The sliming of Cindy Sheehan;
Sykes suggests Communist ties
Unhappily, but predictably, the sliming of Cindy Sheehan, the distraught Gold Star mother, has begun.
It is coordinated and orchestrated, as are most right-wing attacks on people they want to silence, whether it is Joe Wilson about WMDs or Cindy Sheehan about the tragic toll in Iraq.
Our own Charlie Sykes spent some time on the subject on his WTMJ talk show Friday. Sykes was clever enough not to attack the mother, but did plant some doubt as to her stability, suggested the Democrats have taken over her media campaign, and warned the left that she might not be the one they want to rally around, as she has said some things that make her sound pretty far out there.
OK. But then, referencing (I think) the National Review online (or another source, but clearly using prepared material or talking points), Sykes gave a 2-minute lesson in red-baiting and McCarthyism. Starting with Cindy Sheehan, who has been sheltered by the Crawford Peace House, Sykes went on to link the Crawford peace group to other organizations and peace coalitions until he finally got to one that has a Communist Party representative on its board.
There's a line from the Army-McCarthy hearings that is so overused it borders on cliche. But I have to ask: Have you no sense of decency?
On the national scene:
"To what level will they sink?" this DailyKos entry asks about efforts to discredit, demean and dismiss Cindy Sheehan.
One conservative blog calls her a "left wing media whore in the form of a grieving mother."
Another conservative linked on this post discusses the difference between the conservative elite and the conservatives who actually live in Middle America. One comment from that post:
Something else about this story that infuriates me is the vision of feckless, smarmy smearsters and cowards hiding behind keyboards in cities like Washington and New York (and yes, Miami), punching out electronic missives in a pathetic and desperate attempt to impugn the integrity of a woman sitting in the dust and August heat of Texas---a woman who, along with her dead son, embodies everything that's right about this country.VIDEO. Gold Star Mothers for Peace has produced a TV commercial, airing on Crawford cable, with Cindy Sheehan speaking directly to the camera. Watch it here.
posted by xoff @ 1:59 PM
6 comments
6 Comments:
Another point DailyKos brings out so well that applied to Charlie. These conservatives have successfully peddled this fiction that they are somehow the friends of the common person against those self-absorbed liberal elites.
So now have a mother whose son stepped up to the plate and paid the ultimate price. Common, every day people. Now that she is exercising her right to speak out against the president, they are swarming her like angry wasps (pardon the pun).
Well Repugs, this might work with Paul O’Neill or Richard Clarke, but now you are going after one of the common people, and in the process this is pulling down the façade that has been carefully but falsely build up over the past 25 years.
Keep it up.
I'm not trying to slime/bash her, but this whole thing is a clever political ploy.
She was a political shill for the left before her son died, and now she is using her sons death to amp up the volume. Politically shrewd? Absolutely. Decent? Probably not.
It's great that the left found their martyr, but lets not pretend she has some noble or just cause here. She hates the President and is using her sons death to let everyone know that.
How is that noble?
"let's not pretend she has some noble or just cause here."
No, just opposing a war fought on false premises, and executed incompetently by this administration.
Cindy Sheehan is a crazed lunatic. She needs help. She deserves our compassion and prompt mental health treatment. She is not a brave, smart or heroic. She is pathetic.
Of course I am talking to people who would be even more supportive if she sent 2,500 used hypodermic needles to make her point.
She needs help. Quit making her your propaganda pin-up of the month. What are you going to do for Miss September?
That is the problem. Your hatred of us makes you blind and silly and totally lacking in perspective.
Cindy’s life wasn’t destroyed by the death of her son. We all experience (or will in some cases) profound loss. The challenge for humanity is overcoming that grief and to continue living.
From your perspective she is entitled to liberal saint-hood because of George Bush not because her son died.
No McCarthyism here, just us chickens, right, Joe?
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