Cindy Sheehan will have no effect

[glarius]

I hope I'm wrong, but I believe that Cindy Sheehan is probably about to be nullified in the public's eyes and will fade into the background....just like all the other people and events expected to be the downfall of George W Bush. I have observed that all the reporting on Mrs. Sheehan is not mentioning that she says she wants to ask him "what's the noble cause they are dieing for?", but they are referring to her as being "a registered Democrat" who is camping out in Crawford in order to demand that Bush bring the troops home....I saw the O'Donnell woman on the Today Show this morning repeat this line, plus add a little extra of her own...saying that Sheehan's extended family are against what she is doing and think it is just political....All this is so reminiscent of past seemingly sure-fire proof of Bush's guilt or wrong doing that somehow have faded into nothingness....Example: being AWOL, advocating attacking Iraq from day one in the White House (remember Richard Clarke?), and all the other things he has slithered out of....I sure hope I'm wrong, but that's the way it looks to me....

P.S...I'm adding this after reading the many responses who disagree with me....I guess the problem is that I am not down in your country and can not see the effect that is happening among your people...I am just going by what I have seen on the various TV newscasts...That is perhaps not a large enough field to be judging from....I apologize for upsetting so many of you...I did not mean it in any way other than to say I hope I'm wrong but it looks like the media is doing the same old thing again and the American public will not get the truth.

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. She's already having an effect. ** had to take a helicopter a mile or two

down the road because he was scared of the big bad lady in the ditch.

[bribri16]

2. She may not affect the war but she WILL affect the coming elections!

You can count on it!

[steve2470]

3. I respectfully disagree

I think the voters who have a brain will see past the propaganda by the right.

[Ron Green]

12. Unfortunately, the past five years have shown us

there are not quite enough voters with a brain.

[steve2470]

15. You are right unfortunately nt

[Corgigal]

4. makes Bush look like a wimp

and with his republican tough guys thats got to hurt.

[Spazito]

5. I strongly disagree

She has already made a difference. The situation in Iraq, bush's plummeting poll numbers and his indifference to Cindy herself has been front page news in both print and television. That would not have happened if Cindy wasn't doing what she is doing.

[Not_Giving_Up]

6. I've seen several Cindy interviews

Every time she says that she wants to know what the "noble cause" is that Casey died for.

Cindy is having one HELL of an effect.

You just can't spin a grieving mother!

[jean]

7. the situation flows - give and take...and Cindy can give it back to the

media better than anyone we have seen.

The msm can work their damage, but she is vocal, giving nonstop interviews and keeping track of what's being said - and she WILL adjust to the spin they're throwing and she WILL dominate.

[Name removed]

8. Deleted message

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

[KyndCulture]

14. Me too and I'm getting really angry about it...

What have they done to help Cindy? Probably a whole lot of NOTHING.

[glarius]

19. I was not being a naysayer.....why are you being so nasty!

I'm merely pointing out what I have observed in the media....I hope I'm wrong and that Mrs. Sheehan has the desired effect...

[benburch]

28. Amen.

And I think many of the naysayers here will turn out to be moles from Neocon web boards. (I am not referring to the poster of the original message in the thread.)

[glarius]

9. I hope and pray you are all right!

It's just that it looks to me like the same old pattern repeating itself..

[GreenPartyVoter]

11. No, a lot of things are working against ** right now. Cindy, the death

toll, the economy, Plamegate & the DSM. They are all eroding his popularity and credibility.

Cindy will eaken him further and when the Plamegate indictments come down he'll really get knocked for a loop. You watch.

[KyndCulture]

10. that was extremely negative. We really don't need that right now.

Cindy has already had an effect... no one here expects Bush to come out to meet her. This is about gathering our energies in one focal point to gain the momentum we need to affect change. Not about getting an answer to Cindy's question.


Case in point 50 people turned out for a street side protest last night in St. Paul, MN - many of whom have never protested a thing in their lives and several who were well into their 70's... that is Cindy's legacy here - not getting an answer from the coward.

[donco6]

13. I'm pessimistic as well.

I hope I'm wrong, but really . . .

Remember all the huge world protests a few years ago? Did that sway anything? And the Bush machine has only just begun to fire up it's spin engines.

Like I said, I hope I'm wrong. I like Cindy and so far she's been a forceful speaker. The longer Bush puts off meeting with her, the better for us, IMO. Once he does meet with her - well, he won't have to actually DO anything. The RW will spin it, "The president met with the little woman in the tent and reassured her that he knows what he's doing, hard work, stay the course, can't abandon the Iraquis, blah blah."

