10 POINT BUMP BEFORE the convention!
\n What a brilliant reversal!<\/p>\n
\n President’s approval rating was in the mid 40’s, and the Democrats were
\n trumpeting the statistic that no sitting president up for reelection
\n had ever won with mid-summer numbers that low.<\/p>\n
\n approval rating in the low 60’s, the Republicans are running around saying
\n that no sitting President running for reelection has ever LOST with ratings
\n that high going into the convention.<\/p>\n
\n of the population who will actually vote but haven’t made up their minds
\n yet for whom. As Republican demographers have clearly figured out most
\n of these voters are independent-minded social liberals who like the idea
\n of a strong decisive leader. They are looking for undecided independents
\n and "soft" Democrats.<\/p>\n
\n convention reads like "Rebels Without a Cause." Cult figure John McCain,
\n the man who turned down the Vice Presidency of the OTHER party to join
\n the Bush bandwagon, kicks things off tonight. Hew will be followed by
\n American Hero Rudolf Guiliani and tomorrow night the Terminator, Arnold
\n Schwarzenegger, a man with Presidential aspirations himself.<\/p>\n
\n principles of the Republican Party on issues like Gay Rights, Stem Cell
\n research, or abortion. Never mind, they are stars and have proven public
\n appeal. The real heavies, the guys who are going to be laying down
\n the law for the next four years if Bush wins, are nowhere to be seen,
\n or shunted into dead air slots, like Dennis Hastert and Bill Frist, who
\n spoke early this afternoon as a sort of Conservative Sound Test.<\/p>\n
\n everywhere. Presidential brother and heir apparent Jeb is hosting all
\n sorts of power meetups around town. Darling daughters and residential
\n Bad Girls Barbara and Jenna are wooing the X-generation. Latin heartthrob
\n George Prescott Bush is trying to overcome his own bad boy past and play
\n a role wooing the hispanic vote. All will be appearing at the convention,
\n along with ex-President George Bush and the wonderful Babs, everybody’s
\n favorite ex-first lady.<\/p>\n
\n Powell, Conde Rice, Dick Cheney and Tom Ridge, the Republicans are set
\n to put on a stellar show. Democratic power circles are beginning
\n to take on an edge of desperate dementia. After losing the White
\n House four short years ago on a brilliantly played winner-take-all endgame,
\n the Shock Troops are determined not to get out-Foxed again.<\/p>\n
\n a bare-knuckle Yalie at the helm and extensive access to world-class
\n political
\n tricksters,
\n expect some nasty surprises from the Democratic camp after the dust settles
\n from the Republican convention. Who knows what they could come up with,
\n but some of that old black magic will definitely be needed to pull this
\n one out. <\/p>\n
\n clearly try to pressure the Repubs into a series of televised debates
\n (Kerry was a champion debater at Yale, Bush debated changing
\n his major to sports marketing). They will constantly be on the lookout
\n for Bushisms and verbal faux pas. And expect a little digging into Bush’s
\n "irresponsible youth". What a remarkable contrast it
\n will provide if they can show that the very same day Kerry was turning
\n his Swift Boat directly into enemy fire somewhere near the Cambodian
\n border, Bush was in the midst of a 5-day booze and dope binge to celebrate
\n the
\n quality of that year’s Beaujolais.<\/p>\n
\n up their sleeves. So what are their options? Unless his team can come
\n up with some surprising and effective underhanded tactics, be will we
\n swept
\n under
\n the rug with history’s other
\n losers, like Al Gore before him, and good riddance. Americans always
\n root for the underdog, but they hate a lkoser. It’s a put up or shut
\n up world, and the chips are on the table. Let’s hope
\n we
\n get
\n some
\n classic examples of creative chicanery on both sides before this show
\n is over.<\/p>\n