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Home Front: Politix
Cindy Sheehan Takes on the Democrats, Hillary Clinton
2005-09-21
Cindy Sheehan, the rising star of the anti-war movement, remembers when people used to think of her as one of those crazy activists, speaking out for a cause, inconveniencing all who stumbled onto her path. She remembers, from her days camped outside President Bush’s ranch in Texas, how some drivers would shout out at her, “Get a job!” Her response was always the same. “I’d say to them, ‘I have a job,’ ” Sheehan explained Monday night at the last of her New York events, at the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine. “I’d say, ‘It’s a full-time job, and it’s to hold George Bush accountable.’ ” With that, the 1200-strong crowd of peace activists, war veterans, ministers, and high-school students went wild.

Sheehan, the mother of an American soldier killed in Iraq, has become the persistent thorn in George Bush’s side and, in the process, an icon for Americans angry with the way the president and his administration is handling the war. Monday night, she drew out the anti-war sentiment in New York, making her last stop in well-publicized three-bus Bring Them Home Now Tour launched from Crawford, Texas, on August 31. The tour has traveled to 51 cities in 28 states.

Audience members packed into the cavernous hall wearing T-shirts with block letters, that read: I SUPPORT CINDY SHEEHAN. BRING OUR TROOPS HOME. Others donned baseball hats, VETERANS FOR PEACE, or carried makeshift signs, CINDY, YES. BUSH, NO. They waited to hear the celebrity guest for an hour, listening to emotional stories of other military families. The message? Don’t keep our troops fighting a war based on lies. Instead, get on the bus and protest in Washington, D.C., the site of a three-day anti-war rally this weekend.

When Sheehan assumed center stage, she kept her focus on Bush, calling him “a liar” whose “reckless, callous, and moronic policies have made our country vulnerable.” Bush, she said, had proven himself a coward who cares little about the troops in Iraq. “I hate to be harsh,” she said, “but we’re not accepting any excuses for not bringing our troops home.”

But Sheehan isn’t stopping her critique with Bush. On the contrary, she has begun to set her sights on Congress and the Democratic Party as well. When she spoke in Brooklyn on the night before, she took note of the fact that Senator Hillary Clinton voted to authorize Bush to use force in Iraq and– like most Senate Democrats–has done little to bring the troops home. Clinton, in fact, has filed legislation calling for more troops.

In an interview after her speech, Sheehan told the Voice she was “so frustrated” by leading Democrats like Clinton “who should be leaders on this issue, but are not.” Already, she has set up a future meeting with New York’s junior senator this weekend. And she plans to sit down with the state’s senior senator, Chuck Schumer, too. “It’s time for them to step up and be the opposition party,” she said. “This war is not going to end unless the Democrats are on board with us.”

Local anti-war activists agree, and are busy strategizing on how to kick up the pressure. “There is a real push to put members of Congress on the hot seat,” says Bill Dobbs, of the New York City chapter of United for Peace and Justice. “It’s one thing to put the blame on Bush for this whole mess, but it’s Congress who has the power to stop it. We’ve got to make them pay a price for keeping this war going.”
Posted by:Steve

#21  #11 hit the mark. Opportunistic lying piece of staggersheepie shite prepared to do whatever it takes to prove herself equal and then better than her Billy whom she loathes and facies herself far above both morally and intellectually. The pair are a good reminder why disingenous, lying, corrupt state politicians need to be cut down at the knees early, especially the somewhat charming ones. Let them flourish and your state's little ugly weed problem becomes the whole nation's burden well beyond two terms.
Posted by: MunkarKat   2005-09-21 23:57  

#20  This smells like a set-up, a Dick Morris-style triangulation stunt in which Hillary's poised as a moderate voice of reason attacked by the Democratic Party's lunatic fringe majority.

My prediction's that Hillary will either go hard left on economic issues as a way of sucking up to the Cindy/Mikey/Galloway groupies or else do a Sindy Souljah sometime next year. Of course, these two maneuvers aren't mutually exclusive....
Posted by: thibaud (aka lex)   2005-09-21 22:14  

#19  DMFD - zactly!
Posted by: Frank G   2005-09-21 19:51  

#18  Hillary won't have a "Sister Souljah" momment till after she gets the nomination. She can't get the nomination w/o the support of the moonbats. She can't win the general election with them. So once she's got the nomination, it'll be time to cut them loose.
Posted by: DMFD   2005-09-21 19:44  

#17  Handle it? Odds are good that the American Avita set the whole thing up.
Posted by: Glith Choger2269   2005-09-21 18:10  

#16  "This is a Sister Souljah moment all set up for Hillary whenever she's ready."