[flyarm]

16. she already HAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cindy has opened so many closed eyes, she has made many who could not hear..hear..she has many who could not comprehend ..comprehend..she has made hearts warm that were cold...
Cindy has brought attention to our kids and the evil war bush lied us into.. than all the protests to date..because she is a mom...

and if anyone is concerned that what Cindy is doing is political..please remind those dear folks , that yes it is political what cindy is doing, but it is being done by a non political person..over the death of the child she birthed, the child she fed, the child she put bandaides on and held when he cried, and held when he was sick...yes its political..by a mom against a political war..

Cindy was forced into a political stand..because of the death of her greatest treasure...but she did this out of her grief , anger, and heartache..not for political reasons...

now then turn the political stance on a politician, bush , who used and abused and politisized ground zero..during a campaign.... a Political campaign..who used the death of 3000 people who he failed , and then used the sacred grounds of ground zero for a commercial..with fake firemen carrying out a fake dead fireman..and then do remind them what the reply from the bush assholes was.."it happened"..it was part of his presidency!

tell them <that is> political..that was dispicable..and they ...the bushassholes made every excuse for using the people who lost their lives because of his failure...

THEY CAN'T HAVE IT BOTH WAYS.. and we must stop their bullshit now!

bush made this political..he refused to see and speak to a grieving mother in a political war he lied us into and is now the man with the murders and blood on his hands..and he has 1800+ parents to answer to..and well over 100,000 iraqi families to answer to...bush made this political...no one else but bush made this political!

[glarius]

17. I guess what I'm saying is that the MSM is not allowing her true

feelings to get out there....Most of them are emphasizing that she wants the troops to come home and is a registered Democrat so has an axe to grind....Her message "what is the noble cause my son died for" which would put Bush on the spot is not being aired.....I HOPE AND PRAY I'M WRONG.

[vi5]

18. I agree, but am always afraid to say so on here....

For fear that the obsessive bases of people that seem to pop up on here weekly around different public figures (Clarke, Wilson, O'Neil, Moore, Conyers, Galloway, Hacket, etc. etc.) will chastize me.

I support each and every one of those people and their struggles. But people on here put so much effort and energy into these people and raise them and their struggles up to such godlike levels and proportions that they fail to see what else is slipping by as they trample over one another to see who can be a BIGGER supporter of that person.

The fact is that only about 45% of the country tops support Bush still. But nothing, read NOTHING, is going to change that 45%'s mind. Zero. They could have video of dear leader committing any number of atrocities first hand and still find a way to spin it and blame liberals.

Cindy should continue her struggle and she should be in our thoughts and (if you believe that sort of thing) prayers. But we should stop pinning our hopes on any one individual doing some magical thing for us that we all need to do ourselves.

[LSK]

20. if you feel that she will have no effect, doesnt that piss you off??

Dont you want to fight harder? Doesnt that just make you so mad??? When these fucking chickenhawk coorporate whores trash her mission and trash her reputation, that just pisses me off more. I wish we had 1000 Cindys screaming at the top of their lungs on every street corner.

Im not about to give up. Im pissed and I am glad that people like me are getting at least some voice out there!!!!

[October]

21. Woodward and Bernstein were not going to affect Nixon's presidency either

I don't mean that to sound flippant. I'm merely bringing up a point that Watergate went on for years before the public woke up.

The situation clearly gets under GWB's skin...he doesn't do well when he's annoyed, or made fun of, or questioned.

We can hope.

[Crankie Avalon]

22. I think she is one more straw on Bush's narrow little back...

...what do you expect the media to say? They always repeat the Republican "talking points."

Rosa Parks was a "registered" member of the Montgomery, Alabama chapter of the NAACP for many years before she refused to give up her seat that day in December, 1955. A group with "an agenda." So what? She "associated" with Martin Luther King, Jr, a figure whom the rightwingers of the era then felt safe in assailing in similar fashion to how they assail Michael Moore today. Big deal.

It's the most egregious and most extreme political hacks of them all who are projecting their own motives of "partisanship" onto Ms. Sheehan. Her son died and it had an effect on her consciousness. Rather than taking her "betters" word for why he died, she researched and educated herself.

Apparently, it's considered a sin by certain entrenched elites for ordinary people to get involved rather than to just continue being docile consumers.

"Why is she asking questions rather than just continuing her shopping like a real Murkan?"

Rather than repeating what the corporate media wants us to feel about this, we need to point out that Ms. Sheehan's is the example that Americans need to start following for this country to get back on track.

[DesEtoiles]

23. baloney

[Generic Other]

24. Well then let's all quit DU and become Freepers!

I mean really. I have been fighting for 5 years against the evil BFEE.

But by your thinking, I should chuck it all and go spend the afternoon shopping at the mall.

