Occupy Boredom

OK I've been getting geared up for the May 1st Occupy Wall Street gala. Got my bandana to cover my face 15 different colors of spray paint and all my shots to ward of hepatitis and other contagious diseases. In case you haven't heard the Occupiers are at it again. Tomorrow the leaders of the, ahem, movement are calling for global disruption of status quo (emphasis mine):

Occupy Wall Street demonstrators, whose anti-greed message spread worldwide during an eight-week encampment in Lower Manhattan last year, plan marches across the globe tomorrow calling attention to what they say are abuses of power and wealth.

Just for the record I went down to the Occupy Louisville last fall to take some pics of the, er, event and found about 12 folks meandering around looking for someone to pay attention to them. No one did.

Anyway I've been reading a lot of left leaning articles that are trying to help create buzz for the group. However, one article stood out over the rest if for nothing else its insipidness. Douglas Schoen over at the Daily Beast pens a column where he is trying to make the case that the Occupy Wall Street crowd is 'seizing control of the political debate in America this election year':

OWS already has had a clear and demonstrable impact on both the Obama and Romney campaigns–arguably becoming the most important outside influence so far in this year's election campaign dialogue.

He cites comments from the President in various recent interviews where the President says:

And in an interview with Rolling Stone magazine this week, the president openly embraced Occupy Wall Street as "just one vivid expression of a broader anxiety."

Wow! Those Occupiers have really done it now! The president - responding to an interview question - says that they mildly relevant. And that folks is the extent of evidence Schoen gives for his thesis that the Occupiers are leading the debate this electoral season. If anything he misses the point as to who is leading whom. For example in this passage he tries to imply that it is the Occupiers who are leading the charge redistribution of wealth.

President Obama and the Democrats have been increasingly echoing the central themes that OWS introduced last fall—emphasizing unfairness in American society, income inequality, and the need to redistribute wealth.

Who is echoing whom? Is Schoen really trying to suggest that democrats (generally) and this president (specifically) weren't all about wealth redistribution before this Occupy nonsense? If so he has not been paying attention for the past 60 years.

Honestly I am just using Schoen as an example of a broader issue with the media on the left as it relates to these nonentities. They are so hard up for a counter balance for the tea party that they will actually give these thugs the time of day. Does anyone remember the incoherent messaging from the original sit in?





Exit question: How much coverage will these tools get tomorrow regardless of how pathetic the turn out? My guess is that MSNBC will have wall to wall coverage.