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.
We're gonna tie that psychotic terrorist-supporting bitch around their whiny little liberal necks.Like how you punish a dog for killing a chicken, by tying the dead bird around the dog's neck and make it suffer the humiliation of it.
The "Shithan milestone" is going to take them back to the bottom of the turd pile from whence they came!
Suddenly it is 06 and election time, and now they (anti-US socilaist) are concerned about what she says about our President and the the United States of America?
Rhymes with witch and starts with a "B"...
Your right. It is holloween again for the leftist-socialist. Time to put back on their masks, so that no one knows who they really are, while they head to the polls and pull the switch for another so called moderate liberal.
After the election, the masks will come off again, and guess what! 20% of America just voted for leftist-socialist, who hate America, the American people who oppose them, and big American corporations!
Too bad, this time the "shithan" mask has been glued on and cannot be taken off! The American people will not forget who it is that attacks us during a time of war, and is out to hurt our military, while in harms way!
Bingo
And they don't know the difference between 'effect' and 'affect'...
Neither do I. I've gone back and forth between the dictionary definitions and they seem to say the same things. I'd welcome a good explanation of the difference between the two.
affect...a verb, effect...a noun?
When it comes to national security, there is no ground in the greater middle.
I wish the MSM would ignore her. (Yeah, I know; I may as well wish for it to start raining $100 bills...) Then maybe she'd just go away.
Don't go away mad, Cindy.
Just go away.
I disagree. The more these idiots --- Sheehan, Dean, Moore --- are in the news, the worse they make all Leftists and Liberals look. Keep up the ignoble effort, you anti-American traitorous scumbags. You're exposing all RATS for what they really are.
Would the MSM or libs be upset if there were a ticketholder of a Conservative Republican removed or arrested wearing a pro-life t-shirt?
You know the answer.
I know the answer. Wouldn't even be mentioned.
Exactly ,Dog. She is the Dem's 'Mikey'.
"Here Mikey, eat this".
Besides, she doesn't have the benefit of a platoon of speech writers and spin artists. Wanna make a bet? Somebody is helping her. And somebody is funding her. Who paid for her plane ticket to see Chavez? Who paid for her plane ticket to Wash DC for her tantrum last night?
Don't worry, it's a photoshop job.
"When my son was there (in Iraq) I was asking the questions he had but couldn't ask." (Vicky Monk)
Vicky doesn't mind lying about her son's feeling about serving does she?
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/151822_clyke10.html
That "little tremor" wasn't the sound of Cindy Sheehan "losing ground." It was the sound of her jumping the shark, which she's done more often than a skiing stunt man at Sea World. Anyone who is just now starting to suspect that Cindy is nuts has either not been paying attention for the past six months or so, or is out of touch with reality herself.
affect...a verb, effect...a noun?
Correct. Go to the head of the class!
The 90s has Cindy Sheehan.
The liberals have lost major ground. Wavy Gravy was at least semi-entertaining, and actually had some talent.
Veterans for Peace is a communist organization. On Veteran's Day these traitors travel to Cuba to honor fallen communist troops.
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