or, as Brer Rabbit would say,
"Please don't fling me into the brier patch"
Posted on 08/16/2005 6:45:06 AM PDT by kristinn
CRAWFORD, Texas — At 11 a.m. Monday, Cindy Sheehan's eyes drooped from lack of sleep, she spoke a little slower, and her skin was reddened from more than a week in the intense summer sun.
Since deciding to unfold a lawn chair in a grassy roadside ditch near President Bush's ranch Aug. 6, Sheehan has done nonstop media interviews, spoken at protest events and learned that her husband, Patrick — from whom she was separated — filed for divorce Friday. After a night of reflection, the Vacaville mother of four says she is going to take time to refocus her demonstration on the other families at "Camp Casey" who have lost their sons or daughters to the Iraq war.
The effects of her unrelenting schedule were apparent Monday, and the usually polite Sheehan refused to answer basic questions during a news conference. Sheehan, whose soldier son, Casey, 24, was killed in Iraq in 2004, met with the president once before but did not choose at the time to ask him difficult questions about the war. Now she is demanding another meeting with the president to ask him to explain what she says are the lies about weaponsof mass destruction and other reasons he gave for sending the country into Iraq.
But first, Sheehan acknowledged that the intense appeal for her attention from her supporters and detractors has made her lose sight of her goal: To honor her son's death by demanding answers.
"We have to get back to our original mission and message," she said, sitting in a camping chair on the side of the road.
"This has been an overwhelming week, and I never had a minute to think," she said. "I was letting them pull my strings a little bit, and it's got to stop. I'm in control of my schedule now."
Since her story reached a national audience, Sheehan has seen a number of volunteer and paid organizers from liberal anti-war groups appear to help her manage what has become nonstop requests for her time.
Her journey is far from over. She has vowed to stay put until Bush meets with her in person, or until Aug. 31, when Bush goes back to Washington, D.C.
Sheehan said she slept only an hour Sunday night because she was upset at attacks levied by the right-wing press and talk-radio hosts. She also realized that in the business of her first weekend in Crawford, she got caught up in the events staged by different groups who appeared to help her and had begun to lose sight of why she was there in the first place.
Early Monday morning, after a night of soul-searching, Sheehan said she realized things had gotten out of hand.
While the media attention has evoked an outpouring of support — on Monday there remained a steady flow of well-wishers driving into Camp Casey — it has also spurred attacks from critics who question her motivations. Sheehan's statements over the weekend that she will not pay 2004 taxes and that she sees Israel as an occupying force only fueled her critics' attacks. Most say she is using her son's death to promote a wide-ranging political agenda.
"This last week almost killed me. ... I want the focus off of me now. I'm not the only one in America who wants to answer these questions," she said, referring to other families of soldiers who have been killed in action.
Sheehan has been joined throughout the week by dozens of veterans and family members of some of the 1,854 soldiers killed in the Iraq war.
She has found strength in the tumultuous week of intense public attention.
"I have discovered things about myself that I didn't know. I'm strong, I didn't know that. I'm persistent," she said.
Sheehan did not comment about her impending divorce but said earlier that she was separated from Patrick because the two had philosophical differences. His family members have also written a letter critical of Sheehan's demonstration.
Monday morning, sitting in a camper van with the doors open, Sheehan hugged and took photographs with people who had driven to Crawford to see her. Across the road, three pro-war demonstrators gathered. One played a guitar, singing a song about Sheehan and her supporters "aiding and abetting the enemy." A local rancher drove a red truck wildly through a patch of grass near the camp and parked across the road, blocking traffic.
Secret Service agents ran over to check it out. The rancher, who did not identify himself, said he was tired of the protesters and angry that his complaints to authorities had been ignored. Then he drove away slowly.
A few minutes later a hard rain began to fall, causing the anti-war demonstrators and reporters to duck under a leaky tarp. With no tarp, the few Bush supporters ran to their cars until the brief storm passed.
Despite this roller-coaster ride she has been on, Sheehan has no regrets. She said she would not change a thing.
"I would do it all over again."
Almost is not good enough. Foc her!
"Hey! Hey! Over here! Yoo Hoo! Stop paying so much attention to me!"
But Cindy....Joe Trippi wants the focus ON you. And this is his operation.
Worse yet, the rest of the reactionary left want you not just in the focus, but they want you arrested or injured--think of the propaganda value!--before this is over. You're their martyr. Rather than getting you the psychological help you desperately need, they're putting you in a high-pressure situation, hoping you'll crack. So far, it's working.
It's rather like . . . oh, say Madonna, claiming to be an intensely private person.
The more she talks, the less surprising that is.
If I was a journalist, I'd start asking her more about her views on Israel and Jews. With her not having any sleep, you can surely bet she'll really start telling people what she really believes.
Ah, yup. People here have called her a loon, as if she is some wacked out, crazy person. Wrong! Her statements, in addition to her past actions, reveal that she exactly represets the typical leftist in this country. She is not a loon. She is emblematic of the current thinking of the left.
We were talking about this at work yesterday. Even the lefties I spar with at work are embarrassed. One of them, a close personal freind, says he doesnt like working my shift anymore, because he has nothing reasonable to counter me with..!
"I want the focus off me."
Yeah, once Fox News and a few other reliable news scources start informing the public of what she said and did BEFORE ( like not paying taxes ) all of the sudden, she wants privacy !!!!
Cindy, you made it all about you a long time ago. It's all about you. You made your bed now lie in it! As long as you hog the spotlight, it will be focused on you.!
Early Monday morning, after a night of soul-searching, Sheehan said she realized things had gotten out of hand.
Meaning her PR firm, Fenton Communications told her that her opinions aren't popular so "shut up!".
There was a liberal on Michael Medveds show yesterday who wasn't too impressed with Sheehan. He said she stays in a motel at night.
So "they" were only pulling your strings "a little bit," Cindy?
But at least the woman is now showing she's not entirely deluded. She realizes she's been a puppet for the Left.
This reporter doesn't mention it, but quotes I heard on the radio seemed to indicate that it was Sheehan's "Israel out of Palestine" rants that she now realizes were a mistake.
Good. LOL!
I have no sympathy for Cindy Sheehan....I have sympathy, however, for her son, Casey.
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