The Silent Majority Begins to Awaken

The so-called "anti-war" demonstrations in Washington yesterday—they might have been more accurately been dubbed the "Marxists in Favor of Jihad" demonstrations—took an interesting twist yesterday as the vicious but clueless left found a surprise waiting for them while crossing the Potomac River. The equally stunned Washington Posties provided a surprisingly accurate report of the festivities:

As war protesters marched toward Arlington Memorial Bridge en route to the Pentagon yesterday, they were flanked by long lines of military veterans and others who stood in solidarity with U.S. troops and the Bush administration's cause in Iraq. Many booed loudly as the protesters passed, turned their backs to them or yelled, "If you don't like America, get out!"

Several thousand vets, some of whom came by bus from New Jersey, car caravans from California or flights from Seattle or Michigan, lined the route from the bridge and down 23rd Street, waving signs such as "War There Or War Here." Their lines snaked around the corner and down several blocks of Constitution Avenue in what organizers called the largest gathering of pro-administration counter-demonstrators since the war began four years ago.

Wonker has often wondered throughout his increasingly long lifespan just what would happen if Vietnam War vets and real American Patriots (i.e., the ones who never get press coverage) finally got torqued off enough to stand up and shout. This weekend, perhaps, we began to find out, as the 'Nam Vets and their supporters cut through the miasma of political correctness and decided to tell it like it is:

The vets turned both sides of Constitution into a bitter, charged gantlet for the war protesters. "Jihadists!" some vets screamed. "You're brain-dead!" Others chanted, "Workers World traitors must hang!" -- a reference to the Communist newspaper. Some broke into "The Star-Spangled Banner" as war protesters sought to hand out pamphlets.

Nice banner there, for once correctly identifying the Communist front, North Korea-supported organization behind A.N.S.W.E.R. and other Red backers of this phony anti-war demo—the Workers World Party—something the press has consistently refused to do, giving aid and comfort to the seditionists who whip this agitprop up.

The large turnout surprised even some counter-demonstrators. Polls show public opinion turning against the war in Iraq, and the November election was widely seen as a repudiation of the administration's policy.

Interesting observation there in that second sentence. But, as Oscar Wilde once wrote, "The truth is rarely pure and never simple." A commentator at the Belmont Club, which also notes this series of events, offers the following insightful observation on the MSM's common wisdumb regarding last fall's elections (italics are Wonker's):

I believe that the swing in public opinion was not due to the public turning against the war, but turning from the handling of the war. All the PC crap after Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo; not to mention "catch and release" and ignoring the Shia militias made it seem like our leadership wasn't really serious. I think many were saying to themselves, "If we're going to fight, lets fight and get it over with. Playing PC games will just cause us to lose." Now that it looks like we're getting serious, support is returning fairly quickly.

In short, people want the gloves off.

MSM talking heads are paid millions of bucks, but few if any have ever cut to the chase the way this writer just has.

Central to the counter-protestors' ire, however, was the obnoxious left's disrespect for this country and its cultural traditions, not to mention its disrespect for property that, without the aid of Karl Marx, already belongs to all of us:

"Our side got apathetic," said Debby Lee, whose son Marc, a Navy SEAL, was killed in Iraq and who came to the rally from Phoenix in a caravan organized by MoveAmericaForward.org. But the war protesters have gone too far, Lee and others said. At a Jan. 27 antiwar rally, some protesters spray-painted the pavement on a Capitol terrace. Others crowned the Lone Sailor statue at the Navy Memorial on Pennsylvania Avenue with a pink tiara that had "Women for Peace" written across it.

Word of those incidents ricocheted around the Internet.

"That was the real catalyst, right there," said Navy veteran Larry Bailey. "They showed they were willing to desecrate something that's sacred to the American soul."

In other words, the counter-demonstrators, who'd heard that the Marxists were going to gather at the Vietnam Memorial, which memorialized thousands of their fallen buddies. And those vets still among the living, as well as those who supported them, decided to get on buses themselves to support the honor of America as well as its fallen heroes. They traveled to DC to really support the troops, support the country, and support the sacred status of the Memorial against the leftist hordes. Why?

"This is sacred ground to us," said Rick De Marco, 62, a Vietnam veteran from Cleveland. K.C. O'Brien, 65, a Vietnam vet from Fairfield, Calif., said: "We believe in freedom of speech. We're here to defend the right of people to say whatever they want. But we will not allow any desecration."

Sneering anti-war leftists might snicker at Mr. O'Brien's interpretation of the Bill of Rights, wondering aloud whether he's ever read either the Bill or the Constitution.

Maybe he hasn't. But understand them, he does.