Media Matters sets the record straight on Cindy Sheehan

[Sapphire Blue]

Cindy Sheehan "changed her story on Bush"? Tracking a lie through the conservative media

Cindy Sheehan, mother of a soldier killed in Iraq, has drawn significant media attention for staging an anti-war protest outside President Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas, where she is demanding to meet with the president. On August 8, Internet gossip Matt Drudge posted an item on his website, the Drudge Report, in which he falsely claimed that Sheehan "dramatically changed her account" of a meeting she had with Bush in June 2004; Drudge attempted to back up his false assertion by reproducing Sheehan quotes from a 2004 newspaper article without providing their context. After the story appeared on the Drudge Report, it gained momentum among conservative weblogs and eventually reached Fox News, where it was presented as hard news and in commentaries. Media Matters for America will examine how one false story on an Internet gossip site ended up the focus of prime-time cable news coverage.

Drudge's August 8 item claiming that Sheehan had changed her story used quotes from a June 24, 2004, article in The Reporter of Vacaville, California, where Sheehan lives. The Reporter article described a meeting that Sheehan and 16 other families of soldiers killed in Iraq had with Bush in Fort Lewis, Washington, earlier that month. Sheehan's son, Army Spc. Casey Sheehan, was killed in Iraq in April 2004.

Drudge quoted Sheehan seemingly speaking glowingly of Bush: "'I now know sincere about wanting freedom for the Iraqis,' Cindy said after their meeting. 'I know he's sorry and feels some pain for our loss. And I know he's a man of faith,' " and, "For the first time in 11 weeks, they felt whole again. 'That was the gift the president gave us, the gift of happiness, of being together,' Cindy said." Drudge contrasted these quotes to Sheehan's statements on the August 7 edition of CNN's Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer, in which she said, of the 2004 meeting with Bush: "We wanted to use the time for him to know that he killed an indispensable part of our family and humanity."

Drudge, however, took Sheehan's quotes from The Reporter out of context in falsely claiming a shift in her position. The June 24, 2004, Reporter article also quoted Sheehan expressing her misgivings about Bush and the Iraq war:

Continued @ http://mediamatters.org/items/200508100009

[sniffa]

1. the president fucks goats

i can just make shit up too.

fuckers

[Fovea]

2. OMG!!!!

Jeff Gannon is a goat?

[NorCalDem]

3. Hahaha, hilariousness abound! n/t

[sniffa]

6. his nickname was "the pet goat"

:think:

[Jackpine Radical]

12. I thought it was "the goat petter."

[sniffa]

13. i thought you said, "gepetto"

ie: karL rove. doh!

[Clark2008]

15. You made me spit out beer!!

:rofl:

And spitting out beer is a tragedy!!

:rofl: Gepetto! :rofl:

[louis-t]

4. Doesn't matter, the right-wing machine

will never give up on a lie. They will be ending every sentence with this for the next year.

[Name removed]

5. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[immoderate]

7. Sounds like you didn't really read the full article.

Can you accept that Cindy was dazed by events and trying to be circumspect in her remarks? And that as her questions were stonewalled and the 9-11 Commission failed to get the whole story, her anger has crystallized?

I don't think her motives are mercenary, but if she decides to write a book and it does make her a million dollars, she deserves it and I'd be happy for her.

But I don't think that's on her mind now. Those that have witnessed the deprivations of the Bush administration, are right to be cynical, but that's not where Cindy is coming from.

Oh yeah, and welcome to DU!:hi:

--IMM

[Sapphire Blue]

10. And all the book deals & money in the world won't bring Casey back.

From what I've read & heard of Cindy over the past year or so, I think she would give her own life for her son's... but since she can't do that, she is doing what she can in her son's memory. I respect this woman so very much and support her 1,000%!

[immoderate]

11. Don't know if you got to read the post I was replying to....

But I agree with you completely, Sapphire Blue. I am impressed with Cindy.

The person I was writing to had 1 post, and was apparently trolling.

He didn't last very long.

--IMM

[Sapphire Blue]

14. Nah, I missed that post... can't say I'm sorry, though.

I was adding my support for Cindy to your post... while commenting on whatever insensitive & cruel book/money suggestion was made by TS in the post that you were replying to.

[immoderate]

17. Good. I thought I might have been ambiguous.

--IMM

[Sapphire Blue]

18. Not at all... but it seems like I was!

:pals:

[greenbriar]

8. oh nice try

want a brownie button??

[sandnsea]

9. The old "book deal" smear

:rofl: You guys have really got to get more original!! :rofl:

[liberalitch]

19. Pppppsssssssttttttt!!!!!!

[Junkdrawer]

16. FYI: The smear started at FreeRepublic - looks like a WH plant...

It was posted tgslTakoma (D.C. FR Chapter) who paid for the article...

I had to pay to get the archived copy of this report - because I felt that it was important that a public record be kept (here, on FR) of this woman's earlier impressions of her meeting with the president in June of 2004.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1458638/posts

Ok tgslTakoma...if you're not from her hometown, how did you know that paying to retrieve an archive article would be useful at all?

Unless you're someone who follows up on all presidential visits in the press....