There's a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can't take part, you can't even passively take part, and you've got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and you've got to make it stop! And you've got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it, that unless you're free, the machine will be prevented from working at all!
Mario Savio said this in 1964 - Cindy Sheehan is putting her body on the gears, working vigilantly to stop this war with all her heart and soul. The bloggers of Daily Kos respond by calling her everything from "crazy", to "media whore", to an agent of the Republicans, all the while doing NOTHING to push their elected officials to stop the war.
We are satiated by talk of holding this administration accountable, but our elected officials, even from our own party, hesitate to push their power and weight behind the effort for fear of losing votes, support, or lobbyist money.
It's very simple - if you are tired of empty talk, broken promises, and stockpiles of dry powder, supporting Cindy Sheehan in her Congressional race pushes this issue to the forefront and forces the people who work for us to actually work for us.
If you think that this group of people in Washington, who just recently were talking about running a more efficient war on terror, will consider anything that does not come with a financial windfall of some sort, you are delusional - the party of the Bankrupcy Bill, the party of capitulation and triangulation, and the party of compromise for financial gain will not move an inch unless you push them a yard.
I am a Democrat, but this is no longer my party - my party works for the working man, not playing a four-corners defence to ride to victory in '08 with the least possible change to the predatory capaitalist/military industrial complex that keeps them employed. Any body like the Sanate that has 50% of its members as millionaires and the average net worth is appox. $8.9 Million is not going to be concerned about the woking class in more than a superficial capacity - patting the dog on the head once in a while, occaisionally giving us tablescraps so we don't growl...
Cindy Sheehan is what a real activist should be - working for a goal without regard for coddling to the group neuroses that this blog works so well - do what you think is right, but don't risk more than what I would feel personally comfortable with...do what's right, but don't call out the hypocracy in our own midst...do what's right, but don't ask me to personally sacrifice anything to do it...
I think what Cindy is doing is ultimately reflecting our own hypocracy on us in stark relief, and the glare is a little bit too hard for us and our rose-colored glasses. Disagree all you want, but disagreement without personal reflection on what each of us should be doing and are doing TODAY to stop this war is empty complaint.
UPDATE: I can see from the first few comments that accountability at DailyKos is not a reasonable request - if you just want to post a smart-ass comment like "I'm opposing the war by opposing Cindy", please move on and let this diary drift off - I just don't have time or the inclination to reply to you. Otherwise, work to raise the discussion by raising your own personal accountability for the anti-war effort.