Goodby Cindy, and thanks
Cindy Sheehan:
~~"I have endured a lot of smear and hatred since Casey was killed and especially since I became the so-called "Face" of the American anti-war movement. Especially since I renounced any tie I have remaining with the Democratic Party, I have been further trashed on such "liberal blogs" as the Democratic Underground. Being called an "attention whore" and being told "good riddance" are some of the more milder rebukes.
~~"I have endured a lot of smear and hatred since Casey was killed and especially since I became the so-called "Face" of the American anti-war movement. Especially since I renounced any tie I have remaining with the Democratic Party, I have been further trashed on such "liberal blogs" as the Democratic Underground. Being called an "attention whore" and being told "good riddance" are some of the more milder rebukes.
I have come to some heartbreaking conclusions this Memorial Day Morning. These are not spur of the moment reflections, but things I have been meditating on for about a year now. The conclusions that I have slowly and very reluctantly come to are very heartbreaking to me.
The first conclusion is that I was the darling of the so-called left as long as I limited my protests to George Bush and the Republican Party. Of course, I was slandered and libeled by the right as a "tool" of the Democratic Party. This label was to marginalize me and my message. How could a woman have an original thought, or be working outside of our "two-party" system?
However, when I started to hold the Democratic Party to the same standards that I held the Republican Party, support for my cause started to erode and the "left" started labeling me with the same slurs that the right used. I guess no one paid attention to me when I said that the issue of peace and people dying for no reason is not a matter of "right or left", but "right and wrong." ~~
She blasted the right .. they blasted her back. Then she blasted the left .. they blasted her back.
And now she's burnt out. Now she's giving up on the being the "public face" of the anti-war movement.
She fought a good fight but at the end of the day there is little to no connection between public will and government policy.
It is not our place to ask whether she likes her country, more or less than we do .. or to question her patriotism.
I feel bad that she lost her son.
Righties didn't agree with her protesting the war, period .. Lefties called her a media whore. I say she did whatever she could to bring attention to her cause.
Even that visit with Hugo Chavez .. which I thought was ill-advised. (And I was right about him .. the latest news has him refusing to renew the license of Radio Caracas Television because they have been critical of him. People took to the streets rioting about crushing free speech.)
A majority of Americans voted for an end to the Iraq war. They believe, as did Cindy, that ending the Iraq war is a worthy cause. I'm sorry to see her give up the fight.
As we spin our wheels in the bloody sand, there have been at least 113 US military deaths in Iraq so far this month .. ten died on Memorial Day.
