More Protesters of No Identifiable Ideology in Washington Post

August 28th, 2006 8:17 AM

Washington Post reporter Peter Baker highlighted an estimated 700 anti-Bush protesters in Maine in the Sunday Post. The headline was "War Protesters Follow Bush to Maine," which is an odd headline, since the organizing groups were Maine locals from groups like "Seacoast Peace Response." But short of reporting the protest was encouraged by Cindy Sheehan, nowhere in the article could he locate the protesters on the left with any sort of liberal label, despite descriptions like these:

The protesters carried handmade signs with slogans such as "Stop Killing Our Children," "Bring Them Home Now," "We Have Nothing to Fear But Bush Himself," and "Liar, Liar, World's on Fire." In a school field where the group rallied after the march, speakers called for Bush's impeachment and sang specially written songs such as "Where is the Rage?"

No one supporting the war was quoted. A White House spokeswoman offered the usual yada-yada that they manufacture, that protest is everybody's right in America. Baker plucks a local man's complaint that it's rude for the wedding party that invited the president off the Internet. (Was Baker incapable of finding a local complainer on his own?)

Wouldn't it be nice if these stories included someone to actually oppose the protesters and their views and put them on the right part of the ideological spectrum for readers -- the devoted hard left?