> Coverage also gave readers a sense that many demonstrations took place
> across the country on Jan. 18, "which helped show the scope of the day's
> events," Hart noted.
>
> Not everyone shared this view, however. In a Jan. 21 column, Wesley
> Pruden, editor in chief of The Washington Times, wrote, "Most of the
> coverage in the newspapers (which ought to know better) ... went along
> with the charade that this was a mighty outpouring of national
> sentiment." Because of the marchers, Pruden wrote, Saddam Hussein (news
> - web sites) can now "dream dreamy dreams," of solidarity with some
> Americans.
>
> The New York Sun echoed this theme with a front-page head: "U.S.
> Anti-war Protests Are Hailed by Saddam."
>
> The New York Daily News' Zev Chafets described the Washington marchers
> as "a thin crowd of cold white people cheering on ... America-hating
> radicals, second-rate demagogues, and plain weirdos."
Leave it to a newspaper critical of the peace movement to at least get the demographics correct. The march here in DC was very white, yet more diverse in terms of age. It wasn't as diverse as last April's protests, which had turned out lots of Arab-Americans. That protest was the byproduct of several coalitions organizing, whereas the DC protest last weekend was an example of ANSWER going it alone.
The veil has been lifted from ANSWER's purported prowess at grassroots organizing. ANSWER can get the leaders of groups to sign onto their protest and they can organize the Kin Jong Il Bus Service, but their so-called grassroots effort is just a sham.
Chuck0
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"The state can't give you free speech, and the state can't take it away. You're born with it, like your eyes, like your ears. Freedom is something you assume, then you wait for someone to try to take it away. The degree to which you resist is the degree to which you are free..." ---Utah Phillips