Many people on DailyKos seem to be afraid that Cindy Sheehan might be as crazy as Al Gore, or maybe even as volatile and unstable and tempermental as Howard Dean, or maybe as irresponsible and nutty-lefty (and fat, good god he's fat!) as Michael Moore, and good God why would she be seen with that dictator (he is a dictator, isn't he?) like Hugo Chavez? And it sure doesn't look good to be arrested, does it?
Sure. Let's have her go right down the Memory Hole.
Where, apparently, a lot of folks' memories of last summer have gone. Down the Memory Hole. People seem to be forgetting that Cindy Sheehan is one of the big reasons that Bush's ratings have slid down to the upper 30's range. Remember when that started? It started when Cindy Sheehan figured out how to get the media to report, at least a little bit, on the truth about Iraq.
To those folks who are so "scared" we're not gonna win any elections any time soon, let me remind you that Cindy Sheehan is leading by example.
And rather than letting ourselves get brainwashed by the unending mantra of the Rovian "news" media telling us what to think (she's unstable ... losing a son will do that ... she's so unstable that she's being USED by unsavory groups ... she doesn't know what she's doing, but we're telling you ... and it's BAD, very BAD)...
We should instead be doing EXACTLY what she is doing. If we all did what she is doing, this government would be shut down. The question is why aren't we? And what are YOU doing?
Sorry, but to base your opinions on a position of fear is EXACTLY the same "let's get someone electable" caution that got us a candidate in 2004 who really wasn't very electable.
I'm appalled that anyone on our side of the aisle would take a fear-based stance at this point in the game. Do you have any idea how much anger and disgust there is out there at Bushco? There's a forest fire just waiting to be set off. And the Democrats, rather than lighting the match, seem to be running away.
Cindy is a one-woman movement that has actually been effective. The media has actually paid attention to her. Shit, we've had marches with hundreds of thousands of people that have gotten way less coverage than Cindy Sheehan. We should be following her, not trying to distance ourselves from her.
You are listening to WAY too much cable news if you think Cindy is a detriment to anyone but the Republicans. Republicans will smear anyone who calls them on their bullshit. And they will hire their minions in the media to repeat the smears, over and over again until even people on Dailykos start to believe it.
To finish, I challenge anyone here to name one person who has emerged in the last five years as a Democratic, or progressive, or anti-Bushco frontrunner or spokesperson who hasn't been smeared in this way to the point where your average TV watcher now thinks that everyone believes they're either "crazy" or "way way out of the mainstream" or "consumed by anger". They've done it to Michael Moore, Howard Dean, Al Gore, Cindy Sheehan, John Kerry ......
If we want leaders, we have to recognize them when we see them and quit listening to the propaganda meisters who are, admittedly, very good at what they do. The American people are SICK of Bushco. They finally know they're being lied to. They want it to stop.
Just today I worked a job with several new people. They were young men, looked like they could easily be rednecks. Working class, easily former football players, short haircuts, very macho. And one of them started going off about how Exxon had made all these billions of dollars, and why was he paying $2.59 for a gallon of gas?
I thought I'd test the waters by saying "hey, that's what happened when you have oilmen in the white house". And my GOD this set off a shitstorm of diatribes from all of them, just fuming and cussing and swearing about Bush. They said things about Bush that I honestly can't repeat here. They said what they'd like to do to him, and what fate they'd like him to meet. They were all in agreement, they were all absolutely fucking FURIOUS, and it wasn't just about the price of gas, it was about EVERYTHING.
That's what the Democrats need to tap into. Because that will spread like wildfire.
The mainstream Dems don't want to see that because they're afraid of that kind of anger, too. Look at Lieberman, doing his cheerleader routine at the SOTU. Look at all the Democrats who are actually treating Bush with RESPECT? The man deserves no respect. Some of us know that.
And some of us are scared.
In short, Cindy Sheehan is someone we should emulate, not run away from.
Please. Someone name the person who has risen to prominence who HASN'T been smeared by the right-wing and the media, in concert, to the point where the lie takes hold and the lie becomes "conventional wisdom".