Lefty Mishmash

Steve Gilliard (The News Blog) captures my response to the anti-war rally in Washington yesterday. Who let all those other people on the stage, to the microphone? Speakers were screeching about myriad other issues, which wasn't the point of the day. I had to keep turning off the TV in disgust.

Communication is not what you say, it's what the other person heard, and I heard a lot of lefty mishmash. Focus on the message, people!

Let's have a parade

I just want to see a protest where there is only one topic, Iraq, the only speakers are talking about Iraq and all the signs are about Iraq. That anyone who mentions some nonsense like the "Popular Front" is shoved off the stage with a flying tackle. Talk about Iraq. But leave the other causes at home. I don't really care about what a Israeli refusenik has to say if the topic isn't Iraq.

Look at this list of speakers:

Jessica Lange, actor

* George Galloway, British Member of Parliament
* Ramsey Clark, former U.S. attorney general
* Cindy Sheehan** Dolores Huerta, Co-Founder, United Farm Workers of America
* Malik Rahim, New Orleans community activist who survived Hurricane Katrina
* Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney
* Ralph Nader
* Mahdi Bray, Exec. Dir., Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation
* Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, attorney/co-founder, Partnership for Civil Justice, National Lawyers Guild
* Elias Rashmawi, National Council of Arab Americans
* Brian Becker, National Coordinator, A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition
* Lynne Stewart, human rights attorney
* Rev. Al Sharpton*
* Anita Dennis, mother of Iraq War veteran / resister
* Clayola Brown, President of the A. Philip Randolph Institute, Vice President of UNITE HERE*
* Ben Dupuy, Former Ambassador At Large for the government of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide
* Jos Williams, President, President of the Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO
* Michael Berg, father of Nicholas Berg
* Christine Araquel, Alliance for a Just and Lasting Peace in the Philippines
* Andy Thayer, Equality Campaign
* Curtis Muhammed, Community Labor Union of New Orleans
* Margaret Prescod, Global Women's Strike
* Hadi Jawad, founder of Crawford Peace House
* Chris Silvera, Teamsters Black Caucus
* Musa Al-Hindi, Al-Awda National
* Michel Shehadeh, L.A-8 defendant, a Palestinian activist framed COINTELPRO-style
* Nancy Wolforth, Executive Vice President, AFL-CIO
* Manuel Santos, Socialist Front of Puerto Rico
* Brenda Stokely, Million Worker March, New York City Labor Against the War
* Peta Lindsay, Youth and Student A.N.S.W.E.R. Student, Howard University student
* Mounzer Sleiman, National Council of Arab Americans
* Macrina Cardenas, Mexicanos Sin Fronteras
* Jeanette Caceres, Spoken word artist from New York University
* Gloria La Riva, National Committee to Free the Five
* Riya Ortiz, Network in Solidarity with the People of the Philippines, Campaign for Justice Not War
* Larry Holmes, Troops Out Now Coalition
* Chuck Kaufman, Nicaragua Network
* Women's Anti-Imperialist League
* Representative of Bayan USA
* Eugene Puryear, Youth and Student A.N.S.W.E.R. Student, Howard University student" link

Let's face facts. ANSWER are parasites who use our good intentions to push their agenda. So instead of rejoicing about the massive turnout, a hint that Bush's war is extremely unpopular, we're debating the speaker list and their abuse of their audience.