By now you’ve all heard of Cindy Sheehan, the Gold Star mother (for those who don’t know, Gold Stars are issued to families who have lost loved ones in wartime), who is camped outside of Bush’s ranch in Crawford, Texas, and refuses to leave until he takes time out of his extended vacation (yet another one) to meet with her and answer her questions about why we’re in Iraq. She lost her son to this meaningless war, so some folks (myself included) think that she deserves some answers.
Hell, the smart thing for this asshole to do would be to meet with her, because then the STORY WOULD GO AWAY. But no, this administration is too fucking stupid to realize that. Instead, they stonewall, keeping a mother who lost her son standing outside the gates of privilege….seemingly oblivious to the PR nightmare that this is creating for them. The proxies on the Neo-Con right, O’Reilly, Limbaugh, et. al. have the audacity to launch smear attacks against this woman. It’s disgusting. However, what can you expect from people that attacked a public critic by outing an undercover agent who’d spent her career working to protect us from weapons of mass destruction….or smearing a Silver Star/Purple Heart veteran who volunteered to fight in Vietnam? Why should we expect them to “play nice” with the mother of a dead soldier?
Cindy Sheehan has actually started blogging from her vigil outside of the ranch. The blog is hosted by the Huffington Report, and this is the latest entry. Viggo Mortensen apparently came to visit her yesterday. Chalk up another reason why I think that man is great.
She’s the real hero here, though. She’s lost a child, and is demanding some accountability from her leaders. I wish there was something that I could do for her.
I’m so with you on this one. (Surprise, surprise.) It’s been made perfectly clear for years, “our” President feels no moral obligation to any citizens of the United States unless they are in lock-step agreement with him. Question him? Disagree with him? Have the audacity to want to talk to him, or worse, to expect accountability from him? You don’t even exist in his world! Expect him to take a break from his five-week vacation (because all that thinking about Iraq every day is “hard work”) when the very soldiers fighting the war that allows him to wrap himself in the title “Commander in Chief” find themselves facing extended tours in the combat zone? That falls under “Anti-American” as far as the right wing nutjobs are concerned!
Hooray for Cindy Sheehan for calling bullshit on this farce, for turning her grief into a spotlight on this shameful administration.
I think I am just done. The american dream is dead, and I just can’t find a reason to care anymore. If I start to think about it I just get so sick I want to throw up.
The proxies on the Neo-Con right, O’Reilly, Limbaugh, et. al. have the audacity to launch smear attacks against this woman.
Don’t forget this jewel from Michelle Malkin:
“I can’t imagine Army Spc. Casey Sheehan would stand for his mother’s crazy accusations that he was murdered by his commander-in-chief, rather than the Iraqi terrorists who ambushed his convoy. I can’t imagine Army Spc. Casey Sheehan would stand for a bunch of strangers glomming onto his mother’s crusade and using him to undermine the war effort as they shouted “W killed her son” in front of countless TV cameras.”
My jaw just absolutely dropped when I read that.
I wish there was something that I could do for her.
Here you go, man. If you’ve got a day or so to spare, just showing up, even for only a couple hours, is the best support you can show. I’ll even chip in towards the gas money if you do go.
That’s the problem. With a 15-year-old daughter starting school this week, I don’t have the day or so to spare. I really wish I did.
I know exactly what you mean. I’ve got three kids myself and both the wife and I are in school right now. Time is a very precious commodity around here.
I’ve been searching for anyone taking up a collection to get them supplies, but haven’t had much luck so far. The best thing we can do is post on our blogs, write our newspapers and come to her defense whenever anyone tries to run her down.
It’s Michelle Malkin, she has to be a crazed bitch with advanced rabies.
Casey Sheehan volunteered. Casey Sheehan knew the dangers. His mom had a normal reaction to his death, and while at her most vulnerable became the victim of people who will do most anything to get at their enemies. Cindy Sheehan lost a son, but the crime against her is being perpetrated by her so-called friends.
She needs time alone with (real) friends and family. Not that crowd of attention junkies and ego grifters. Time to grief and recover. Time to remember. Time the lampreys and leeches can’t afford to give her.
Cindy Sheehan is being abused, and it’s by people who claim it’s all for a good cause.
Gareth, you do find the time go. I have the feeling this whole thing well continue for some time to come.
I say this not because I know you’ll find people of like mind and agreeable perceptions, but because I know you’ll find people that’ll remind you of the worst posters to RPG net or The Forge. Small minded, immature, lazy, fuck facts stupid. And they are the leaders.
As I posted below, Cindy Sheehan is getting metaphorically ass raped by her so-called friends.
I disagree with the whole “she’s being abused by her friends” thing…that’s just a soft-ball tactic to make it sound like she’s not the one in control.
Her son died on April 4th. She DID spend time alone with family and friends, for months. After 4 months of mourning, she headed to Crawford on her own, with the full support of her immediate family. She is not some dupe being manipulated. Unfortunately, the whole “she’s being used by the Left” is the latest tactic that has come down from the Neo-Con groupthink, and unfortunately, otherwise reasonable people are buying into it.
Meanwhile, Bush takes a two-hour bike ride yesterday, and when asked why he did that rather than sparing an hour to meet with Mrs. Sheehan, his response was that “it’s also important for me to go on with my life.”
And just like her son, Cindy Sheehan also volunteered. I’ve seen her post on dailykos.com for months before she went down to Texas. No one forced her to do that. Lifetime NRA member Michael Moore did not hold a gun to her head and force her to post on his website or go down to Crawford. Everything she’s done is of her own volition and she can quit at any time.
Now I know people grieve in different ways. It took me 12 years to get over the death of my father. But Casey Sheehan died over a year ago. That’s enough time for just about anyone to get over the debilitating aspect of grief and to get good and pissed off. That’s what happened with Cindy Sheehan and it has the Republicans scared.
They are desparate to portray Cindy as being used by the Vast Left-wing Conspiracy. Otherwise, it shows that one person can get angry enough, fight back and win. Enough people get inspired by Cindy’s struggle and fight back and the entire Republican Machine crumbles.
At this point, I’ll just let Cindy speak for herself about how she has put herself out in the forefront.
Actually, I just noticed that he died in April 2004, so it wasn’t 4 months, it was 16 months.