What's it for?

Protein Wisdom writes:

To be clear: these “grievances” on parade are not the point of the protests, at least, not to those who are orchestrating all this. Instead, the point of the protests is to con weak-willed pragmatic panders like Romney, or weak-willed and frightened “leaders” like Eric Cantor and John Boehner, to allow for the grievances, to sympathize with them, to begin speaking in the language of the left’s carefully crafted narrative, and to make concessions while remaining constantly on the defensive.

I disagree. I think the point of the protests, and the Democrats' support of them boils down to this:

More importantly, the poll shows that the enthusiasm gap between Republican and Democratic voters continues to expand. Almost two thirds of Republicans describe themselves as either extremely or very enthusiastic about voting in 2012 (38% and 26%, respectively), a slight increase from June’s results (38% and 23%). [...]

Democratic enthusiasm has moved in the opposite direction. The new poll shows 21% and 22% extremely or very enthusiastic about voting, respectively, which puts the combination below a majority for the first time since the midterms. [source: Hot Air]

There is undoubtedly energy and vigor in the protests, and the Dems know that is exactly their weakness at the moment. They are willing to sign on to these protestors because 1) they whole-heartedly agree with their hatred of capitalism and the disgust of actually having to repay student loans, and 2) they are desperate for some enthusiasm going into 2012.