INDReporter

Roemer to join OWS

by Walter Pierce

Breaking from the anti-Occupy Wall Street narrative largely embraced by the GOP field for president, former Louisiana congressman and Gov. Buddy Roemer announced on Twitter that he plans to join the Occupy Wall Street protest in lower Manhattan.

Breaking from the anti-Occupy Wall Street narrative largely embraced by the GOP field for president, former Louisiana congressman and Gov. Buddy Roemer announced on Twitter that he plans to join the Occupy Wall Street protest in lower Manhattan, according to a brief posted Monday on political website TheStateColumn.com.

"I am concerned and outraged, as are many, at Wall Street greed. I will be joining Occupy Wall Street NYC Tuesday to see it firsthand," Roemer tweeted, adding that "my decision to join Occupy Wall Street is to put an end to #OWS bashing by fellow GOP candidates. I want to hear the stories of protestors."

As recently as Sunday on CBS' "Face the Nation," GOP contender Herman Cain characterized the protest movement, which targets the accumulation of wealth and demise of the American middle class, as "anti-American" and "anti-Capitalism."

Cain's sentiments fall into a broader narrative on the right that is attempting to tie the OWS movement in general to the Democratic Party. Indeed, liberals within the party are embracing the protests, but it's also fair to say that the mainstream wing of Democratic Party - its vast middle and majority, which lives and breathes Wall Street campaign contributions almost to the extent the GOP does - is uncomfortable at least with an association with a movement that has spread to scores of cities including New Orleans. FOX News and sundry conservative websites, however, are eager to pin a D on OWS with recent headlines like "Democrat-Backed Occupy Wall Street' Protests Turn Violent" (Oct. 5).