Occupy DC Gets Boost From Freedom Plaza Event

I'm actually sympathetic to the idea of these protests. The economy sucks and something needs to be done about it. A focus should be on growth and getting businesses to hire again, no matter where that leads ideologically. But these protests just seem to be about stale lefty politics and predictable talk of media conspiracies, absurd as this seems in our Internet age.

You know that takes me back to my history lessons and Germany in the 1930's and the beginnings of WWII.   Moderate politicians were increasingly marginalized by right wing extremists and the downtrodden segments of Germany (veterans, farmers, the working class) were wooed. Sound familiar. They elected someone based on promises of lifting them out of the Depression who had a completely abhorrent ideology but he was going to save them from economic ruin. Let's watch ideology in the solution to our woes. The two are not mutually exclusive and we do need to be careful where ideology will take us as a country.

Hitler! It's always entertaining to see how a simple departure from liberal orthodoxy somehow immediately leads to advocacy for der Fuhrer.

Ideology is important and your dismissal of it shows a lack of understanding of world history.

It is not a departure from liberal orthodoxy that I am worried about. It is the lack of collaboration and respect for differing opinions and a development of a common ground among our elected officials. Most Americans all want the same things: jobs, homes, schools, food, healthcare, elder care, care for the less fortunate, domestic and international safety.  We taxpayers disagree on how to pay for it.  What has been missing from politics in this country for the past 17 years has been a centrist approach with real compromise.  For the last 17 years regardless of which party has the majority a my way or the highway approach has really hurt us domestically and internationally.  I am not a conspiracy theorist and as a raging liberal respect the right of people to voice their opinions and protest even when I disagree.  However the Tea Party movement is a bunch of ideologues trying to push their minority opinions on the rest of the country through fear and emotional manipulation with a huge sprinkling of misinformation.   The parallels between the Tea Party and their fears of homosexuals, non-Christians, manipulation of undereducated poor and middle class white people and the rise of Hitler et al. in Germany are quite apparent.  All that the Tea Party is lacking is an Austrian-born leader.

OMG, fanatics like yourself are exactly why I'm not a liberal anymore. One little criticism of OccupyDC and suddenly you're Hitler. The condescending attitude of people like yourself have made independents out of millions of potential Democrats like me. So glad I'm an independent and can look at the issues objectively without knee-jerk appeals to discredited conspiracy theories and wild and misplaced Nazi aspersions. I'll see you at the next election. 

Kids, kids!  As far as I'm concerned, you're both like Hitler.

If looking back at history and learning lessons from it makes me a fanatic then throw your labels around. I never called you or critics of Occupy DC Hitler .  I pointed out that the willingness to overlook ideology is a dangerous approach to the situation which is well demonstrated by the example of the rise of Nazism in 1930's Germany.

I am not supportive of the Occupy movements.  They are a waste of time and energy.  If you want to play hardball lobby like the Koch Bros and George Soros.  Plenty of left wing groups lobby as much as right wing groups and do so effectively. 

You know who else undertook a simple departure from liberal orthodoxy?

That's right, Adolphe Menjou.

I'm inclined to let the Occupy DC people slide with minimal snark.

First, they're not actually making anything worse, which these days puts them well ahead of the game.

Second, the whole Occupy movement has the potential to be a valuable corrective to a media echo chamber in which the spectrum of American political thought runs from the Tea Party to Barack Obama, with nobody but Paul Krugman and a couple of his fellow trustafarian stoners to Obama's left. Who knows? If these demonstrations continue, maybe at some point our chattering classes will see a president with an approval rating in the 40s battling a legislature with an approval rating in the teens, and wonder if, as crazy at it sounds, there is some heretofore unknown segment of the electorate who aren't patchouli-scented hippies, yet somehow believe that the elite opinion skews too conservative.

That said, I have to observe that so far Occupy DC has been an underperforming franchise in the Occupyist empire. It's sort of an odd inverse of how DCist is the crown jewel in what is inaccurately known as the Gothamist media empire. I suggest they need more FEET, MOLLY!!!, and, of course, the CHUDs.

Not me. I can't let a disorganized rabble slide without a few pokes. ESPECIALLY when one or two of them show up on DCist with a set of talking points and no knowledge of how to engage the commentariat. Those guys will get a take down...

I said "minimal snark", not "snark-free".

Letting 'em off easy isn't the same thing as letting 'em off without a hazing.

You have a different definition of the term hazing than me.

Love,
The Frat Guy

Some American Apparel girls wouldn't hurt either. But no Swim Guy. Please.

Burn your Bra, Panty and Over-the-knee sock™

I refuse to burn my biker shorts! 

This is all a union ploy from the get-go.  Obama is getting his arse handed to him in the polls so cue up some theatre.

If by "arse handed to him" you mean "still ahead of all competitors despite months of negative press," then yes.

If polling 47% to 41% behind a generic Republican is the new winning... then yes he's ahead.

I'd vote for Generic Republican! When is (s)he going to enter the race?

Generic Republican has ruled out a run. He wants to spend more time with his family and male hustlers he picks up on Craigslist.

Use a real pollster, not Rasmussen. Or at least take the average of all major pollsters and don't cherrypick your favorite.

Averaging the latest polls, against a generic Republican Barack Obama trails by 1, or leads by 1 if Rasmussen is excluded.

Also, Generic Republican isn't running. In his absence, the GOP has a field of fools, lunatics, panderers, cranks, and Jon Huntsman. And Obama whomps the bejesus out of any of his opponents save Mitt Romney, who he trails by 1, or ties with if Rasmussen is excluded. Given how bad the conditions are for an incumbent president and how poorly Romney has handled politically necessary flip-flops in the past, that's not a great sign for the GOP going forward.

Whether Obama deserves to be re-elected is a different story. But his chances are surprisingly good.

Are you suggesting that the Occupy Wall Street protest is a union ploy? 

Who else's ploy would it be?

It's a much-needed boost in support for Occupy DC protesters, which, according to some reports, was down to five people yesterday morning.

Of course, one of them was a squirrel.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_wTxm...

And another one was Vanilla Pudding

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

Doesn't the first cold snap usually wipe out the hobos? There's always Plan B: releasing a special breed of gorilla that only feeds on hobos.

Entering 11th year < 11th anniversary.

Nothing smells like the death knell to a grassroots protest movement like the involvement of a labor union. I hope the protesters enjoyed their fleeting moment of staying outside "mainstream political discourse."

Cluess protesters are SO much better in NYC!