Tom Hayden weighs in on the upcoming RNC protests

[Jerseygirltoo]

http://www.maxlogan.com/alternet.0827.htm
Scapegoating the Protests by Tom Hayden
"What is the basis for the spreading assertion that anti-war protests at the Republican convention will help Bush?....
"....The evidence for blaming the protestors is thin, since close elections hinge on multiple factors that might impact one or two percent of the vote. The reasons for the current concerns are rooted deeply in the conventional understanding of Chicago 1968 and the Nader/Green Party campaign of 2000. In both instances, the protestors have been blamed for Republican victories. But a clear assessment of 1968 and 2000 suggests that any single-factor interpretation is driven by subjective needs, such as scapegoating."

[AP]

1. Nader 2000? I don't think any sensible person would say that.

The point people are trying to make is that VIOLENT protests drive people in the middle towards the right because the right do better the higher 'law and order' is ranked on people's lists of issues that they're voting on.

And if Hayden doesn't think that Nixon wanted VIOLENT protests, he should take a look at some of the documents that came out of the Watergate investigation in which it was clear that the advance people were arranging events so that there would be violent protests.