Posted on 08/10/2007 5:56:58 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
A tearful Cindy Sheehan cited her son, killed in Iraq, as her inspiration as she announced her candidacy Thursday for the U.S. House against Rep. Nancy Pelosi.
Sheehan last month said she intended to run against Pelosi, the House speaker, if the San Francisco congresswoman didn't move to impeach President Bush by July 23.
Sheehan said Thursday that Pelosi had "protected the status quo" of the corporate elite and had lost touch with people in her district, most of whom, she asserted, want American troops out of Iraq.
Nadeam Elshami, a spokesman for Pelosi, would not comment on Sheehan's candidacy but said the speaker has always opposed the war in Iraq and has focused on bringing troops home "safely and soon."
After her 24-year-old son, Casey, was killed in Iraq in 2004, Sheehan gained international attention by setting up camp outside the president's Texas ranch and demanding to meet with him.
On Thursday, Sheehan said her son inspired her to run against Pelosi, who has represented San Francisco in Congress since 1987.
"The country is ripe for a change," said Sheehan, who spoke at a podium with her son's photograph attached to it. "It's going to start right here and right now."
Sheehan said she would run as an independent on a platform of universal health care, making college affordable and improving ethics in the legislative and executive branches. She did not offer specifics.
The money being spent on the Iraq war should be used to help the country's shrinking middle class, she said.
Sheehan said she had no funds for a campaign but planned to immediately start raising money. She said she wouldn't accept money from corporations.
Daniel Ellsberg, the former high-level Pentagon analyst who in 1969 leaked the Pentagon Papers to Congress and the media and a Sheehan supporter, said Sheehan has a difficult task.
"At the moment, facing a well-funded, powerful incumbent without party support, the odds against Cindy appear insuperable," said Ellsberg, who was arrested twice with other protesters outside Bush's Texas ranch.
"But we plan to change that."
I think I’ll send Cindy a donation, $20 should get me on her mailing list.
Lets all send her a contribution!! She has to be saner than Queen Nancy and won’t have near the power.
:-)
The enemy of my enemy ... and all the rest.
alright everybody time to pony up
Lets see, Sheehan or Pelosi, talk about choice?
“Sheehan said she had no funds for a campaign but planned to immediately start raising money”
It took 2 years plus for her to raise the money to buy a grave marker for Casey. But she’s going to get on this campaign fundraising right away. Yep She’ll fit in well with Ted Kennedy, Bill Clinton and Robert Byrd
maybe hugo chavez will bankroll cindi’s run for the u.s. congress.
si.
today’s papers had pictures of argentina’s kirchner getting $800,000 in cash from hugo.
“That’s not going to happen in San Fransisco.”
You are correct ... however in San Francisco we can always expect a miracle.
:-)
If ya wish to email Comrade Hugo and ask him to help out his main squeeze, here ya go:
hugo.chavez@presedencia.gob.vz
WooHoo! Maybe if Bela Pelosi is busy staving off Cindy’s electoral challenge, she’ll be too occupied to muck things up in Congress
“maybe hugo chavez will bankroll cindi’s run”
Ya know that’s not a half bad idea - I think I’ll volunteer to head up fundraising as I feel a trip to Venezuela coming on.
Spoke too soon. email bounced back. Oh, well.
“Here’s a quarter ...”
Humor of the day
Would they actually allow her to serve wearing tee shirts?
“she’ll be too occupied to muck things up in Congress”
You’ve got it! The outcome doesn’t matter - it’s a velvet monkey wrench - heh - heh.
He’s only 76 years old. A 38 year political career should be enough for retirement though.
That’s what I’d love to see, too.
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