Mr. Bush's advisers said they were girding for the most extensive street demonstrations at any political convention since the Democrats nominated Hubert H. Humphrey in Chicago in 1968. But in contrast to that convention, which was severely undermined by televised displays of street rioting, Republicans said they would seek to turn any disruptions to their advantage, by portraying protests by even independent activists as Democratic-sanctioned displays of disrespect for a sitting president.

Yep, that's what I said they would do, which is why the protestors need to seriously try to keep things cool and under control. That maybe difficult to do because of hot-heads and infiltrators, but, for a number of reasons, it's important that they try.

On Daily Kos, ptolemy provides a "Protestors Guide to NYC" for those intent on peaceful protest, with a lot of very good basic information and some good suggestions for rules of behavior. May I selfishly add one tip: Madison Square Garden, the site of the convention, is nowhere near Madison Square, which happens to be in my neighborhood. (MSG started at Madison Square, but it's moved several times.)

I'm not planning on joining the protests, not only because I don't think they serve much purpose, and can (as I explained) can potentially be extremely counter-productive, but also because I get fairly claustrophic in large crowds and therefore avoid them under every possible circumstance I can. So, since I really can't afford to take a vacation out-of-town, as many other Manhattanites are planning, I'm going to avoid going uptown to the MSG area as much as I possibly can that week. My hope is that the protestors can control themselves and avoid confrontations with the police and the kind of property damage that the WTO protests in Seattle resulted in, and that it can all be relatively contained to the midtown area to allow some semblence of everyday life to continue in the remainder of Manhattan.

But, causing disruption in my life is not nearly as important as avoiding giving Bush any kind of propaganda coup. If we hand them that kind of ammunition, we may also be giving them the kind of bounce in the polls that Bush desperately needs right now.