Cindy Sheehan Exposes The Right Wing Noise Machine

[CatWoman]

All Cindy Sheehan wanted to do was to discuss the issues surrounding the death of her son in Iraq, but in becoming a celebrity she unintentionally (and probably without any desire) exposed the disgusting tactics which have become so common in the right wing media and blogosphere. Just as during the entire Iraq war the right has been unwilling to honestly discuss issues such as the dishonesty behind Bush’s Iraq policy and developing an effective response to terrorism, they respond to Cindy Sheehan by resorting to character assassination and attempting to change the discussion to unrelated topics.

With Cindy Sheehan we see the right’s propensity to see everything as us versus them. While most liberal bloggers who have been following Cindy Sheehan don’t care if she is Democrat or Republican, liberal or conservative, the right wing noise machine has generally resorted to their usual left versus right banter. It wouldn’t matter what party she has supported in the past–we’ve frequently seen them turn against long time Republicans who have spoken out against the abuses of the current Republican leadership.

Rather than allowing this to be an honest debate about Iraq, they are trying to turn it into a debate on Cindy Sheehan herself, using the techniques we have seen far too often. For example, they have taken some vague comments on Israel’s role in the mideast to attribute anti-Israel views to Sheehan which she has vehemently denied holding. They have even attempted to use misquotations of Sheehan to drive a wedge between Democrats and Jewish voters. Even if Sheehan has made some statements (and by no means has made the statements being attributed to her by the right) we realize that she is hardly a political expert, or someone experienced in dealing with this degree of publicity. We are not looking at Cindy Sheehan as someone to guide government foreign policy. This is just about a grieving mother who lost her son based upon lies.

The right wing noise machine has tried to discredit Sheehan’s grief by saying her son re-enlisted and therefore went willingly. Casey Sheehan re-enlisted based upon false claims that Iraq was threatening us with WMD. Casey Sheehan and many others enlisted or re-enlisted based upon claims we would be greeted as liberators and return home quickly. They did not join to fight a war based upon a lie which has had the result of undermining our national security and strengthening al Qaeda.

http://blog.thedemocraticdaily.com/?p=296

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. And so far I think they are confused

their old tactics are not working

[CatWoman]

2. that's the glory of it all

it's about damn time, too!!