Christ, save me from the NAYSAYING voices of my own side!

:grr:

[flakey_foont]

25. She has already had an effect

and it will grow in subtle ways

[otohara]

26. Unfortunately GOP Slime Tactics WORK , We've Seen This Happen Over & Over

She's being "swift boated" and our stupid media, being so easily manipulated will listen more to those bad mouthing her and somehow flip the debate, the sheeple will follow.

Now that FOX has opened the door and openly sliming this amazing woman, the rest will eagerly follow. They will reduce Cindy Sheehan to a pitiful woman, lacking in love of country, etc, etc, etc,.

[Imalittleteapot]

27. "…it is just political…"

Damn right it's political. What's wrong with that? Anything that involves the President IS POLITICAL. He made it that way by starting the war that has killed thousands of Iraqis and American soldiers, including Cindy's son.

Has "political" joined the ranks of "liberal"?

Cindy will have an effect, if not now, in 2006.

[havocmom]

29. Anti-Sheehan editorial garners 50 responses - all in disagreement.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4328076

A calm woman, standing where the authorities told her to, refusing to give up her dignity, asking a simple question... oh, she's an impact. She is the start of the avalanche.

[GreenPartyVoter]

31. Good point

[confludemocrat]

30. Good points, but she is having an effect, there is a timing thing here

She might have done this in 2004 and the response would have been more effectively construed as "pure politics" But not now.

Bush has already for too long refused to see her, and this is coming at a time when the nation is in deepening distrust of the Bush message. The public is anti-war in some major shadings of what that means: it's doing no good, it was a mistake, it was based on deception, not worth it. Don't send more troops.

The longer he waits to do anything but express "sympathy" especially while holed up at the converted pig farm, the longer he looks like daddy Bush, out of touch, and blathering nonsense. This is about cutting him down to size and this is working.

For god's sake, it's being covered and not nearly as wholly in the way that you portray it.

[nevergiveup]

32. It is one thing to "swiftboat" a presidential candidate

but quite another to "swiftboat" a grieving mother. This will do little more than solidify Chimpy's base which is already solidified.

[nadinbrzezinski]

33. With this kind of attitude why do anything?

History moves in stange ways. I am sure that march to Selma had no effect, or for that matter Rosa Parks.

I am not saying we are at a similar moment, but with so many elements coalesing, we just may

The "special interests" in cali standing to Arnie

Truck drivers in florida holding an action

The peace movement finding its voice

Oh and Bush's poll numbers ARE tanking

So we may be at one of those magical moments

[dogday]

34. All America can see is the grieving Mother of

a dead soldier and they think, this could of been my child or my spouse and it hits home. They don't care about anything else....

[ibegurpard]

35. Doesn't matter

She is showing that with determination and moral conviction and authority that one person can make a difference, no matter how small.

[shelley806]

36. An interesting AOL Poll with approx 250,500 total votes seems to support

what you've said. Although the majority polled agree with Sheehan, and think that * should visit with her, 50% think that her protest will not be effective, and 31% only somewhat effective. 68% of the same group voted that the War in Iraq is not worth the cost!

What I think this shows, is that people think that even though she's doing the right thing, and they disagree with the War, * won't care. He cares about his 'freedumb' but not about Democracy.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4323685

Do you think President Bush should meet with Cindy Sheehan?
Yes 58%
No 42%
Do you agree with Sheehan?
Yes 53%
No 47%
How effective do you think her protest will be?
Not at all 50%
Somewhat 31%
Very 19%
Total Votes: 250,424

Has the war in Iraq been worth the cost?
No 68%
Yes 32%
What should happen with troop levels in Iraq?
Decrease 62%
Increase 20%
Stay the same 19%
Total Votes: 175,635

[ladjf]

37. Are you kidding? She has already had a huge effect on public

thinking. For the price of one inconvenient 5 day camp out, she has got media all over the world , including the U.S. talking about the issue of the Iraq war. That's a great example of asymmetrical warfare. If she left today, she would have been successful. And, if she stays, who knows?

[kerry-is-my-prez]

38. Are you kidding? She is getting 24/7 hr coverage and she's not effective?!

She has affected me and obviously a lot of people here and many others in both Liberal, Moderate and neocon supporting blogs. She has lifted most of our spirits and encouraged us and surely made others on the other side think. My evil twin is happy that all of these war-mongering fools are gnashing thier teeth and that Bush and Rove are sweating because of her.

She has made me have greater empathy to these poor soldiers who are against this war and are Bush's pawns. She is the first parent of a soldier who has died who has come out and gotten tons of attention. She is a PR genius.

The fact that support for this war has gone down while she has been speaking out - well who knows?? We can't know for sure if that helped things along.