Posted on 08/20/2009 5:58:30 AM PDT by nickcarraway
That was then. Now, even though the United States still has roughly 130,000 troops in Iraq, and is quickly escalating the war in Afghanistan -- 68,000 troops there by the end of this year, and possibly more in 2010 -- anti-war voices on the Left have fallen silent. No group was more angrily opposed to the war in Iraq than the netroots activists clustered around the left-wing Web site DailyKos. It's an influential site, one of the biggest on the Web, and in the Bush years many of its devotees took an active role in raising money and campaigning for anti-war candidates. In 2006, DailyKos held its first annual convention, called YearlyKos, in Las Vegas. Amid the slightly discordant surroundings of the Riviera Hotel casino, the webby activists spent hours discussing and planning strategies not only to defeat Republicans but also to pressure Democrats to oppose the war more forcefully. The gathering attracted lots of mainstream press attention; Internet activism was the hot new thing. Fast forward to last weekend, when YearlyKos, renamed Netroots Nation, held its convention in Pittsburgh. The meeting didn't draw much coverage, but the views of those who attended are still, as they were in 2006, a pretty good snapshot of the left wing of the Democratic party. The news that emerged is that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have virtually fallen off the liberal radar screen. Kossacks (as fans of DailyKos like to call themselves) who were consumed by the Iraq war when George W. Bush was president are now, with Barack Obama in the White House, not so consumed, either with Iraq or with Obama's escalation of the conflict in Afghanistan. In fact, they barely seem to care. As part of a straw poll done at the convention, the Democratic pollster Stanley Greenberg presented participants with a list of policy priorities like health care and the environment. He asked people to list the two priorities they believed "progressive activists should be focusing their attention and efforts on the most." The winner, by far, was "passing comprehensive health care reform." In second place was enacting "green energy policies that address environmental concerns." And what about "working to end our military involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan"? It was way down the list, in eighth place.
Perhaps more tellingly, Greenberg asked activists to name the issue that "you, personally, spend the most time advancing currently." The winner, again, was health care reform. Next came "working to elect progressive candidates in the 2010 elections." Then came a bunch of other issues. At the very bottom -- last place, named by just one percent of participants -- came working to end U.S. involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan.
It's an extraordinary change in the mindset of the left. I attended the first YearlyKos convention, and have kept up with later ones, and it's safe to say that for many self-styled "progressives," the war in Iraq was the animating cause of their activism. They hated the war, and they hated George W. Bush for starting it. Or maybe they hated the war because George W. Bush started it. Either way, it was war, war, war. Now, not so much.
Cindy Sheehan is learning that. She's still protesting the war, and on Monday she announced plans to demonstrate at Martha's Vineyard, where President Obama will be vacationing.
"We as a movement need to continue calling for an immediate end to the occupations [in Iraq and Afghanistan] even when there is a Democrat in the Oval Office," Sheehan said in a statement. "There is still no Noble Cause no matter how we examine the policies." Give her credit for consistency, if nothing else. But her days are over. The people who most fervently supported her have moved on.
Not too long ago, some observers worried that Barack Obama would come under increasing pressure from the Left to leave both Iraq and Afghanistan. Now, it seems those worries were unfounded. For many liberal activists, opposing the war was really about opposing George W. Bush. When Bush disappeared, so did their anti-war passion.
Cindy Sheehan is supposed to protest the war at some Obama gathering.
I’m sure the media will give her wall to wall all-day coverage.
[/s]
[Cindy Who? Her 15 minutes were up -— January 20.]
It was all about Bush, nothing else. All those “protesters” and protests against “war” were a sham.
We’re a nation of hypocrites. Standing for nothing, but always rooting for “our team”.
“We’re a nation of hypocrites. Standing for nothing, but always rooting for “our team”.”
Speak for yourself.
ping
Well, not so fast. One of the high school textbooks I reviewed in the last few months had a full-page color pic of Cindy Sheehan. Nothing like that of Reagan or Bush, but they made room for Sheehan.
You’re kidding? No, I take that back. As a teacher until 10 years ago, I had to put up with the crap that the textbook companies were putting out to satisfy the liberals who run the California schools.
Even the MSM watchers are noticing the news vacuum by the lapdogs. The seasoned watchers recall LBJ’s Vietnam and the time it took to realize he didn’t have a plan. Young believers are gasping at the lack of passion about a rising death toll and the great backslide. They have years of constant drumming about it and the silence of the Media is deafening.
Cracks are starting to show questions are slipping out. It will only take a couple of reports. Or a little comparison of Obamaservice to the draft and gravity will do the rest.
“Anti-war” is a tactic, not a belief.
However, they left is so hypocritical that it is shameful.
Since she lost her son, I’ve always cut Sheehan some slack. She’s always been one of those Dorothy Day Catholic Social Activists. True she went moonbat, but she publicly expressed thanks when Pres. Bush sent two top White House aids to speak with her in Crawford. Above all I express a certain respect for her consistency and her realization that she was used by the Dems and the Drive byes. It must be shattering, not only to lose a son, but to come to grips with the fact that the people who offered you their support had less interest in your pain than the President you were protesting against.
There is no history with the left, no past present or future.
Horsepuckey. Hypocrisy on the left is not only tolerated but is a respected tactic. See Lenin on "Communist Morality".
Hypocrisy on the right is usually punished. See "read my lips" and comments about "Jorge" Bush.
Byron was on a radio show this morning (Laura Ingraham, maybe) and said that Cindy Sheehan emailed him after reading this article. She basically admitted that she realized she had been used by the Democrats. He said give her credit for sticking to her guns even when she has lost all her allies.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.