Those of us of a certain age can be forgiven for seeing the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations in New York as - in Yogi Berra's immortal words - "Déjà-vu all over again".
But any similarity to the Vietnam era protests would appear to begin and end with the scruffy rag-tag nature of these protestors and not the clarity of their cause.
While some Democrats and others on the left have characterized the protests as the anguished cries of a disenfranchised middle class angry at Wall Street, the fact is the demonstrators embrace a panoply of causes -some of them wildly off the wall.
The gathering in the downtown park has also attracted, according to news reports, a fair share of anarchists, felons and various wanderers who have been attracted to piles of donated food.
Leading Democratic figures, including top fundraiser's, are urging the party to support the Wall Street protests because they see the movement as a way to align disenchanted Americans with their party.
But to mainstream Democrats, who don't look anything like the people in the park, that would seem to be a risky proposition.
Write and let me know what you think. I'm Bill Applegate.
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