It increasingly appears that Occupy Wall Street protestors are the people the Democrats were waiting for. The Hill reports this absolutely astonishing scene in New Hampshire (which I quote at length because you really need to read enough to be completely flabbergasted):

Just as the president started his speech, protesters, apparently from the Occupy Wall Street protest movement, used the “human mic” technique to amplify their voices. It was unclear what the protesters were saying, or what point they were attempting to make.

The president smiled through the disruption, saying: “No, it's OK,” as other parts of the crowd sought to hush the protesters by chanting his name and old campaign slogan, “Yes We Can.”

“OK, guys,” Obama said after supporters drowned out the hecklers.

“I appreciate you guys making your point; let me go ahead and make mine,” Obama said before continuing his speech. “I'll listen to you, you listen to me, OK?”

A few minutes later, Obama acknowledged the Occupy protest movement again, saying: “You are the reason I ran for office.”

Let me get this straight: a bunch of thugs heckle the president of the United States and then the president tells them, “You are the reason I ran for office.”

Meanwhile, Greg Sargent at the Washington Post reports that leading Democrats are “standing by” Occupy and quotes a fascinating memo from lobbyists at the firm Clark Lytle Geduldig Cranford talking about the Democratic embrace of the movement.

What are these people thinking?

Occupy Wall Street is a dangerous movement that shoves grandmother’s to the ground, urinates on stoops, defecates on cop cars and would like to see the overturn of the capitalist system.

Peter Wehner, like me, has been puzzled by the failure of the president, who has said nice things about Occupy more than once, to take a stand against this movement. He has a theory on why they won’t:  

It could be the president believes there’s a political interest in siding with OWS. But perhaps there’s something else, and something deeper, at play here.

Perhaps the former community organizer and academic has found himself in deep, natural sympathy with OWS and its aims.

Perhaps he sees in the protesters his younger self. Perhaps he sees in them his philosophy, unconstrained by political considerations. Perhaps its agenda is, in many important respects, his.

Hat tip to the Weekly Standard for reporting on the president's astonishing New Hampshire remarks and pointing out the Sargent piece.