Posted on 02/01/2006 2:08:03 AM PST by KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle
Since I saluted her last summer when she took a stand in Crawford, Texas, it seems only fair that I make another public gesture now that Cindy Sheehan has removed one of her "Camp Casey" hiking shoes and stuck her foot firmly in her mouth.
That gesture is to raise a hand and cover up my wincing eyes.
It's not the first time this celebrated and denigrated mother of a fallen soldier has spouted off a bit incautiously. But I cut her a break before. After all, her beloved son Casey died in Iraq while mine is alive and kicking.
Besides, she doesn't have the benefit of a platoon of speech writers and spin artists. And, even with those helpers at his ear, our president has been known to touch his toes to his tongue more than once.
But then, last weekend, Sheehan had her Jane Fonda moment -- one that, like Jane's hey ho to Hanoi, may untie the good she laced together outside Mr. Bush's ranch.
In Caracas, arm in arm with Venezuelan President and "Down with the U.S. empire!" radio show host Hugo Chavez, Sheehan said she agreed with a previous statement made on that show by singer-activist Harry Belafonte. She agreed, she said, that George W. Bush is the greatest terrorist in the world.
Far more interesting than my reaction had to be the reactions of those in Seattle who have worked so hard for so long to legitimately question Mr. Bush's invasion of Iraq and the resulting loss of both civilians and soldiers like 24-year-old Casey Sheehan.
What did they think, I wondered?
Lietta Ruger was careful and thoughtful before weighing in. A military mom and member of Military Families Speak Out, Ruger flew from the Seattle area to Crawford last summer to camp with and support Sheehan. And she says she still believes strongly in Sheehan's original message -- her insistence on an explanation for this war. "That was a question, not a statement," she said. "And we're still looking for an answer."
Ruger believes that Sheehan's stand at Camp Casey nudged much of the nation out of its oblivion over this ill-begotten venture. And she doesn't think Sheehan's radio comment takes anything away from that accomplishment. "But I'm trying to concentrate locally, on the families at Fort Lewis." Ruger said. "And I wouldn't want her (Sheehan) to go there and deliver that message. (The one calling the president the world's greatest terrorist)."
"Military culture says that, while we respect our leaders, we may also question them. But calling them terrorists moves the line," she said.
To his credit, Mike Dedrick didn't mince words where others in the peace movement demurred. A member of Veterans for Peace and a counselor with the GI Rights Hotline, he said a lot of people agree with Sheehan and Belafonte. On Web sites and blogs, lots of people think the president is spreading, not fighting terrorism and are calling for Bush's impeachment.
"Her (Sheehan) comments don't change the fact that we were lied to by George Bush," Dedrick said. "She's entitled to her opinion."
Former Green Party candidate Kara Ceriello admits she was surprised by the "pretty extreme" Belafonte comment seconded by Sheehan. She still loves and admires Sheehan for her Texas stand and believes, full-bore in free speech. But, like Ruger, she thinks better, more careful words sway more people than incendiary name-calling bombs.
"It's important to speak your mind but it's also important to effect change," she said.
Finally, former peace activist and military mom Vicky Monk said that, like me, she winced when she saw the words Sheehan used from her international platform.
Monk has separated herself from Military Families Speak Out since her son came home from Iraq. She's concentrating on his needs now.
She said she was troubled by being pressured to make more radical statements than she was comfortable with when she did travel to speak against the war to Japan and elsewhere. While her politics are conservative, "I have some criticisms about Bush and more important, questions about this war," Monk said. "When my son was there (in Iraq) I was asking the questions he had but couldn't ask. But some of the things people say really disturb me. When they talk in terms of extremes they're really losing people in that greater middle."
I don't know how many still straddle the middle when it comes to Iraq. Dedrick of Veterans for Peace says people were already about as polarized as they could get over the war long before Sheehan spoke on the radio.
But I heard a little tremor when she blasted the already overdeployed T-word at the president last weekend. It was the sound of Cindy Sheehan -- but hopefully not the cause for peace -- losing ground.
Oh, no they don't. We're gonna tie that psychotic terrorist-supporting bitch around their whiny little liberal necks.
I feel sorry for Shehaan in a way...She's like a not to bright kid and and all the big Lib kids are making her do tricks...."Here Cindy, eat this bug."...."Hey Cindy, go into that old mans yard and see what happens...OK?"
Besides, she doesn't have the benefit of a platoon of competent speech writers and spin artists.
I fixed it for her. No need for her to thank me.
Yep. They wanted her and they've got her.
Cindy needs a shrink. It's all about her, all the time. ME ME ME.
Obviously without an editor...
"Ruger believes that Sheehan's stand at Camp Casey nudged much of the nation out of its oblivion over this ill-begotten venture.
How do you 'nudge' anything, much less a nation, 'out of its oblivion'?
I'll give you odds all the people involved with saying and reporting this stuff have 'degrees'.
"It's important to speak your mind but it's also important to effect change," she said.
And they don't know the difference between 'effect' and 'affect'...
"Besides, she doesn't have the benefit of a platoon of speech writers and spin artists."
Neither did MLK...and his task was a little harder....
Damn, she ugly!
"Ruger believes that Sheehan's stand at Camp Casey nudged much of the nation out of its oblivion over this ill-begotten venture."
Since when is putting a stop to Saddam and ending his filling of mass graves an "Ill-begotten" venture?
As George Orwell wrote, pacifists are hypocrits. They only pay attention to "innocents" when it supports their political cause and turn a blind-eye to the rest.
They may be backing away from Sheehan but only because she is their true face. And they don't want us seeing what they're actually about.
Is that a flag draped coffin she is resting her filthy feet upon? What an ignorant ass!
Cindy need terrorism lessons, because she does not know the meaning of the word. She needs to spend a few months in Palestine, watch a few people tortured and executed in the streets for being political opponents to the standing leaders.
Then she will understand how pampered of a life she leads, and how much of a fool she has made of herself.
If she lives, for she would be killed slowly in Palestine for her mouth.
Well, they have reached that point in the show where it "Jumps the shark". The rest is downhill.
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