Bob Novak was astounded by the level of venom outside the GOP convention last week:
The protesters, while unable to disrupt the Republican National Convention as intended, represented a disturbing new development in the nation’s politics: hatred in the streets. The organized demonstrations were purely negative, attacking George W. Bush with scant expression of support for John Kerry. Individual marchers singled out any person they thought might be a convention delegate, firing off angry, often obscene, denunciations. The streets of Manhattan were not pleasant for anyone foolish enough to wander around wearing a convention badge.
I have covered every national political convention beginning with 1960 and never before encountered so unpleasant an atmosphere. Not even the infamous 1968 Democratic convention in Chicago approached last week’s level of animosity.
That’s really saying something. The next sentence:
The irrational loathing expressed daily on the Internet by passionate, though poorly informed, bloggers was transferred into the streets. While Sen. Zell Miller’s old-fashioned stemwinder inside Madison Square Garden was upbraided by news media critics for being too harsh, they largely ignored the real hatred in the streets.
There is no further mention of blogs in the piece. Bizarre.
