RNC protesters: Go home

Look, there's a lot to dislike about the modern Republican party, and I can certainly understand why many people would want to protest their big shindig in Florida. But demonstrators cannot accomplish anything of value at that venue; they are simply providing juicy copy for right-wing bloggers. Worse, protesters could -- potentially, unwittingly -- give cover to agents provocateurs.

Consider, for example, the machete men...

Jason T. Wilson of Tallahassee kept walking even after sheriff’s deputies had ordered him to stop. He told them that “he did not have to stop and that he was allowed to carry whatever he wanted.” However, he was within an “event zone,” where weapons are prohibited. Wilson then resisted arrest and was restrained by the deputies.

Bay News 9 describes Wilson as a “protester,” but his exact affiliation and motivations have not been revealed.

In a separate incident, Bay News 9 reports that two men and a teenage runaway were seen playing with a BB gun on top of a parking garage and were found to be in possession of “anti-government T-shirts and a backpack stuffed with a large machete, a pocketknife, tin snips and a pry tool.”

Because of those t-shirts, the local teevee news crew affixed the "protester" label to this latter trio. As the old song has it: "If you buy a t-shirt, you can be a protester too."

I don't know if Jason -- yes, the machete guy is named Jason -- is just a weirdo or if he is among the small army of undercover mischief-makers we may fairly presume to be scuttling all over Tampa. For our present purposes, the distinction may not matter. What matters is this: You (if you are an actual protester) can do nothing -- absolutely nothing -- worthwhile in Florida right now. No matter what kind of "training" the legitimate protesters receive, they are simply providing a forest within which beasts may hide.

Incidentally, the Breitbart-linked bloggers (enmeshed, as always, in their surreal alternate universe) have connected Mr. Machete to the dreaded Neil Rauhauser and the ever-ominous Bret Kimberlin. Remember those guys? Remember the two non-entities whom our right-wing friends like to pretend are actually Dr. Doom and the Red Skull? Well, it's all their fault!

By the way: The Republican convention has a "weapons free zone." Why? Gee, I thought right-wingers wanted people to carry guns anywhere and everywhere. After the Batman shooting in Colorado, conservatives harrumphed that the tragedy would have been largely averted if moviegoers had been allowed carry firearms into theaters. Apparently, it's all right for gun toters to turn your local bijou into a shooting gallery -- but you must never, ever carry a weapon on a street outside a hall where Republicans are assembling.

Personally, I'd like Romney to climax his acceptance speech by showing the world that he's packing heat. Maybe he can pull a Ted Nugent. Yee-HAW!