Cindy Sheehan Backlash Grows

Move America Forward ^ | 08/21/2005 | Melanie Morgan

[jan in Colorado]

ping

[bandleader]

Cindy Sheehan ia truly Tragic figure!While I can understand her grief over the loss of her son(Casey),I can also see how SHAMELESSLY she is being manipulated by The Bush Bshing,America-Hating LEFT!!!

[shield]

bttt

[sono]

Peacenik paper fawns over antiwar mom

By Patrick Frey
Patrick Frey runs a blog called Patterico's Pontifications (www.patterico.com).

August 21, 2005

I CANNOT IMAGINE what it would be like to lose my child the way Cindy Sheehan lost her son, Casey, in Iraq. The bereaved mother, who until Thursday had been camped outside President Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas, has every right to protest the war, and her demonstration was certainly news.

But in its apparent zeal to portray Sheehan as the Rosa Parks of the antiwar movement, the Los Angeles Times has omitted facts and perspectives that might undercut her message or explain the president's reluctance to meet with her again.

For example, The Times uncritically reported Sheehan's claim that the president had behaved callously in a June 2004 meeting with her and her husband, refusing to look at pictures of Casey or listen to stories about him. The Times claimed without qualification that Sheehan "came away from that meeting dissatisfied and angry."

But the article failed to mention that Sheehan had previously described Bush as sincere and sympathetic in the meeting. According to an interview with her hometown paper, the Vacaville Reporter, Sheehan had said that although she was upset about the war, she decided not to confront the president — who clearly left a favorable impression: "I now know he's sincere about wanting freedom for the Iraqis…. I know he's sorry and feels some pain for our loss. And I know he's a man of faith."

Of that trip, Sheehan said: "That was the gift the president gave us, the gift of happiness, of being together." In the 11 articles and columns about Sheehan that The Times had run on its news pages as of Friday, there is no hint of her previous praise for the president.

Ironically, columnists Jonathan Chait and Margaret Carlson evidently assumed that The Times had informed its readers about Sheehan's contradictions, and ran columns that unconvincingly tried to reconcile Sheehan's varying versions. But even the Washington Post — no bastion of the fabled vast right-wing conspiracy — saw discrepancies between Sheehan's former and current descriptions of her meeting with the president.

Lending credence to Sheehan's earlier positive account, Newsweek has reported that families in similar meetings have been impressed by Bush's "emotionalism and his sincerity." Inclusion of that fact would certainly have changed the tone of any story about Sheehan in The Times.

Sheehan's changing accounts of her meeting with Bush are relevant to understanding the president's decision not to meet with her again. So are her descriptions of the president in a Dallas speech reported by leftist newsletter Counterpunch as a "lying bastard," a "maniac" and the leader of a "destructive neocon cabal." In an article for CommonDreams.org, she called that supposed cabal "the "biggest terrorist outfit in the world."

She also has turned her son's death into a tax protest, refusing to pay her income taxes for 2004, the year her son died, reportedly saying in the Dallas speech: "You killed my son, George Bush, and I don't owe you a penny." Sheehan's use of such inflammatory rhetoric sheds light on why Bush likely sees little upside in a public confrontation with her. But you would never know about these statements from reading The Times' news pages.

Nor would you learn that Casey Sheehan reenlisted after the war started. And only The Times' April 2004 obituary for the 24-year-old Army specialist noted that he bravely volunteered for the rescue mission in which he was killed by terrorists.

Likewise, while The Times reported that Cindy's husband, Patrick Sheehan, has filed for divorce — which may or may not pertain to her recent activities — it has not mentioned that other members of Sheehan's family have clearly distanced themselves from her protest, as reported in the San Jose Mercury News.

Of course, hundreds of mothers across the country also continue to support the war despite having lost their own sons in Iraq. These mothers have no less moral authority than Cindy Sheehan, but their views have been sorely lacking in The Times' unbalanced coverage of Sheehan's protest.

Also missing is the perspective of Iraqis who lost loved ones to the bloodthirsty reign of Saddam Hussein, during which 300,000 to 1 million civilians were slaughtered. An Iraqi named Mohammed at the blog Iraq the Model (iraqthemodel.blogspot.com) recently explained the importance of that fact, in a moving message addressed to Sheehan: "Your face doesn't look strange to me at all; I see it every day on endless numbers of Iraqi women who were struck by losses like yours. Our fellow countrymen and women were buried alive, cut to pieces and thrown in acid pools and some were fed to the wild dogs….

"I ask you in the name of God or whatever you believe in; do not waste your son's blood."

