California Conservative

Given the reams of reporting on Cindy Sheehan, it’s difficult to add more to the ongoing story.

However, given Mrs. Sheehan’s rise to the national spotlight from the small town of Vacaville, CA, we want to acknowledge the ongoing controversy surrounding her protesting activities.

While conservatives are pointing out the anti-war, leftist group affiliations supporting (and financing) her demonstration, Sheehan’s supporters are trying to promote her as the poster child for all the grieving parents of fallen soldiers.

Today, AP reports: “Before her son was killed in Iraq, before she began a peace vigil outside President Bush’s Texas ranch, before she became an icon of the anti-war movement and the face of grieving mothers, there was a time when Cindy Sheehan’s life was, by all appearances, incredibly normal.”

Sheehan co-founded an anti-war organization and began talking, demonstrating, speaking at a congressional hearing. She got a Web site, a public relations assistant (financed by an anti-war group), an entourage of peace activists and a speaking tour.

But while her message was strong and widely disseminated, she didn’t become world famous until about a week ago when, after speaking at the annual Veterans For Peace national conference in Dallas, she took a bus to Crawford, Texas, site of Bush’s ranch, to have a word with her president.

Not everyone agrees.

“To be perfectly honest, I think it is disgraceful,” said bookkeeper Diana Kraft of Vacaville, whose son is in the Navy. “I don’t know the loss she’s feeling to lose a son because, thank goodness, I haven’t had that, but we’re in this war and we have to support the troops.”

Even Sheehan’s family is speaking out against her activities. They’ve written a public statement which, not surprisingly, has not been given much media attention.

“The Sheehan Family lost our beloved Casey in the Iraq War and we have been silently, respectfully grieving. We do not agree with the political motivations and publicity tactics of Cindy Sheehan. She now appears to be promoting her own personal agenda and notoriety at the the expense of her son’s good name and reputation. The rest of the Sheehan Family supports the troops, our country, and our President, silently, with prayer and respect.

Sincerely,

Casey Sheehan’s grandparents, aunts, uncles and numerous cousins.”

While most would sympthasize with any truly grieving mother, what Cindy Sheehan is doing is something else. Using her son’s name and memory, she is grandstanding in order to advance a leftist, anti-war political agenda.

Amy Proctor provides further analyses:

“I begged him not to go,” she said through tears. “I said, ‘I’ll take you to Canada’ … but he said, ‘Mom, I have to go. It’s my duty. My buddies are going.’”

Pacifism just does ugly things to people. It makes them run from responsibility. It makes them cowardly. It even makes them lie. Cindy Sheehan has started a web site called, Meet With Cindy been asking, “Why won’t the President meet with me?” Well, maybe because he already did on June 24, 2004.

Closer to the truth of Sheehan’s agenda is that 1) this is an attempt to draw attention to the anti-war cause using her son’s death as a catapult and 2) that engaging the President in private could be used to publicly distort their conversation for pacifistic propaganda, perhaps on Michael Moore’s website. We already know that anti-war folks aren’t opposed to lying and distortion to further their cause.”

That about sums it up.

RELATED:
Deep Down In Texas provides a photo gallery.

Michelle Malkin exmaines how Sheehan “changed her story.”

For all the Bush-bashing moonbats racing out to join Sheehan’s circus, Jo’s Cafe nails it quite simply: “Grow the hell up people.”

Too much to ask.

This entry was posted on Saturday, August 13th, 2005 at 7:03 pm and is filed under Activism, California, Iraq, Military, W. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.