A Tale of Two Protests

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At the big pro-illegal-immigration rally on the Mall in Washington on April 10, thousands of demonstrators held aloft dark blue signs that read, “We Are America.” Below those words, in smaller letters, was the name “New American Opportunity Campaign,” and below that was a web address, www.cirnow.org.

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Although not obvious at first glance, the small print on the signs said something important about the aggressive new drive to win acceptance of illegal immigrants. A visit to the website www.cirnow.org — those letters stand for “Comprehensive Immigration Reform Now” — leads to a site for the New American Opportunity Campaign, which in turn leads to a request for donations to an organization called the Coalition for Comprehensive Immigration Reform.

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A number of press reports have characterized the tea parties as anti-Obama exercises. The Wall Street Journal carried an online story headlined “Anti-Obama ‘Tea Party’ Protests Mark Tax Day.” CNN introduced a tea-party story by saying, “This is a party for Obama-bashers.” The Los Angeles Times ran a column headlined, “Anti-Obama Taxpayer Tea Parties Steeped in Insanity.” But in Winchester at least, the atmosphere was not so much anti-Obama — organizers posted a note on their website asking that everyone “Please DO NOT personally attack the President or any member of Congress by name” — as it was a classic conservative Republican, limited-government, anti-spending talkfest.