February 27, 2008
WHERE'S MAYOR DALEY WHEN YOU NEED HIM?:
Anti-war movement wrestles with 1968 (Ryan Grim, Feb 27, 2008, Politico)
A coalition of anti-war groups is vowing to protest this summer’s Democratic National Convention in Denver under the rubric “Re-create ’68,” prompting criticism from some on the left who are loath to revisit what they see as a disastrous time for both the anti-war movement and the Democratic Party.Capping a year that saw the assassinations of both the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, the 1968 Democratic National Convention erupted in violence as thousands of Chicago police officers, supported by U.S. Army troops and National Guardsmen, battled in the streets with activists protesting the Vietnam War. Inside the convention hall, the Democrats chose as their presidential nominee Hubert Humphrey, who went on to lose the general election to Richard Nixon.
Re-create ’68?
Why wouldn't nihilists want to re-create '68? Posted by Orrin Judd at February 27, 2008 7:45 AM
Oh, this Denver resident is so thankful he lives and works nowhere near the Pepsi Center while this circus is going on. And we have a restauranteur for a Mayor, and our Dem governor is...less than effectual.
Posted by: Brad S at February 27, 2008 9:14 AMThe anti-war protestors don't want to recreate 1968 because they are nihilists, but because they are narcissists. In 1968, they were important - and on TV - and being praised by the press.
Posted by: Brandon at February 27, 2008 10:44 AMAnd if they do recreate '68 McCain should have a fifty state sweep.
Brandon is right - the little (and now elderly) narcissists only remember their moment of transcendent glory and not what it resulted in. Lee Harris' article on Fantasy Ideology really nails this well.
Posted by: Mikey![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://brothersjuddblog.com/nav-commenters.gif)
at February 27, 2008 11:11 AM
As someone said, our contemporary anti-war movement is to the Viet Nam era movement as civil war reenactors are to the Union Army.
Posted by: Ibid at February 27, 2008 9:24 PMIbid: Great line!
That old so-caled "anti-war" movement was driven by draft evasion. Sure, there were Comsymps aplenty, and haters of parents, folk-enemies--that sort of thing. The numbers, however, were just slackers and cowards.
What we have now is a pitiful reamnant. Part of today's so-called "anti-war" movement are nostalgic old-timers. trying to assuage their shame by pretending that their old evasion was something other than a craven betrayal. Part are contrarian witches and queers: if their country were fighting the Martians in a War of th4 Worlds scenario, they would be "anti-war." Remember, that ilk are not actually "anti-war." On the contrary, they pine for their country's defeat in war, they long for the sight of helicopters on the embassy roof.
I don't see how Civil War re-enactors who honor those in the Union Army who fought and died preserving our country can be compared to the vile anti-Vietnam war agitators and traitors who wanted nothing less than to destroy it.
Posted by: erp at February 28, 2008 9:32 AM