Anyway, let’s run through a few points.

Mitchell writes:

Attempting to bolster this argument, Goldberg charged the boomers aren’t even in touch with the facts: namely, the Vietnam war wasn’t among the most unpopular in our history. His one piece of evidence: someone named Sol Tax of the University of Chicago who apparently claimed, in a 1968 study, that Vietnam ranked as only “the fourth or seventh least-popular war in American history.”
Ignore for a moment the imprecision (fourth or seventh?) and consider when this ranking took place: 1968, well before most of the country turned against the war. I realize that Goldberg is a youngish man, but really, he should know his Vietnam history a little better. Then again, he didn’t live through the conflict (as baby boomers did).

The complaint about imprecision is fair enough. It stems from the fact that Sol Tax’s study measured some wars which might not count to some, including some Indian wars and the Civil War.

There’s obviously other evidence to bolster my point, I just thought the Tax point was interesting. But if Mitchell needs more, he might have read more closely. I did mention that “large numbers of young people support[ed] the war.” This was not a throwaway line. Young Americans who didn’t attend college were often the wars strongest supporters according to Gallup. A majority of them supported the war in the late 1960s. I picked 1968 for the simple reason that this was when the study was conducted. I wish it had been updated in 1975, but I couldn’t find it. If Mitchell can stop for a moment patting himself on the back for the great accomplishment of simply existing during the war, he might recognize that 1968 was pretty significant year, what with the Chicago convention and the repercussions of LBJ’s decision not to run for President. But yeah, I’m sure he remembers the war as super-popular in ‘68.