Kudos to Congressional Black Caucus Chairman Emanuel Cleaver for saying on national TV (Meet The Press) that some of the Wisconsin demonstrators need to tone down the malicious messages on their protest signs. Cleaver, a Missouri Democrat, said the pro-union crowd needs to maintain a civil discussion, rather than trying to demonize the governor, Scott Walker.
In the meantime, over at Newsbusters.org, they tracked down a recent interview with liberal New York Times columnist Paul Krugman published by the University of Oklahoma’s student newspaper. The mild-mannered Krugman said that U-O students who want to impact the political scene should emulate the recent student demonstrations in England and France.
“The seniors (in America) are very noisy. Everybody knows you don’t dare cut programs for the elderly, so ‘let’s cut programs for the youth.’ If we can change that, then we’d do a little better,” said Krugman, an economist and Princeton University professor.
One problem: The protests in London and Lyon turned violent, with altercations that created a public backlash and led officials to resort to riot police to calm things down.
Not a good suggestion, professor.