When the time is right, sometime in late '07 through early/mid '08, Hillary is going to be compelled to have that Sister Souljah Moment-- not just with Mother Sheehan, but with all the moonbats: the Michael Moore-ons, the MoveOn.orcs, the Kossacks, Babs, and the drooling foamers at the New York Times as well. Unless the public mood has changed radically by then, she's simply got to do that if her campaign is to be anything other than a collosal waste of time and energy.

But something tells me she can't have that SSM quite yet; I think it would set off a feeding frenzy on the Left that would trash not only Hillary's 2008 chances but the chances for the 2006 congressional candidates as well.

It'll be interesting to see how she handles this.
Posted by: Dave D.   2005-09-21 17:08  

#15  #5 Cindy Sheehan....remembers when people used to think of her as one of those crazy activists
Ummmmmmmmmmmmm...used to?


Yep, today everybody knows she's a stark raving lunatic moron, totally devoid of any hold on reality.
Posted by: Old Patriot   2005-09-21 16:53  

#14  This is a Sister Souljah moment all set up for Hillary whenever she's ready.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis   2005-09-21 16:41  

#13  mmurray821 is spot on: Hillary is a socialist. We saw her true stripes with trying national health care in Willie's first term. She wants big government, she is vindictive.

In her political maneuvering for '08, she sees the Dems cratering because of the uncontrolled graveyard spiral of the LLL. They have taken over the party. So she looks at the polls and sees that the public does not buy that crap. So she positions herself more towards the center to have the public look at her in a more favorable light.

She has shown that she uses others to achieve her ends. She put up with Slick Willie because he was a vehicle for her ambitions. Hey, it's just business, nothing personal.

Sheehan got all the free press she deserves, and then some. The MSM used her and she will soon go into the media dumpster. Hillary knows that she is a loon, so Hillary will ignore her, as the Hildabeast has bigger fish to fry.
Posted by: Alaska Paul   2005-09-21 16:37  

#12  This is going to make life hell for Hillary. Does she cater to the most vocal, nuttiest, Cindyesque part of her support base? Or does she attempt to assure the majority of American voters she might actually be entrusted with the security of the country. Poor Hil!
Posted by: SteveS   2005-09-21 14:36  

#11  Hillary is a socialist and a liberal.
And a power hungry narcissist to boot.
(of course that describes 50% of politicians)
Posted by: mmurray821   2005-09-21 14:12  

#10  ..was a slip she'll regret,..

That would probably make an effective, simple, short commercial in 2008...
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama   2005-09-21 14:04  

#9  "we'll be taking from you for the common good" was a slip she'll regret, and one you can't deny, LH
Posted by: Frank G   2005-09-21 13:56  

#8  The Hil's common ground with Sheehan, et al., is Socialism. If you like to believe that Hillary is not a Socialist, who am I to tell you otherwise.
Posted by: eLarson   2005-09-21 13:50  

#7  Oh, no, she didn't cut Army by a third because of progressivism, she did it just for kicks?
Posted by: Phil Fraering   2005-09-21 13:42  

#6  "When the 'Progressive' feel margainalized they will eat their own"

Hillary and Schumer aren't Sheehans own. Never were.

Go, Hillary, go!!
Posted by: liberalhawk   2005-09-21 12:46  

#5  Cindy Sheehan....remembers when people used to think of her as one of those crazy activists

Ummmmmmmmmmmmm...used to?
Posted by: tu3031   2005-09-21 12:34  

#4  I've got a matchbook if they need one
Posted by: Frank G   2005-09-21 12:30  

#3  It's like political self-immolation.
Posted by: MunkatKat   2005-09-21 12:00  

#2  The democrats have as hard a time controlling their fundamentalists as do the moslems.
Posted by: mhw   2005-09-21 11:49  

#1  "It’s one thing to put the blame on Bush for this whole mess, but it’s Congress who has the power to stop it."

Reminds me of the LGBT crowd that "out" gays in goverment when they don't vote in favor of thier cause. When the 'Progressive' feel margainalized they will eat their own. I say turn on the spotlight and turn up the microphone.
Posted by: DepotGuy   2005-09-21 11:34  

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