Jim Henley of Unqualified Offerings recounts his day at the protests yesterday. Here's a bit of it:

Finally we came to the counter-protest. There was even less to it this time than last - maybe three-dozen Freeper types lining a half block leading to the Navy Yard entrance. And as we approached, they began chanting:

Your Red roots are showing!
Your Red roots are showing!
Your Red roots are showing!

Me with my PEACE NOW SOCIALISM NEVER sign. Ronit with her NYC WANTS AL QAEDA sign. Teresa with her very specific Not THIS War, and Patrick and Teresa who have been leading us through renditions of "America the Beautiful," "My Country 'Tis of Thee" and even, hard as it is to sing, "The Star-Spangled Banner." Well, about two thirds of this last, since I skipped several lines by accident. My companions had fine singing voices and on those occasions where we were close enough to other marchers, several joined in.

Let us remember the core principle though: the counter-demonstration can afford to be dinky, because the counter-demonstrators are already slated to get what they want.

It's a long and thoughtful piece, you ought to go read the whole thing.

Max Sawicky's account is here.

And from Eric at the Hamster:

attended the antiwar march in Washington DC on Saturday afternoon and, needless to say, it was a success.

The speakers at the protests emphasized that because of the blistering cold temperatures a lot of people thought there would be a small and timid turnout. As seen, those critics were wrong. All people, from toddlers to grandmas; hippies to military veterans; capitalists to Marxists; lesbians to college frat boys attended the rally in support of America against a disastrous foreign policy called the Bush doctrine.

The Bush doctrine is a ruinous plan that calls for American solders and Iraqi civilians' lives to be exchanged for the capitalist pursuit of oil. As many signs at the protests read, this proposed war was nothing more than 'blood for oil.'

These are the people that care about America. There were the grandparents I met who were afraid that their grandsons would die for a chicken hawk administration. There were the humanitarians and idealists who were concerned about the havoc another war would bring to Iraq. There were also liberalists who believe that international institutions like the United Nations are the answer, and not the enemy, in American foreign policy.

There was opposition, of course. Perched on a Citibank balcony were people claiming they stood in support of America's soldiers, and subsequently in support of American foreign policy. The Georgetown College Republicans, in all their infinite wisdom, held banners proclaiming their patriotism. As one protester, upon seeing the suit-wearing Republicans remarked, “I think they're sipping wine-glasses.”

At times the message of the rally got off topic. Some people used the rally's large audience to lobby for other causes. At one point, an Israeli and Palestinian got into a verbal confrontation. Yet these deviations were slim and few. The people who descended on DC came to march for peace, and save this country, and its soldiers, from an endless and unnecessary Bush war that will take American lives.