WP: Sheehan Feeling the Glare of the Spotlight

[Pirate Smile]

Sheehan Feeling the Glare of the Spotlight
Some Are Focusing Anger on Protester

By Michael A. Fletcher
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, August 17, 2005; Page A03

CRAWFORD, Tex., Aug. 16 -- Cindy Sheehan rode into town 10 days ago, a forlorn mother with a question for her president: Why did my son die in Iraq?

But now the same wave of publicity and political anger that she rode to become a nationally known symbol of the antiwar movement threatens to crash down on Sheehan herself.


Cindy Sheehan hugs a supporter at her protest site in Crawford, Tex. Conservatives have criticized her, and she says some sympathetic groups have agendas she does not share. (By Jason Reed -- Reuters)

-snip-
The backlash is becoming a new object lesson in how saturation media coverage and the instinct for personal attack are shaping political debate. Some independent commentators said the pushback on the right has succeeded at scuffing the public sympathy and deference she had earned as the mother of a fallen soldier, and has shown how virtually any subject relating to the Iraq war and Bush's presidency is viewed through a partisan lens.

"Cindy Sheehan has emboldened the progressives who oppose the war and caused the conservative diehards who are behind the war to go into a defensive mode," said Michael Harrison, publisher of Talkers magazine, a trade publication for talk radio. "Cindy Sheehan is going to be a target, and they'll probably go through her past to find what they can to discredit her."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/16/AR2005081601713.html

[madeline_con]

1. She needs to pace herself....

the exhaustion could damage her health.

[MaryRN]

5. Cindy's health

My guess is that there are many there who are making sure that Cindy is looked after and each time I hear her, she sounds more poised and focused and stronger though there is an exhausted quality in her voice. My larger concern is that others are going there to promote their own agenda and sometimes, that can get a little heated. And in that heat, with poor quality sleep, stress, critter attacks, not to mention the tension created by these "patriotic" opponents provide the ingredients for a situation that could quickly get out of hand. I'm hoping when they relocate, conditions for them may be better.

[Cha]

2. Bullshit! We're holding a Vigil

with Cindy across the world tomorrow night..eat shit, wapo.

You wrong wing slanted fish rag.

[daleo]

3. They (the right wing) will over-reach, just like with Terri Shiavo

They don't know when to leave things alone. I hope Cindy Sheehan can keep up her strength, though, as the smearing might get extremely rough. She is a brave woman.

[DURHAM D]

4. Second article by this a-hole in 3 days. Press payola, press

payola.

[Pirate Smile]

6. I swear the Wash Post and Newsweek are feeling sorry for the Shrub.

Their coverage has been atrocious.

[Kagemusha]

7. She's not a wimpy Washington DC Democrat though.

Isn't turning the guns of the entire right-wing machine - up to and including warning shots from shotguns and pickup truck vandalism - taking an awfully big risk, because the target is so much obviously weaker than what big-shot politicians either are, or should aspire to if they want to lead the country?

She doesn't want to lead the country. So going after her like she does is really pushing it, right?

[DeepModem Mom]

8. UNACCEPTABLE: near the end, a brief mention of mowing down the crosses --

"Also, Monday night a truck dragging chains and a pipe demolished some crosses; the driver, Larry Northern, 46, of Waco, Tex., was charged with criminal mischief."

[Roy]

9. Foul hit piece......

Orchestrated, right wing counter protesters (Bussed in and not committed enough to go at their own expense) come in for a couple of hours shouting "We don't care" qualifies as a backlash?

No mention of the thousands across the country showing support for Ms Sheehan.

The capper... the only quote is by Bill O'Reilly. Of all the well known people supporting Ms. Sheehan, these guys couldn't find one for a comment.

Yep, paid in full hit piece. I'm curious tho as to what the going rate is for selling your soul?

[Bumblebee]

10. the only quote is by Bill O'Reilly

and Drudge... But that says it all, doesn't it, if he thinks that these two are somehow "balancing" Cindy. His other articles are shit too, and now that Mike Allen is going to Time, their WH coverage is not worth even glancing at.

[thecrow]

11. a mock congressional hearing about the "Downing Street memo"

:wtf:
I doubt if the people who took part in, or covered it as a news organisation, or who viewed it on c-span thought it was a "mock" hearing.
I know I don't!!

[anitar1]

12. WaPo is a Bush rag. This is just another smear attempt.

I quit reading WAPO a long time ago. Obviously a tool of the right wing.Their innuendos are not even subtle. They have lost it!