Code Pink vs. Karl Rove is Counterproductive

Like any mass movement, such as Code Pink Women for Peace, not every member is alike. The more strident and confrontational members of Code Pink tend to get the most attention, while the everyday activists who take part in peaceful protest marches are overlooked.

That was the case this week when 58-year-old Janine Bonepath approached the stage after Republican political operative Karl Rove finished addressing the annual Mortgage Bankers Association convention in San Francisco. Bonepath got close to Rove and attempted to handcuff him in "a citizen's arrest for treason." Security escorted her from the stage. Officers earlier had removed five vocal Code Pink protesters who tried to shout down Rove while he was speaking.

These types of incidents give its "nutball radical" reputation, even with 250 local chapters that conduct the more mundane exercises of information meetings, or writing letters to the editor. When extremist protesters such as Bonepath are hauled off by the cops, television has its footage and to tell the truth, many of the Code Pink members themselves start to cringe. Comedy Central's Jon Stewart once played a clip of an apprehended Code Pinker screeching against police brutality, and he commented succinctly, "You're not helping."

The theatrics often get in the way of the main point. In this case, the Mortgage Bankers Association contains a number of members who will be pathetically rescued by the federal $700 billion economic bailout. Instead of feeling shamed or at least contrite over their role in the failed policies of the Bush administration, they invited Bush's chief political operative as a keynote speaker. Rove's reputation has been so sullied by various underhanded acts, that he mutually agreed with President Bush that is would be for the best if he departed the White House.

Code Pink would have had plenty of fodder for marching outside of the San Francisco Convention Center, handing out information sheets on Rove's misdeeds and the premise of his speech to the bailed-out mortgage bankers. Of course, that would have generated no publicity.