Catherine — First off, write off the mainstream media. Ain’t Gonna Happen. Even when they are forced to cover positive developmentns out of Iraq, they play the Even Though game. “Iraqis turned out in long lines to vote, Even Though photographs from Abu Ghraib continue to ciculate…”

This poor sick Sheehan woman will be the ultimate Even Though card for a couple of weeks, until media saturation and her own Mooresque pronouncements use her up.

Second, there is a large part of the population that doesn’t get it and won’t try. There’s one arrested infant across the street who has one sign: “Bush: still wrong” Elections in Afghanistan? “Bush: still wrong” Saddam Caught? “Bush: still wrong” Libya gives up its WMD’s “Bush: still wrong”… it’s the politics of a three-year-old: “Bush: still wrong” *stamp*stamp*stamp*

I don’t march to persuade those people. I march to communicate with the people who can listen and to support the people in the community who agree with me but can’t mention it publicly at work or home for fear of provoking tantrums.

(And if I CAN politely provoke the folks across the street to tantrums, so much the better. The folks who agree with their tantrum ain’t gonna listen to me anyway and the folks who might will be turned off by their behavior…)

Bush is right not to chase the approval of these people, he won’t get it. He’s right to find other ways of getting his message out, and if that means the blogs do the heavy lifting, fine. That’s what grass roots support is all about.