David Brooks compares astrotufers to Code Pink

[Enrique]

Mark Shields is fortunately there to shoot that down.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/politics/july-dec09/shieldsbrooks_08-07.html

(...)

JUDY WOODRUFF: David, how do you size this up?

DAVID BROOKS, columnist, New York Times: Well, first of all, I've been sitting at this table long enough to hate that kind of shouting. I hate it when they shout down Lloyd Doggett or whoever. I hate it when the Code Pink ladies would stand up at every hearing during the Iraq war and start shouting people down and have to be arrested and carried away.

But I do agree that the concern is real. If you look at the polls, it's much broader than any astro-turf operation.

(...)

MARK SHIELDS: No, but this is -- I think this is organized in a way that the others weren't. I mean, when any of us gives a speech, we are asked almost semi-regularly about, "What about 9/11? And wasn't that, in fact, organized? And the planes could not have knocked down the Twin Towers."

I mean, that is a regular -- and it's usually somebody -- but this is not something where somebody is shouting you down and denying you. The Code Pink ladies David mentioned would speak -- would shout at the congressional hearings, but then they'd be quickly removed.

This stops the debate. That's what's going on right now. That's the difference.

[sasquatch]

1. Why the hell is David Brooks on PBS in the first place?

:argh:

[bluestateguy]

2. There is only one difference

Code Pink doesn't make violent threats.

However, it terms of using childish, infantile techniques of protest, yes the similarity is there.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

4. Two differences.

They're removed.

[Warpy]

3. Then, Davie, shouldn't the Astroturf mobs be treated

just like Code Pink was, escorted out of the venue and then arrested?

It seems only fair, after all.

[Mz Pip]

5. I don't think Code Pink has ever

hung anyone in effigy or made threats of violence.

WHen that happens I might be more inclined to see the comparison. Until that happens, it's a pretty lame comparison.

[NRaleighLiberal]

6. I saw that. just incredible. plus he intimated it is indeed grassroots and

only a minority of it is "politically organized".

He to me is a very dangerous right winger - soft spoken, appearing reasonable - until he puts his ignorance on full display. And Shields is too much of a gentleman to rip him another asshole when he spews his shit.

By the way, I noted that your thread has been unrec'd - so I brought it back to even....

trolling going on here today, I wonder?

[angrycarpenter]

7. Biggest difference.

With code pink you always knew they were with code pink. They always wore the pink shirts and clearly identified themselves and their organization. Not so with the screamers many of them are paid operatives or someone from an interest group trying to pass as regular people.

[kentuck]

8. Not a good comparison, David...

At the most, you might see one or two Code Pinkers stand up to shout a point but then be escorted away. How many of these maniacs have been escorted away?

[Joanne98]

9. Code Pink has a noble cause. The teabaggers represent selfishness, lies and racism.

I don't see the similarities.

[EFerrari]

14. The political elites are legitimizing thuggery in this way.

When did Code Pink ever threaten anyone? Their purpose was to protest and draw attention to an issue. These RW mobs are thugs who only want to shut down discussion.

Republicans who compare them to Code Pink are given them both cover AND support.

[tomg]

10. While there are some

similarities in terms of tactics, the chief difference is that the women of Code Pink were, more often than not, acting as true civil disobediants: deliberately placing themselves in a position whereby they consciously faced consequences for their actions. An act is really not civil disobedience unless the participant knowingly and deliberately places herself in a position where she can expect to face legal repercussions for her act.

While we can agree or disagree with Code Pink tactics, personally, I see a phenomenal difference in the two groups' respective intentions. Whereas the Town Hall disrupters seem to simply want to shut down discussion and intimidate opponents, Code Pink members by placing themselves in situations that often demanded that they be arrested were civil disobediants who were bearing witness. To my knowledge which is probably limited, the people at the Town Halls have not been arrested.

[TreasonousBastard]

11. What's to shoot down? There are too many of these assholes...

out there screaming to just be plants.

You don't get that many people to act like that unless you've managed to tap into something deeper. Sure, this whole thing is orchestrated, but a lot of these people seem to be for real.

[zoff]

13. Real alright

Really misinformed, really undeducated, really brainwashed and really, some have to have been paid.

[EFerrari]

12. This is a RW talking point. So did one of Maher's guests last night.

Not Issa but the other one. He called them "the pink ladies".

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

15. ...and Jeff?