Step right up. Please.

[Crossposted from Loaded Mouth.]

Juan Cole has a good article in Salon today discussing the recent antiwar protests in DC, whose attendance netted probabbly hundreds of thousands, and the Democrats purposeful ignorance of them in order to distance themselves from the movement. As Cole notes, only two Congressional representatives (Conyers and Cynthia McKinney) even attended the rallies. Why such a small turnout from the supposed opposition party? It could be because of the involvement of communist front organizations in helping to organize the rally, a talking point which Republicans love to hammer away at. But Cole sets the record straight how much of a role these organizations really play.

The permits for the protests and some sort of basic organization were provided by small far-left groups, but anyone who took the time to do an Internet search in student and local newspapers could find accounts of ordinary students, churchgoers and municipal peace groups chartering buses for the nation's capital. Surely no one thinks that International ANSWER or the Workers World Party of Ramsey Clark has more than a handful of members. They were good for setting a date and getting a permit. Popular discontent with the war supplied the demonstrators.

Cole is right. And, as far as I'm concerned, organizations like International ANSWER don't even need to be mentioned since their contribution of people to the efforts is next to nothing. But since IA serves as a front group for communists, that's all the GOP will talk about in their effort to make it seem like only communist front groups are in support or antiwar efforts. This is a smokescreen designed to mislead people and hijack the issue, and therefore we should pay no attention to it and/or set the record straight, much like Cole did in his article.

Unfortunately, some big time Democrats, like Kos, use Republican talking points to diss the protesters.

I've been critical of peace protests in the past, and I've definitely got nothing good to say about ANSWER. This time, however, I wasn't feeling animosity for last week's protests. I was feeling something akin to apathy

Granted, the larger point of Kos's attack on the idea of protesting wasn't centered around the involvement of communist front groups, but the fact that he brought IA into the picture even though it's a well known fact that the hundreds of thousands of people who protested were just regular, non-IA members, bothers me. To me, it says that he's been programmed like most other Democrats to think, "Well, if there's any communist support backing this cause, I've got to distance myself from it."

That, unfortunately, is a current of faulty logic I see running through the Democrat Party. Why is it faulty? Well, take a look at the Communist Party USA website. You'll probably see a lot of stuff on there that you support. Hell, there's even a picture of a Social Security card with the words "HANDS OFF!" superimposed over it in big, red letters. The commies support Social Security, does this mean that the Democrats should now distance themselves from the issue?

And does their support of Social Security suddenly make people like you and I communists? Hell no.

But there's one difference I see between Social Security and antiwar protests: The Democrats are active in organizing support for one cause but don't do squat for the other. Now if the Democrats did not stand up against Bush's plans to destroy Social Security, who would? I have no doubt that the communist front groups would setup to the plate.

And if the Democrats don't support organizing efforts for antiwar activists, who would? You guessed it, because that's the reality in which we currently live. And isn't it just a kick in the ass when Democrats then point to those communist front groups as a reason to back away from issues that they support? Thinking about this logically, it doesn't make any sense because it's downright hypocritical. Strategically, it's just poor planning and it places the left on the defensive because the Democrats, parroting GOP talking points, have effectively given the high ground on defining who these protesters are to the Republicans.

As a result, we have hundreds of thousands of people marching in the streets who mine as well be shouting, "Democarts! Please, please support us!" But no matter how much they beg, the Democrats can't make the obvious connection that if they finallly claimed these protesters as their own and organized them, then they could push groups like International ANSWER out of the picture because they would no longer be needed. With one swoop, they could kill a Republican talking point and look like an opposition party for once.

It's about time the Democrats stopped hemming and hawing. It's time to step right up.

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