Bad Nonviolence

Posted on January 4, 2007 in Courage & Activism Occupation of Iraq

More than anything else, Democrats have wanted to reform the way Congress does business. At the root of just about everything amoral or downright evil that the Bush Administration has done is the untoward influence that lobbyists have enjoyed. So it was right and proper that new rules be set high on the House agenda.

A handful of antiwar demonstrators disrupted the Democrats’ press conference, feeling that the War in Iraq should be the first thing on the agenda:

Led by [[Cindy Sheehan]], the mother of a slain soldier, the protesters chanted “De-escalate, investigate, troops home now” as Democratic Caucus Chairman [[Rahm Emanuel]], D-Ill., began outlining the Democrats’ plans to ban lobbyist-funded travel and institute other ethics reforms. The press conference was held in the Cannon House Office Building in an area open to the public.

Emanuel finally gave up trying to be heard over the chants, and retreated to a caucus room where Democrats were meeting.

Sheehan says she has nothing against lobbying reform, but she and her fellow anti-war activists want Democrats to know they will keep pressuring Congress to end the war in Iraq.

This blogger has often defended Sheehan. But this particular tactic only serves to obstruct the process by which decisive action against the war in Iraq can begin. There is no reasonable connection between the strategem and the press conference. It stands as one of those immature bursts that the antiwar movement occasionally makes just to be saying something.

Damage was done to the cause of getting our troops out of Iraq. Democrats will nurse these wounds and think twice before associating themselves with the demonstrators. It is this kind of publicity that the Cause does not need. A press conference about reform is not the place for adolescent defiance of authority.