Question Re:ANSWER

[DemocratSinceBirth]

What do they hope to accomplish by promoting causes that would be summarily rejected by large majorities of people...

You agitate to move people but ANSWER reminds me of the old Lennon-McCartney line...


"But if you go carrying pictures of chairman Mao
You ain't going to make it with anyone anyhow "

For instance most Puerto Ricans and most Americans approve of Puerto Rico's commonwealth status... I have yet to meet a Puerto Rican who rejects being an American...


Most Filipinos have no desire to cede large parts of their land to Muslim irredentist groups like Abu Sayaf and the Moro National Liberation Front...


Most Americans favor a two state solution to the Israel-Palestine crisis but there is little support for dissolving the Jewish state and turning the clock back sixty years...

[Mr_Spock]

1. Yeah, chairman Mao ain't got much of a following

Neither does the Abu Sayaf.

Fools.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

4. What Are They Agitating For...

I find it interesting that they aren't a 501-C Non Profit Association so we don't know where the money comes from...

I have seen many of their demonstrations... It's the same tired causes...

Independence for Puerto Rico... LMFAO at that... Whenever they vote on the island independence is a distant third... It's a close tie between statehood and commonwealth status...

[crispini]

9. They aren't?

That's very, VERY telling.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

13. I Can't Find The Link Now...

Maybe someone else has it...

They aren't a 501-C so they don't have to disclose how they are funded...

[DemocratSinceBirth]

17. I'm Not Sure Now And Can't Get A Definitive Answer

nt

[ducque]

2. So do most israelis.

You say:

"Most Americans favor a two state solution to the Israel-Palestine crisis but there is little support for dissolving the Jewish state and turning the clock back sixty years..."

If a plebicite were held today in Israel, something like 60% to 70% would approve a two-state solution, obviously with stable, defensible borders, etc.

But there's precious little support among Israelis for dissolving the Jewish State!

[expatriot]

3. There's been a lot of sighs about ANSWER's role in national protests

for quite some time. The are an offshoot of the IAC: International Action Center and yes they are old line Commies, Trotskyists.

The fact is that they have a lot of de facto power:they are strategicly located in New York city and have a cadre (I use that word lightly) of lawyers who are extremely proficient in all laws to do with protests, assembly, etc.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

5. I Have No Problem With Trotskyites Or Stalinists

I just don't see a groundswell of support for those movements in the US....

[expatriot]

14. I have no "problem" with them either, hell I was a troskyite way back

but the question, or questions, is/are:

Do we want Trotskyites to be a controlling factor in how America perceives the anti-war movement (i.e. speaker lists, "parade" lineup, etc.)

I am on the fence on this issue (the issue of whether it is enough of an issue to try and thwart ANSWER's self-promotion) but am merely adding someback ground on the issue.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

16. Never Was A Trotskyite But Found His Battles With Stalin Intersting...

I have always been a garden variety liberal...

[seriousstan]

6. You lay down with dogs.........

I have always thought Answer co-ops any cause that allows it to. Sometimes the enemy of your enemy is not your friend.

[mcscajun]

12. They're not about OUR cause...they're about their own.

They'll co-opt anything if it gets them donations and airtime.

[OldLeftieLawyer]

7. It was so bad

Spastic and all-inclusive, unfocused, badly executed, random, and everyone who owns a pen and paper got to read the poetry they wrote.

Lord, the Repubicans have to be laughing their ugly asses off at us.

When will lefties learn to focus the way the other side does?

[npincus]

8. and those "raging grannies" have gotta go...

ugh... enough with that cornball hippie shit. Very disappointing.

A few on-point speeches, that's it.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

11. The Raging Grannies "Were" Cute...

But middle America doesn't want to hear their country is rotten to the core and I don't think it is...

[npincus]

15. sorry, I didn't find them cute.

The shitty war and getting out is dead serious- I had hoped for very serious, on-point presentations not sing-alongs and dress-ups that will do nothing to bring folks on board who may be recosidering their support of B*sh and this war. This kind of silliness will not get us anywhere, just give the Right more ammo to trivialize our message.


That's my humble opinion.

[OldLeftieLawyer]

18. HEY!!!!!!!!!!!

You're talking to an old hippie cornball, so just go off in that corner and meditate on how you're dicking with your aura and then go bake some bread and sew something. By hand.

Seriously, presentation is everything. If people don't want to see you looking all ragtag and bummy, they're sure as hell not gonna want to hear what you have to say, and even if they listen, they'll give you no credibility.

I wish the lefties today understood that we're selling a product. The other side knows that very well.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

10. It Had To Scare The Bejeesus Out Of Middle Merika...

I think the "Clean For Gene" model and Dr. King's "March on Washington" model were better for pricking the conscience of a bourgeois nation...

[OldLeftieLawyer]

19. I just said that ...........

Selling a product, and if a disheveled old hippie (like me) shows up at your door, you're not gonna let me give my pitch, let alone follow me.

Remember the old Will Rogers quote: "I belong to no organized political party -- I am a Democrat."?

Yeah, well................................

[DemocratSinceBirth]

20. In My Examples

Folks saw people who "looked" just like them and "spoke" just like them presenting an alternative point of view...

[OldLeftieLawyer]

21. I disagree

The ones who "looked just like them" already agree with them.

The whole point was to get people who do not agree with us to listen to what we were saying, and that would have been better accomplished by a march, and none of those speakers.

Understand that Ramsey Clark is an old friend with whom I was proud to work when I was just starting out in the law thirty years ago, and I applaud his fire and his eternal passion and I loved seeing and hearing him, but what the hell did Ralph Nader have to say to anyone there? He's the man who fucked up the 2000 election, or did people forget that?

It was sloppy, and I am saddened by that. It meant nothing to the people who are out there, except as a joke.