Chris Muir of Day by Day and Daniel Henninger of Opinion Journal are on the same -- not so quiet -- wavelength this morning.
"Today, because of the Internet, no one has to seethe in silence," writes Daniel Henninger in Opinion Journal re what he calls "the Quiet Majority . . . a political current flowing beneath the surface of the news, just as the media missed the silent majority 40 years ago and the values voters in the 2004 election:
Richard Nixon, amid a similar low ebb of popularity with Vietnam, gave a famous speech in 1969. This was the year after the Tet offensive, which caused Walter Cronkite's famous Hagel-like throwing in of the towel. In that speech Nixon described a "great silent majority" in America.
"There is a large number of groups that have organized in the past three years solely to support the American troops in Iraq," continues Henninger, citing three of the blogosphere's favorite homefire efforts ['wish he'd included links -- ed]: Jim Hake's Spirit of America, Patti Patton-Bade's Soldiers' Angels -- blogged often here and here -- and John Folsom's Wounded Warrior Project:
The message boards some of these groups maintain make clear that troops are aware, in detail, of antiwar activity. Again, this isn't Vietnam
These people are organized and they are pro-active. But they pass beneath our politics unnoticed because they're about something deeper than TV face-time. There is a large number of groups that have organized in the past three years solely to support the American troops in Iraq.
Does this add up to millions of pro-Iraq voters? Who knows? But the quiet, mostly nonpartisan, pro-G.I. activism of these people has put them closer to the reality of the war -- its pain, its losses, its successes and kinships. My guess is their kind of support is what the troops on the front want most now, rather than having to sit along the Euphrates River wondering if Chuck Hagel, Russ Feingold and the Rolling Stones are going to pull the rug from under them over the next two years.
We're off to visit those three homefire tenders to put some more of our money where our blogmouth is: Spirit of America, Soldiers' Angels and Wounded Warrior Project. Please join us.
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