Here, according to our Sandinista alternative weekly, The Stranger, is the burning political question in Seattle right now; apart from whether Dino Rossi will win his court case seeking a new election against Christine Gregoire for Washington Governor.

When George W. Bush was sworn in four years ago, protesters took to the streets in Washington, D.C., New York, Seattle, and other cities. Local activists are planning to protest Bush's second inauguration--but will anyone show up this time?

I'm biting my nails about it as I blog, verily.

OK, actually I'm not.

As I've noted here before, Seattle specializes in the empty politics of symbolic resistance. That nourishes the flowering of a moderate-right political culture. Not only in the suburbs, but also within the City of Seattle (something that is already underway thanks in part to some of the unindicted co-conspirators involved in the noted blog Sound Politics).

So I made pleased clucking sounds upon reading further, in The Stranger, that:

UW students are planning to wear black armbands on January 20, walk out of class at noon, and rally in Red Square. (Similar protests are planned at Seattle University, Seattle Central Community College, and at least five area high schools.) After a march through campus, the students plan to take Metro busses to Capitol Hill to join students from other schools for a rally at Seattle Central.

But here's the rub, says The Stranger. The crucial ingredient for protest is anger, and there's just not a lot of right now, compared to after the 2000 election. (Never mind that anger and protest aren't how The Left will gain influence. That realization isn't even their radar).

For lefties who became political activists for the first time in their lives last year, the realization that their hard work didn't turn Bush out of office has translated into feelings of grief, frustration, depression, apathy, and denial--but not anger. Anger can inspire people to protest. Depression and denial lead people to hibernate, drink, and check out of politics.

Denial of what, one might ask? The Stranger doesn't say. Denial that Bush, in fact, IS the anti-Christ? Or denial that a public group grope on the "issues" of the day is again necessary for the betterment of the Republic?

This year, activists are cramming their fliers and rally speakers' rosters with a laundry list of causes and issues: The Green Party wants a few minutes to talk about voting irregularities in Ohio. Gay rights groups want to talk about marriage. ANSWER and NION (ed. - "Not In Our Name") plan to talk about the war. Labor leaders want to talk about sub-par wages and benefits. And Arab American groups will be on hand to discuss post-9/11 racial profiling. That's enough issues to motivate--and attract--just about everyone.

"We want people to bring all of their concerns. There's so, so much, it blows my mind," says UW's (Ashley) Miller.

Yes, Ashley, your mind IS blown. But that's not a good thing.

What's truly pathetic about The Stranger is that they offer up a simplistic sort of "sports coverage" approach to rally turnout, as though that were penetrating political analysis, and AS THOUGH THAT ACTUALLY FRICKIN' MATTERED. Worse, a fair share of their idiot, pierced, green-haired vegan readers lap it right up. (The rest of their idiot readers don't, but only because they're too drunk or drugged). The Stranger's flaccid Lefty drivel has has previously led me to hypothesize that Seattle's "it" weekly is actually part of a sinister GOP co-intelpro campaign.

Which apparently may also explain this howler of a correction appended to The Stranger's article.

An earlier version of this story incorrectly implied that a pink flier with the phrase, "Start a fire, blow up a bank, block a street... converge at Westlake Park," was affiliated with NION. Though the poster in question uses the national NION organization's web address and rally slogan, and directs people to NION-Seattle's rally at Westlake Park on Thursday, NION-Seattle alerted The Stranger after publication that NION-Seattle did not sanction the poster. In a statement released today, NION-Seattle said, "We call on anyone posting these flyers in NION's name to cease immediately."

In a statement about the mysterious "bomb a bank" flyers issued in their name, Not In Our Name goes a step further, saying:

We believe the flyer....to be the work of an individual or government agency with the intent to sabotage the protest and set up Not In Our Name for political attack.

Right. Because they're such a potent force.

Posted by Matt Rosenberg at January 15, 2005 09:56 PM

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