Winning friends and influencing people

Or, “Winning the Battle, Losing the War”

Street protests in San Francisco have resulted in over a thousand arrests. Most of the demonstratoins were peaceful (though there were some fringe exceptions), and consisted of blocking traffic.

And this is supposed to stop the war … how?

Ah, because the general populace, seeing the conviction on the faces of the protesters, will realize this is all Dubya’s fault, and rise up in righetous anger against Da Man.

Or maybe not.

“We don’t want to alienate people. I hope people realize that political murder merits action that inconveniences them,” said Quinn Miller, 32.
His hope went unanswered among some of the people who were late to work or unable to maneuver through downtown.
“You suck,” yelled Larry Chu, stuck in his car outside the Transamerica Pyramid. “Why don’t you all go to North Korea and do this?”

The general view of most of the nation is that San Francisco is probably as opposed, as a whole, to this war as anywhere in the country. Stunts like this are likely to change some minds — away from the protesters.

Or, as one person put it …

“I’m definitely anti-war, but at the same time, we’re trying to live our lives here,” fumed Mark Thedis as he spent 30 minutes in his idling Range Rover in an alleyway off Folsom Street. “If they’re trying to get people on their side, it’s not working.”