The Pittsburgh Channel – Cindy Sheehan — who’s 24-year-old soldier son, Casey, died in Sadr City in 2004 — started the vigil Aug. 6. She said she’ll stay through Bush’s month-long vacation unless he agrees to a meeting.
And now, a local elected official is joining her cause.
State Sen. Jim Ferlo booked a flight and took off for Crawford, Texas, this weekend. He’s met with Sheehan. But she says she’s not leaving the road outside the president’s ranch until she gets to talk with him.
It’s getting crowded. In fact, a circus-like atmosphere is beginning to appear in the news coverage of the demonstration.
I still can’t understand why this protest by Sheehan is worthy of anything more than the most casual mention in the media. She is demanding to meet with President Bush to “get answers” about the war. The problem is that a) she’s already met with the President once and b) the “answers” she wants are to questions like “Why did you murder my son?” and “Why are the Jews the real terrorists?” Why should the President subject himself to that?
Of course, you’re not going to read much about the Jewish conspiracy nonsense Cindy Sheehan is spewing in any major media outlet. After all, journalists wouldn’t want you thinking that Cindy is out of her gourd or anything. They’d like you to think that she’s a nice old lady who just wants to sit down and have a pleasant, perhaps tearful chat with the President. “The Jews are the real terrorists” rhetoric just doesn’t fit into that picture.
Many would probably say that Sheehan is in the spotlight because she is the mother of a fallen soldier and is worthy of our attention. But if that’s true, why don’t the parents who support the war and their children’s sacrifice getting this kind of attention? There’s plenty of them out there.
I guess we’re all going to have to sit back and watch as the media spins Cindy’s spittle-flecked tirades and over-the-top hyperbole into “heart wrenching” fodder for endless media stories. Not because Cindy Sheehan is doing anything constructive, but because it feels good to make the President look evil.
By Rob Port of Say Anything.
“Cindy Sheehan has the same moral authority that all of us do, and her loss has no bearing on whether the war was just or not. What’s going on here is akin to what went on with the Million Mom March; the MSM is floating the absurd notion that motherhood grants some kind of moral authority that trumps everything else. It doesn’t.”
(Bill Ramey)
That is entirely correct, although not correctly entire. In point of fact, she isn’t a “mother” anymore. What she is trying to claim was lost to her on the day that her son decided — on his very own natural authority — to commit his life as an instrument of national policy.
Her grief is understandable.
Her refusal to acknowledge her son’s moral authority is contemptible, and borders insanity.
FROM: http://www.two–four.net/weblog.php?id=P1806
Wow, he died in Sadr City? I didn’t know that. Sadr City is actually mellow now. So the idea that her son died for nothing is even less tenable.
This shows two things:
(1) the national news medis turned into a giant supermarket tabloid several years ago
(2) “man bites dog” is news, “dog bites man” is not news.
Oh, and I suppose one might also might add (3) media bias? (but we already knew that, right?)
Kos wrote a song about Mother Sheehan.
“Why this protest by Sheehan is worthy of anything more than the most casual mention in the media?”
(1) It makes Chimpy look bad, and this is good, because
(2) We press people hate Chimpy! Hate Him! because
(3) The rotten so-and-so makes us come to Texas! In August! and a piddly little town at that!
Make sense now?
This could be the new storyline for Team America 2. Mother Cindy, pimps her dead son and bring an end to all wars and solves global warming. I can see Cindy and Sean Penn already.
I still can’t understand why this protest by Sheehan is worthy of anything more than the most casual mention in the media.
She’s the mascot for everyone, everywhere who is against the war.
A big, foam-headed mascot.
What Jim said.
The only people the media are getting to buy into this are those who already should be riding the short bus.
The MSM is just proving what most people already believe.
The average person is getting tired of this, let alone neo-con ChimpyBushitlerMcHalliburton types like myself.
‘“You get America out of Iraq and Israel out of Palestine and you’ll stop the terrorism,” Sheehan declares.’
I think everyone is missing her point. She’s not saying that we’re the terrorists, she saying that the presence of Israelis in the Palestinian territories (in violation of UN resolutions) and American’s in Iraq, incites terrorism by Arabs. On the other hand, her comments about Bush as a “war criminal” are in reference to all of the innocent Iraqi civilians who have died in his war, since they would not have died if Bush had not invaded Iraq. Besides, did anyone even notice that most of her comments have been taken out of context?
