In the latest entry from The Politburo Diktat the ever eloquent Commissar explains the why and how of the failure of the protesters at the Republican National Convention this past week. Excerpt:

There is another aspect to the protestors' failure. Depth of commitment. "You say you want a revolution?" The you have to be willing to run some risks, maybe to suffer a little bit. Suppose the activists had mustered 100,000 plus demonstrators, who were willing, not only to be arrested more or less peaceably, but to also "resist arrest," and make a scene of that. It didn't happen. These characters want to bitch and moan about George W. Bush, who they contend is worse than Hitler. But when the crunch comes, they're unhappy if they get their tee-shirts dirty or have to sit on a dirty floor.

Excellent entry, go read it!

Right on Red summed it up pretty nicely:

I would add this: it was a lose-lose situation for the protesters. If they had caused real trouble, they would have hurt the Democrats’ image and thus helped Bush. Instead they (thankfully) remained largely non-violent, which made them look irrelevant.

The fact of the matter is that the protesters said what they felt. Sure, some of them just carried some dumb sign because someone handed it to them. Some of them walked along hoping to maybe hook up with some hippie chick with armpit hair for some hot orgy action. However, I am sure there were plenty that just wanted to let their feelings on the issues be known, and they did so.

I'm not one to knock people for stating their opinions as long as they don't disrupt others in the process. People like those that go into forbidden areas and stage a sit down or store workers who block off a parking lot are nothing more than extortionists, not protesters. They hope to do actual financial or physical damage, similar to terrorists, and I have no sympathy for those cretins.

Don't put all the protesters in New York down too much, for some of them are well researched and studied people who just have differing opinions than maybe my Conservative views or your Libertarian views on some issues.

In Search Of Utopia has more to say.

Conservatives Anonymous takes the point of them being actually conterproductive to their cause.