I think Mistermix has the right takeaway from the heckling of Democratic Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi during the America's Future Now conference by angry liberals, and her subsequent refusal to leave when the protesters got rowdy. It's hard to imagine that this incident has any persuasive value--Democrats can get shouted down by Tea Party activists when they go home, getting this kind of incoherent rage from liberals just further weakens the bonds between activists and the elected officials they need to influence to carry out their policy goals.
This incident reminds me of that Code Pink protester trying to shame Condoleeza Rice with fake blood on her hands a few years ago. Despite the fact that I think Rice should be ashamed of her role in bringing the U.S. to war in Iraq, the photograph made me sympathize with her rather than the protester. Rice just looked at the activist with contempt--and I couldn't help but be reminded of the fact that this woman grew up in the segregated South and had to, as a child, cope with one of her close friends being killed in the 1963 16th Street Baptist Church bombing. She's not going to be shaken by someone shoving their paint-smeared hands in her face. Women who make it in politics are made of sterner stuff than a lot of people seem to assume. They're aren't going to crumble to pieces and start whimpering apologies because of a cleverly worded sign or a pointed question yelled at them. The first woman Speaker of The House is not going to be shouted into silence by a clutch of angry activists.
The heckling of Pelosi also reminded me of what I find irritating about certain kinds of protests -- they're not about persuasion, they're about vanity at the expense of progress, letting everyone know you've "taken a stand". But afterwards you're usually standing in the same exact place where you started, and you're not going anywhere.
-- A. Serwer