Sheehan probably would gain more from a single meeting with Mohammed than a second meeting with Bush. Times readers also would benefit from occasional exposure to perspectives such as Mohammed's — as well as the missing facts about Sheehan's antiwar activism.

Rational people can disagree whether the war in Iraq is justified. But a newspaper's job is to report all relevant facts and present different perspectives, not just those that suit one particular viewpoint.

By that measure, The Times has woefully failed its readers with its one-sided coverage of the Cindy Sheehan story.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-op-tent21aug21,0,479855,print.story?coll=la-news-comment-opinions

[ajolympian2004]

Peacenik paper fawns over antiwar mom

By Patrick Frey Patrick Frey runs a blog called Patterico's Pontifications (www.patterico.com).

August 21, 2005

...

Also missing is the perspective of Iraqis who lost loved ones to the bloodthirsty reign of Saddam Hussein, during which 300,000 to 1 million civilians were slaughtered. An Iraqi named Mohammed at the blog Iraq the Model (iraqthemodel.blogspot.com) recently explained the importance of that fact, in a moving message addressed to Sheehan: "Your face doesn't look strange to me at all; I see it every day on endless numbers of Iraqi women who were struck by losses like yours. Our fellow countrymen and women were buried alive, cut to pieces and thrown in acid pools and some were fed to the wild dogs….

"I ask you in the name of God or whatever you believe in; do not waste your son's blood."

Sheehan probably would gain more from a single meeting with Mohammed than a second meeting with Bush. Times readers also would benefit from occasional exposure to perspectives such as Mohammed's — as well as the missing facts about Sheehan's antiwar activism.

Major kudos to this reporter for mentioning 'Iraq The Model' blog in his piece. If folks read that on a daily basis their perceptions on what's actually happening in Iraq will be changed to a more positive opinion.

[sono]

Roger that ...

[Graymatter]

I have held my tongue on the subject of Cindy Sheehan. Anyone who has lost a child is practically entitled to go off the rails, and I believe she has. Lefty or no, I feel great pity for her, and having known the loss of a loved one, I also feel great empathy for her; I made some terrible mistakes too, in the throes of grief. The agony, the rage too, can easily put one around the bend. Having been there, I cannot judge her harshly.
However. It is painfully clear that she is being worked like a puppet. The whole Mother Sheehan Traveling Circus and Salvation Show, is very reminiscent of the Wellstone memorial. Leftists latching on to a tragic mortal condition that should command respect and piety and dignity, and turning it into a tawdry little carnival.
Please. Let this wretched woman grieve, or go mad if she will, in private. Have some decency just once, Liberal Media. She is, after all, a human being, a mother, heartbroken and confused, as anyone can be rendered by life---but you are making sport of her, making her a thousand times more ridiculous than she could make herself alone, amplifying her foolishness and making a mockery of her torment, for the petty purpose of political leverage. For God's sake, quit playing with her, and let her be.
If you do, she may find a little peace.
And it's peace you devils claim to prize above all, isn't it?

[Jim Robinson]

Uh, that thread was posted by a retread troll and was zotted. It's garbage.
Jim

[Jim Robinson]

Thank you very much, ajolympian2004! Great job!!

[JustAmy]

Thank you, Impeach98.

Sure wish I could join the caravan as far as Crawford. Since that is impossible at this time, I will see you in Fresno and join the caravan for the 20 miles to the pit stop.

Hope Freepers everywhere come out to show support for our military.

[JustAmy]

Hey, Lady.

You coming to Fresno to meet the caravan? If so, we'll see you tomorrow.

[eddie willers]

Talk show host Martha Zoller of WDUN 550 AM Atlanta/Gainesville is also heading to Dallas

Yea, Martha!

[Old Sarge]

BAD CINDY

GOOD CINDY

[catroina54]

......some comic relief.....

http://cgi.ebay.com/Magically-Cindy-Sheehan-Appears-on-Baseball_W0QQitemZ5608264953QQcategoryZ1467QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

[jonrick46]

Sheehan the She-witch is the invocation of the Goddess Hecate --the Greek lunar goddess of the crossroads: She is a goddess of three forms: Luna (in the heavens), Artemis (on earth), and Hecate (of the underworld--hell). Hecate is also called the Halloween Goddess and is the witch of the underworld and all that is demonic. She is the goddess of lies. In short, Sheehan is a Moonbat of the moonbattus berkeleyensis specis. (I had fun with this!)

[skr]

Proverbs 26:11 As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly.

[CyberAnt]

"Sometimes those people don't know when to stop, but that's really good for us."


Bingo!! One of the keys as to how the dems operate is what you just said .. they ALWAYS overplay their hand.