MelvinUdall said:
Seeing all of this, the Democratic National Convention, in Chicago no less, is going to be a spectacle…history repeating itself.
Divided party: check.
Incumbent President standing aside: hmmmmm come back in a few months
Unpopular foreign conflict: check
The big issue is how Astroturfed these protests truly are. I suspect if they are that well choreographed, they will be DEAD SILENT in Chicago because the last thing the DNC needs is another Chicago --or just as bad, another Miami '72 (the McGovernites rewrote the delegate rules, lots of activists and young people, "enough grass to satisfy Sea Biscuit," etc.) The DNC members and power-brokers are taking steps even now to make sure that no matter where they are with JB, the convention will be smooth and unified.
Now Chicago '68, the Yippies were not funded by big outside money (no, not even the KGB; Soviet leadership distrusted the students as much as we did). That gave them a lot of independence. If the protests are, indeed, grassroots and independent, and if you have core of delegates who want to make a floor fight out of making a cut-off of all aid to Israel a platform plank, then it's popcorn time.
Consider, though, that there was a wild card in '68: George Wallace. Does RFK Jr. become as big a factor as Gov. Wallace? I'm not seeing that yet.