[Mb-civic] Can You Marginalize a Majority? - Dan Froomkin - Washington Post

[William Swiggard]

Can You Marginalize a Majority?

By Dan Froomkin
Special to washingtonpost.com
Friday, September 23, 2005; 11:51 AM

In a move to preempt the antiwar protesters converging on Washington 
this weekend, President Bush yesterday put forth the following equation: 
Withdrawing from Iraq equals letting the terrorists win equals more 9/11s.

The White House's goal is to cast anybody who supports a pullout of U.S. 
troops from Iraq as sadly delusional, reckless and not to be taken 
seriously.

But Bush may be in trouble here, because he's trying to marginalize a 
majority.

A recent Gallup Poll , for instance, found that 63 percent of Americans 
-- almost two out of three -- support the immediate partial or complete 
withdrawal of U.S. troops. Fewer than one in three Americans support 
Bush's handling of the war.

The White House, so aware of the power of staying on message, can take 
some solace from the fact that the antiwar movement is deeply 
conflicted, lacks clear leadership, and is being kept at arm's length by 
many top Democrats.

And yet slowly but surely, at least one consistent theme is emerging 
from the silent majority. And it is a theme that has the potential to 
neutralize, if not upend, Bush's central message.

That theme: Staying doesn't make things better, it makes things worse.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2005/09/23/BL2005092300792.html
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