I think she’s right to a degree. Every day that Israel occupies the Palestinian territories illegally, the the Palestinians will fight back the only way they can – through terrorism, since they don’t have the tanks and fighter aircraft that Israel has to do it’s fighting with. Also, Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction or links to terrorism before the war, so our presence their now is only inciting more Arabs to join the terrorists. But now that we’re in this shit (for the wrong reasons), we have no choice but to fight and win, because our defeat will only embolden the terrorists to come after us even more.
I don’t agree with her end goal, since we can’t leave Iraq without winning now. But she’s right about Bush’s mistakes leading up to the war – no weapons of mass destruction – no links to terrorism.
Also, “fighting them there so you don’t have to fight them here”, has to be the dumbest argument I’ve ever heard. Our presence in Iraq has only swelled the ranks of the terrorists and certainly won’t deter them from attacking us here at home. After all, the Palestinians have been fighting terrorism for decades and their “war on terror” has got them nowhere, after all their leaving Gaza now, right?
someone on this thread mentioned chimps…
is there really going to be a pair of chimps in texas biting her tits off?
studentrights … go back to kos and atrios and do your homework again. Your talking points are supposed to say that Saddam was not involved with 9-11. However, you chose the “no links to terrorism” phrasing, which is, quite simply, demonstrably false.
I DO notice that Cindy Sheehan is no longer grimacing and crying through the tears, but now regarding herself as “chosen” by the “universe,” as “a spark”.
I think what can be easily seen is that this woman’s emotional problems have been somewhat ameliorated by massive attention…thus, proving my original estimation of her and that was that she was suffering and still is some sort of emotional, psychological disorder. Her son, an extension of her ego (she’s made a big deal about having given birth to him but also having NURSED HIM FOR TWO YEARS…not something a balanced individual would be saying, is my point, to make any other point publicly other than the poor child is not separate egotistically from her perceptions, but some sort of element she’s sent out into the world, herself or rather her own “suffering” going forth)…and now that she’s receiving the public support necessary, she’s glowing in enjoyment of her self gratification. It’s not celebrity nuttiness, it’s truly some sort of emotional disorder that left her in emotional chaos, in need of just this type of emotional chaos and on this scale to even get her back to her sense of ‘center’ (not ours, but hers, thus, she’s now regarding herself as “a spark chosen by the universe…”).
I can barely believe her substantial disturbance. No wonder she’s targeted the President of the United States: it’s the equivalent of importance for her to strike at and down inorder to find that “spark” position “as chosen by the universe.”
Let’s see…Charles Manson thought he was “chosen”…Mohammed Atta thought he was “chosen”…the list is a long one of mentally ill people with Cindy Sheehan’s same delusions and equally distraught when they were faced with the possibility of not being regarded (by others) as being so special as to be “the spark chosen by the universe.”
The Secret Service is very, very right to keep Cindy Sheehan and those she’s interacting with in a very good focus. As are others she is targeting.
I don’t use the word, “targeting,” lightly.
Here’s the reality of who the little glowworm actually is…pretty astoundingly corrupt individual, as to lack of any moral authority: April 27 comments before she was sure anyone was “really” listening.
I can’t believe this woman ever affiliated as a “Catholic group leader,” whatevertheheck that means. I’m a Catholic, and that’s my outrage at this person…I mean, reading her very words, listening to her, watching her behaviors, she’s a corrupt individual.
Nice work by The Pittsburgh Channel to have a typo in their lead sentence (“who’s”). Surely that engenders trust in their reporting.
“Let’s see…Charles Manson thought he was “chosen”…Mohammed Atta thought he was “chosen”…the list is a long one of mentally ill people….”….like George Bush, who thought he was “chosen” when thinking that God wanted him to be President?
studentrights:
“…since they (Iraqis) would not have died if Bush had not invaded Iraq.”
Yes, because they would have been in the loving, gentle arms and embrace of Saddam Hussein.
You make a case for letting teachers bring back the use of the ‘board of education’ in class again…
The President doesn’t need anyone to prove that he’s evil. He does that well enough as it is.
http://www.votetoimpeach.org/
http://www.impeachbush.tv/
http://www.impeach-bush-now.org/
http://zzpat.tripod.com/cvb/
http://www.thefourreasons.org/
Start calling her “that lady”. Hannity made a comment that her name was mentioned by the MSM thousands of times. I’m going to start calling her “that lady” from now on just to avoid helping them out.
I bet Air America is relieved she’s taken the attention off them, just when that scandal was beginning to hit the MSM.