Two tales of a city

It’s both the best and worst of times every day in Washington D.C. With our government based there in all its branches, it is the center of gravity for news and issues of the day, both good and bad. But what the rest of the country learns about it tilts heavily one way most of the time.

Take the two rallies held there within the past week, as a perfect example. Last Monday, the annual March for Life assembled on the Mall of Washington, with about 134,000 pro-life demonstrators in attendance (may require subscription). It had a lot of peaceful people praying and talking about love and forgiveness. It got little attention in the mainstream media. 

By contrast, the anti-war demonstration over the weekend on the Mall of Washington had about 30,000. It had a lot of angry people accusing and shouting about aggression and violence. It got at least two days worth of coverage and analysis in the MSM as well as the blogosphere.

Fox News sent a radio staffer to the anti-war protest to ask questions, and the results of that one guy with his camerman and truck were pretty indicative of the whole rally, sad to say. So was the despicable treatment of a military veteran who was there. Hannity & Colmes had both men on last night.

JOSHUA SPARLING, IRAQ WAR VETERAN:…What we are doing, actually, is doing the anti-protest protest. And we were there with our flags. And all that happened I was — a fellow saw me wear my 82nd Airborne sweater, and I noticed he also had an 82nd patch on his own sleeve.

And he said I was a disgrace, basically, and that I was — that I had blood on my hands and that I had no right wearing the uniform. And he spit at me.

COLMES: And you spit back?

SPARLING: Of course I did not.

He said that as if it were not even remotely possible.

COLMES: But this was directed specifically at you, as far as — Griff were you there? Did you witness this?

JENKINS: I did not witness that, Alan…Excuse me. But I would offer that, for a peace march, you know, spitting on war veterans and also vandalizing satellite trucks is not exactly extolling the virtues of MLK Jr. or Mohatma Gandhi .

Good point, given that we just observed Martin Luther King’s anniversary.

Colmes asked the Iraq war veteran why he thought people would spit on him.

SPARLING: To tell you the truth, Alan, I really couldn’t know. The people that have done these things, I don’t even know personally. So it couldn’t be of a personal nature in the first place. And maybe it’s because the peace rally is an obvious one. I went there, and that was the most angry peace march that I’ve ever witnessed. That’s for sure.

And he wasn’t the only person to spit at me, either. There was others. But this fellow here actually was on the sidewalk with me, whereas all the other ones were about 10 yards away on the other side of the road. And they weren’t just spitting. They were throwing cigarette butts, flipping us off.

It certainly was an angry peace march. Did you hear about that, if you weren’t watching Fox? The guys over at PowerLine looked at this double-standard treatment in the media, right after the anti-war rally.

It’s hard to say how many people attended the demonstration…but I haven’t seen anything that makes me think the demonstration was anything special in terms of turnout.

Contrast this with a demonstration that occurred in the same place, just a few days ago, when “tens of thousands” of demonstrators gathered to protest the 34th anniversary of Roe v. Wade.

I don’t know which protest was bigger, but I’m pretty sure I can predict which one will get more press coverage. My home-town paper, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, didn’t cover the abortion protest at all. Again, whether and how a demonstration is covered has a lot more to do with the political agenda of reporters and editors than with the number or enthusiasm of the demonstrators. And I think we all know what narrative the liberal media are now pushing.

Which is why you’re not going to hear them point out ironies like this: Among all the signs war protesters were carrying, one read “How Many Died Today?” A week earlier, that same sign would have been even more appropriate at the demonstration marking 34 years of Roe v. Wade.