Posted on 06/04/2007 9:49:57 AM PDT by kellynla
If there is one lesson we can all learn from Cindy Sheehan, it’s that the dirty world of politics will embrace your hardships and monopolize them indefinitely. With the Democratic-controlled House and Senate recently approving billions for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, it is no wonder that America’s most famous peace activist is returning home. After several years of frustrating and exhausting protest work, Sheehan is relinquishing her role as the anti-war leader. She says she is done being the “face” of the movement and plans to return to her family life to “try and be normal.” Sadly, she returns home having worked hard, but accomplishing nothing.
In a 1,245-word missive entitled "Goodbye Attention Whore" posted on the liberal Daily Kos blog, Sheehan formally ended her stance as the face of the anti-war movement on Saturday, May 26th, saying her campaign to end the war in Iraq had strained her relationship with her children, cost her a marriage, and left her nearly penniless. Her letter openly proclaims her discontent and disillusionment with the Democratic Party and the realization that she was being used for votes, by slandering and protesting against the Bush administration.
Sheehan makes it clear that she still opposes war and power mongers who insist on continuing it. Indeed, she saves the harshest of words in her farewell message for these men and women who "move them (United States soldiers) around like pawns on a chessboard of destruction" and are “worried more about elections than people." Naturally, this includes the Democrats as well as the Republicans; the former being the core of Sheehan's dejection. She put her heart and soul in the Democratic Party as a way to effectively fight for justice for her son. She believed the Democrats were different because they played an active role in her protests. Now that they have proved her otherwise, she is ready to give it all up and, by doing so, hand the forces of war a victory that they will surely relish.
Sheehan, who watched her 24-year-old son Casey go off to war and never return, gave up her life, her family, and her soul to organize Americans in the fight against President Bush and his war tactics. One can only imagine the pleasure this Administration is partaking in as they no longer have to worry about another pesky war-casualty mother.
We can undoubtedly expect cries from Democrats defending the Party and exclaiming their discontent with the Iraq war. We can assume they will claim theirs is not the party of war, so she should hang in there with them. However, with the 2008 elections coming up, we should expect the highest Democratic leaders and elected types to remain silent about Sheehan, leaving supportive cries from party rank and file, as Sheehan pointed out in her letter.
In her “resignation” letter, Sheehan directs her anger and frustration at the so-called leadership of the anti-war movement. “I have also tried to work within a peace movement that often puts personal egos above peace and human life. This group won't work with that group; he won't attend an event if she is going to be there.... It is hard to work for peace when the very movement that is named after it has so many divisions."
Sheehan clearly allowed her conscience to be clouded by those who do not possess the drive and energy she did and allowed herself to become disheartened. After being routinely abused by both conservatives and liberals and accused of being an "attention whore", it is no wonder that the face plate of the anti-war campaign has shut herself out so abruptly.
The most poignant paragraph in Sheehan's statement begins with her sad acknowledgment that her son died for absolutely nothing. One can only imagine the emotions that come from this realization, the constant grief for having lost a child, and having her vigilant reputation so strongly assaulted. Her discovery that "(her son) Casey died for a country which cares more about who will be the next American Idol than how many people will be killed in the next few months" was difficult.
Was Cindy Sheehan a naïve puppet for the Democrats, anti-war mongers and other leftist groups? Unequivocally yes! The Democrats have consistently shown their true colors in this Iraq war. They have no backbone to stand on, they flip-flop on stances, and they have never offered a true alternative or valid exit strategy. Simply put, they are just thankful the botched war enabled them to win back Congress. And no doubt, they are hoping it can win them the White House in 2008 as well.
If there is one thing Sheehan has done, albeit unintentionally, it is to expose the Democratic Party’s shortcomings, thus leaving the American people in continuous wonder of exactly where this great nation is headed - and who will be leading it.
