Tar Baby

Some of my regular commenters who are on the left seem to think that International ANSWER "just showed up" at the nation-wide rallies. Wrong (go to link entitled "The Whole World is Watching: September 24).

On Saturday all the major antiwar groups will come together for the massive rally at the White House and march, but it is the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition that has the full responsibility for the costs of the stage, sound, and setup at the joint rally, where the major speakers will appear.

(Emphasis mine.)

No escaping the taint of International ANSWER for the September 24th festivities, sorry about that.

Along with Christopher Hitchens, some leftist, anti-war bloggers are incensed by the odious presence of ANSWER at these rallies as well.

This is serious sh** and I had to listen to someone say he was a communist. Now what in the f**k does that have to do with Iraq? Too many people on the left glom on to any protest and use it as their hobby horse. You know, the only people I wanted to express solidarity with were the families of the soldiers, the soldiers and the people of Iraq suffering from US occupation. It may be cute to have diversity, but it takes away from the seriousness. You have a rally where only soldiers and their families speak, with a few pols, and even Bush couldn't ignore that. [SNIP]

Let's face facts. ANSWER are parasites who use our good intentions to push their agenda. So instead of rejoycing about the massive turnout, a hint that Bush's war is extremely unpopular, we're debating the speaker list and their abuse of their audience.

(Editing for profanity mine.)

See what else this man—someone with whom I’ve disagreed before —has to say about ANSWER.

The right repudiates its extremists and its idiots, like Pat "Roberts." It’s nice to see a few on the left do the same. To my leftist regulars: you ought to join them and save your ire for an issue that’s arguable.

(Thanks to Marc Cooper, a leftist who isn’t having ANSWER either.)