Brian Moore takes to the street again

President Obama's speech last week did nothing to allay Brian Moore's hard feelings about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

His group is smaller than it was four years ago when the Iraq conflict was on the minds of many more people, but he still frequently stands along the same busy intersection preaching the same ideas.

Moore said public opinion has shifted dramatically in his favor. He thinks the peace message is resonating further.

"It's overwhelmingly favorable," he said in between honks, waves and cheers of support as he stood at the corner of U.S. 19 and State Road 50.

"I'd say we get support from 75 or 80 percent of the people driving by," said Moore. "It used to be the other way."

Moore, who ran in the gubernatorial primary as a Democrat against Alex Sink, is a long-time political activist known for his anti-war demonstrations and outspoken criticism of politicians on the local and national stage.

He has publically challenged U.S. Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite about what he considers reckless foreign policy at the expense of domestic emergency response. He sends out his own media releases commenting on a bevy of issues, from his opposition to offshore oil drilling to his support of a state-run banking system.

Moore earned 23 percent of the vote in the Aug. 24 primary. He said he was pleased by the showing of support.

Many on the right have accused Obama of only making a half-hearted compliment to President Bush during his televised speech Tuesday. Sitting comfortably on the far left, Moore thinks the president needed to distance himself further from his predecessor. He thinks all of the U.S. troops fighting in that part of the world need to be brought home.

"We're not happy with Obama's so-called pullout of Iraq," Moore said.

He complained there will still be thousands of noncombat troops in a war zone that has already cost more than 4,400 American lives.

Moore has turned a lot of his attention lately to the U.S. combat mission in Afghanistan. That is where he thinks Obama is making his biggest blunder.

"There were 330 Americans who died last month and for what?" he said. "It was the worst month in the nine years we've been in Afghanistan."

Moore was joined Saturday morning by four other anti-war demonstrators. When he first started with his protests, Moore's group spawned a pro-war crowd across the street. They haven't been seen in years.

"It's a criminal action," said activist George Boone as he stood along U.S. 19 with Moore. "This is an attack on a defenseless country that can't possibly hurt the United States of America ... Our government acts like Afghanistan is the only place where terrorists are holed up. Terrorists are everywhere."

On the subject of his recent election, Moore said he would not endorse Sink.

"I don't think Mrs. Sink or (Republican nominee Rick) Scott has the answers on improving our economy ... Both of them only have Republican answers."

Moore's position opposing the federal government's post-9/11 foreign policy has been staunch and clear all along. He said he now feels "vindicated."

He said the $1 trillion spent on both war fronts has contributed to the current woes of the national economy.

Moore, who ran for president in 2004 on the Socialist Party ticket, also thinks Obama has failed to meet expectations.

"He's just as bad as ever," Moore said of Obama. "He's a corporatist. He's being protective of corporations and special interests. I've been very displeased with him as a leader."