--I was actually in line to be on that as a caller, but I got cut off! All for the best, the callers did a great job breaking through Neal Conan's frame of 'crazy protestors,can they do any good?'. The exchange between Gitlin and The Rutgers law student I thought was plainly designed to reinforce that frame, better a very minor player in the protests than someone like Leslie Cagan to discuss the issues involved in the protests. Gitlin however, unusually, also punched holes into Neal's frame when he early on introduced the fact of agent provocateurs at protests who are responsible for much of the violence the media then dutifully report.
The two callers, one a participant in protests from the 60's civil rights movement to the anti-Apartheid protests in the 80's was very eloquent and picked apart the stereotype of the whacky protestor. Another woman who called in noted that the media choose only the most bizarre people to focus on and ignore the majority who are 9-5ers, elderly, mom and dads pushing strollers...and called on the media to interview them...
In all, because for some strange reason Gitlin didn't choose to provide his usual rant against protestors, Conan's frame of 'wierdo protestors, can they do any good?' kinda came apart.
On the Dem. Now program, I thought Naomi Klein did a fine job of defending the protest plans against Gitlin. Steve