doodledee

I've been surprised at how the anti-war movement seemed to freeze-up once the war got going.

In the weeks and months leading up to the war, it really felt like the anti-war crowd was gaining momentum. Worldwide, millions were gathering, writing letters, calling people, walking out of class, and - lest we forget - putting signs in their yards to let the W Posse know how they felt. Here in the Twin Cities, there was literally a new protest every weekend. We drove by one at Loring Park that was enormous. It was neat.

But at the same time, this anti-war crowd was a strange one. They spent way too much time bitching about the 2000 election and not enough time working for peace. Sure, your 'Buck Fush' and 'Commander in Thief' posters are cute, but for the love of jesusgoose, move-on people.

It truly bums me out that otherwise smart people remain so hung up on the election.

So the movement was probably more political than it should have been - especially at the beginning - and, as a result, it alienated sections of society that might otherwise have joined on. But slowly but surely it grew, and as it did, more 'regular' folks started to take notice. And as the ranks grew, the demographic gradually changed. By the end, it was almost starting to look like slice of society as a whole.

Then the war started.

That first weekend there was some big activity, but I haven't heard/seen much since then. A new Post poll shows that currently only 16% of Americans are against the war. I'm not sure exactly what that means, but I'm pretty sure a *lot* of people changed their opinion over the last 3 weeks.

I've got my own theories. It could be that the war is going so well, with so few American casualties and [apparently] so few Iraqi civilian ones - in stark contrast to the millions [!] of civilian casualties that I heard some members of the anti-war crowd predicting - that people are comfortable enough to say they now support the war. Or perhaps it's because today's wars are fought so quickly that once they start, there's really nothing left to do but hope for the best. Or maybe, just maybe, all those people who said they were going to move to Canada actually did this time.

In any event, I hope someday somebody does a follow-up story on the anti-war movement and why it ran and hid when the bullets started flying.

On another note, while war is rarely, if ever, funny, I have to laugh when that Mohammed Said Sahaf dude goes on TV and says that Iraq still controls the airport and that coalition forces are actually hundreds of miles from Baghdad. Uhh sir, people can see the tanks driving through town. Please stop lying now.

And hey, while we're laughing, check out this footage of Ashcroft's latest concert.

That is so wrong on so, so many levels.