I don’t believe Cindy Sheehan was a naive puppet for the Democrats, I too like those at the Daily Kos, believe Cindy Sheehan is an “attention whore”, and the only reason Cindy is bad mouthing the Democratic Party is because they are not giving her as much attention as she wants. I will probably never take up for the Democratic Party again, but on this they are right.
The beginning of the end for Cindy Sheehan may have been when she called out Hillary Clinton on her continued support of the war effort. That action, plus sideshows such as her visit to Hugo Chavez in Venezuela, made Cindy seem like part of the lunatic fringe rather than part of the Democratic party efforts.
Her SON gave up life. So that she, and we, could speak freely.
Gee Cindy, was this your first experience with liberals? Hypocrisy, narcissism, and intolerance are their Holy Trinity.
She’ll be back.
bye Cindy don't let the door hit you on the way out.
Williams has gone over to the DARK SIDE with his comments about how the Administration is taking pleasure at not having a mom who’s lost her son bugging them anymore!! I don’t know how to cut and paste the exact words, but it’s in about the third paragraph!
I don't believe that 'this Administration' lost a moment of sleep over Ms. Sheehan and her crusade against them in the first place. Nor do I believe that 'this Administration' is taking any particular pleasure in her withdrawal from the protest trail. They are bigger people than that.
I agree with Armstrong Williams on practically everything he said in this piece except for the “botched war” comment.
Mr. Williams has fallen into the LSM trap that the war is "botched." Quite the contrary, true the Bush administration has done a less than exemplary PR job of relaying the wartime successes in Iraq but to say that the war is “botched” is just inaccurate.
The main problem has been in Baghdad. And if I were Bush I would tell the Sunnis & Shiites to settle their differences or we will pull back to northern Iraq where the Kurds are enjoying their freedom and prosperity while we keep a strategic base in Iraq without being in the middle of Sunnis/Shiite foreign and/or domestic conflicts.
The Sunnis & Shiites need to “take out their own trash.”
And NOW!
JMHO
I'm sure that if the press was still following her around like they were she would still be out there. They leeched what they needed from her and she's no longer needed so...see ya!
So this Dolt finally figured out that Dems never gave a shit about her or her crusade. NOW MOVE OUT OF MY COUNTRY CINDEE!!!
“Her SON gave up life. So that she, and we, could speak freely.”
THANK YOU!
The Lefties had a new star in Ugly Rosie every single day on the View, so they threw the old hag under the bus.
Good. I wish I could be as gracious as our Kristinn, but I am a mother of a USMC, and I hope that witch rots in hell.
Appearing with that ugly little toad from Caracas was her “jump the shark” moment. It linked her and the entire antiwar movement with the lunatic left.
He's definitely sympathetic to her in this piece.
I wrote to ellis henican of newsday[he appears on fox as the liberal du jour]about what were the demofascists going to do with sheehan when her star power flamed out.He assured me as a good open hearted liberal that that would never happen.they would comfort her in her time of need.now she’s penniless,divorced,and her children hate what she’s done to the memory of her son,who did died heroically as part of a rapid deployment force to save other soldiers who had been ambushed.I don’t hate the woman.and as a christian she has my sympathy.but she brought it on herself.maybe she can get sharpton to put up few bucks to keep her from becoming homeless.
si vis pacem,parabellum.
I wrote to ellis henican of newsday[he appears on fox as the liberal du jour]about what were the demofascists going to do with sheehan when her star power flamed out.He assured me as a good open hearted liberal that that would never happen.they would comfort her in her time of need.now she’s penniless,divorced,and her children hate what she’s done to the memory of her son,who did died heroically as part of a rapid deployment force to save other soldiers who had been ambushed.I don’t hate the woman.and as a christian she has my sympathy.but she brought it on herself.maybe she can get sharpton to put up few bucks to keep her from becoming homeless.
si vis pacem,parabellum.
She was a puppet for the DNC. When she criticized Hillary, her usefulness ended and they knifed her in the back.
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