Here is a piece of data that may or may not surprise you

[nadinbrzezinski]

Ok I live in the land of fruits and nuts... but still. With some of the vitriol we see here against OWS... you'd expect that by now I would have met somebody that opposes it in the flesh... I mean for real.

Alas I have yet to meet one person that opposes OWS. Either people do not know enough and once you tell them what they stand for they nod and smile, or they support them. I have yet to meet one that does not, and that includes the "redder" areas of this county.

I have met one Libertarian who opposes the methods, but not the goals... that is the most I have found.

This brings me to the possible thinking, anybody has a good poli sci degree and wants to run the numbers? But I am starting to suspect that in spite of the Media efforts support for OWS is actually far deeper than we have been told.

And me, well occupying my small corner of the media, doing far more than OWS these days, but I suspect there is something that has struck a real nerve and this is what scares the POLITICAL and MEDIA class.

[beyurslf]

1. I have a friend in SF an works in Oakland. he hates the Oakland OWS.

He supports the cause but says they destroyed the park across from his work and are just gross. And he says they lost a lot of support over some of the things they did.

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. Well Oakland is a very special case

since they drew from traditional groups that you either love or hate...

(I mean the Black Panther Party, which is now making it's way into the discussions here in San Diego)

[sabrina 1]

6. I wouldn't worry about that. People who drop support for an entire movement,

because of a few relatively small incidents, most of which were not approved of by a majority of the occupiers, probably didn't support it to begin with.

Ask him what he thought of the near killing by the cops of two Iraq War veterans.

It's a very big movement, there are going to be differences of opinion among them. The way to push the 'no violence' tactic, IF he supports it, is to go to the GAs and support OWS's 'no violence' policies.

[southernyankeebelle]

3. The media and the politicans are scared to death of its citizens. Why do you see nothing

positive on the OWS. It's all negative on Fox Network. They are running scared because the know the OWS goals are right on point.

[orpupilofnature57]

4. Bingo!!!!!!

[southernyankeebelle]

5. You betcha

[zappaman]

7. Agreed. And it's not like CBS, NBC, CNN, and ABC

are saying anything positive either.
In this case, saying nothing speaks volumes.

[southernyankeebelle]

10. Your right on that point also. It is very sad there isn't a Walter Cronkite in the bunch. They

are so worried about having to protect their million dollar jobs.

[zappaman]

11. Apparently Walter Cronkite was a right-winger.

At least that is what I read here once...

[southernyankeebelle]

12. No he wasn't. If you have a chance go to google and read his bio. He said himself

that he was a liberal. He also said he thinks a marjority of reporters are liberal because they cover lots of stories and see lots of poor communities and the injustices that go on. So he feels the poor and getting a bad rap and if that is liberal then so be it.

[zappaman]

13. Not according to the OP

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002329581

[southernyankeebelle]

14. I googled his bio and he himself said he leaned left. I could have misread it.

[zappaman]

15. No

You're right.

[southernyankeebelle]

16. Thanks. I am not often right. He was a great reporter.

[Leopolds Ghost]

8. What concerns me is they may try and turn the election season into a way to polarize people against

Occupy --

Dems because if there's a rally round the flag mentality that "now is election time to get serious -- the economy is improving and we need to stop calling down misfortune"

Republicans because one of the reasons it's so popular is that Obama's in charge, so it's implicitly critical of Dems not just Republicans; with the prospect of a Republican in charge all but the most pissed off tea partiers will rally round the flag and purge dissidents and accuse them of minimizing the differences between Romney and Obama, like the Naderites on the left. In fact, the Ron Paul wing could turn out to be the Nader of 2012.

The silver lining would be if Gingrich or Santorum is the candidate -- a polarizing figure that everypony can't stand except for the most hateful constituents (the ones who hate Occupy anyway -- the ones who boycott the Girl Scouts and so forth)

[nadinbrzezinski]

9. If the California Democratic Party is ANY guide

the Dems will have issues with that. One fourth of my local delegation are active in Occupy.

Yes, I will be watching for that during the national convention.

I was afraid of the party co-opting Occupy... from what I saw here, I'd say the Party is geting occupied at the grassroots levels.