Today's Thug Day

So far it's been it's just been "little" things like setting the float on fire on Sunday, beating up a cop, and harassing delegates; but today's the day the thugs really come out.

I'm sure the mainstream media will try to make a whineathon out of the cops trying to maintain order, but there's a problem with that. Most normal folks aren't exactly partial to raving, violent crazies. Marni Soupcoff has the same thought in The More Bush Protestors the Merrier

... the anti-Bush protestors capturing headlines in the Big Apple are not having their desired effect of pushing the current president out of the White House. They’re reminding Americans of the fringier, wackier side of the left that Democrats like John Kerry normally try to keep under wraps during an election year. And this is better anti-Democrat publicity than the Republicans could ever buy. What quicker way to cause second thoughts amongst Republican voters considering straying to Kerry than by wearing a “Keep your laws off my vagina” t-shirt or defacing public property with a spray paint propelling computer as Bush protestors have?

So if over the top demonstrations won’t help kick Bush out of office and might actually work in his favor, why are the protestors nonetheless going ahead with their chanting and marching and vandalism? There are two possible answers: 1) because they don’t buy my nut-jobs-turn-off-voters analysis and honestly believe they’re changing voters’ minds; or 2) because this really isn’t about Bush at all, but rather is a handy excuse for some heavy-duty self-promotion. Of course, the fact that Michael Moore and Jesse Jackson have been among those leading the New York protest charge makes reason number two look that much more likely.

Ah yes, the hustlers. But don't forget the nuts:

Well, that and the fact that so many of the “anti-Bush” protestors are protesting things other than Bush. Take the group protesting Starbucks hiring processes as a good example. As president of the United States, Bush may have a lot of important powers, but deciding who will have the honor of becoming a frappuccino-blending barista does not happen to be one of them. Clearly the anti-Stabucks crowd is using the Republican convention as a convenient way to get publicity for itself, rather than as a way to impact the election. Same goes for the pro-Hugo Chavez crew who are not only marching about a different vote in a different country (Venezuela), but are marching about a vote that’s already been decided, to boot. That's why it’s hard to ascribe a genuine motive of wanting a change in guard to the New York protestors’ antics. I mean, sure these people would like to see Bush lose in November. What self-respecting leftist wouldn’t? But at the moment, they’re far more concerned with getting their faces on television and basking in the glow of the paper dragons they’ve set on fire.

And hopefully a nightstick upside their heads.