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Mullings by Rich Galen�
A Political Cyber-Column By Rich Galen
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    600 Arrested! Outrage!

    Monday September 30, 2002

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    • The highly anticipated demonstrations which were to bring 100,000 into Washington to protest the meetings at the International Monetary Fund and World Bank here never materialized.

    • On the first day - Friday - the DC cops arrested about 600 demonstrators. They arrested six on Saturday. As there were only about 3,000 demonstrators altogether, the question we are Mulling here this morning is: Why didn't the police just arrest ALL OF THEM Friday and save on overtime charges for the rest of the weekend?

    • The Washington Post, which all but provided bus fare for the demonstrators leading up to the weekend, was reduced to running a photo (of a guy with a couple of babies) below the fold on the front page. The main article - on the METRO page, instead of A-One - was headed: "Protesters' Momentum Weakens as Crowd Thins."

    • Thin crowds? There may have been more reporters from the Washington Post than real demonstrators. The post listed TWELVE reporters "and the Associated Press" in the credits for the metro section coverage.

    • The New York Times decided not to mention the demonstrations at all on the front page of its Sunday edition - or on any other page in the version delivered to Mullings Central. The only mention on its web page, was an AP report. So there were more demonstrators than NY Times reporters, but not by many.

    • A good deal of the problem was probably scheduling: All those people who had been in South Africa last month probably had a difficult time convincing their parents - whose hard work actually pays off the credit card charges they run up - that another protest against the evils of capitalism barely a month later was a necessary expenditure pending the outcome of mid-semester exams.

    • Additionally, everyone has heard the arguments against global capitalism and either disagrees or is bored by them. The professional demonstrators are going to have to come up with something else.

    • Then there is the little matter of Iraq.

    • Two new polls indicate that, in spite of the knowing pronouncements of the Washington-based reportorial corps, Iraq IS on the minds of Americans, and Americans do not appear to be sharpening their partisan knives over the economy.

    • A Fox/Opinion Dynamic poll released on Friday asked, "What topic comes up most often in conversation with friends and neighbors?" 25 percent said either terrorism generally or Iraq in particular. The economy was third place at nine percent.

    • The second poll was released late Saturday night by the Washington Post which headlined its findings: "War Talk Shapes Fall Elections: Democrats' Ability to Use the Economy Against GOP Wanes"

    • According to the poll analysis by Dan Balz, David S. Broder and Helen Rumbelow, "Voters are worried about the economy but do not hold Bush or Republicans responsible."

    • This flies in the face of another daily lunch-time pronouncement by Washington-based reporters that "when people get their 401k statements next week, it's going to be real trouble for the GOP."

    • People whose 401k plans have assets in the stock market have not been visiting Pluto for the past 18 months, know that the stock market has been swooning, and are not likely to be that surprised to find out that the value of their retirement plan has dropped.

    • Drat. Maybe they can trot Teddy Kennedy out for another speech.

    • The poll results were summed up by "Rebecca Dunbar, 49, who lives in the Denver suburbs, voted for Al Gore for president, but she has since come to admire Bush for his handling of the war on terrorism." She told interviewers: "The international issues are domestic issues right now."

    • With 36 days to go before the mid term elections, it appears Tom Daschle and Dick Gephardt - like the witless IMF demonstrators - are going to have to find something else.

    • On the Secret Decoder Ring page today: A link to the Washington Post poll (the tables AND the summary) a link to the plea for subscriptions, and a pretty good Catchy Caption!

      --END --
      Copyright © 2002 Richard A. Galen

                                                                           

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