If the hatred directed at Gold Star mom Cindy Sheehan is any indicator, she's fighting the good fight. Her work—and authenticity as a mom who gave the ultimate sacrifice, her son, for the country—has sent the Republican smear machine into high gear: rightwinger Phil Hendry called her an "ignorant cow," Bill O'Reilly says "this kind of behavior borders on treasonous," a post at redstate.org called her "a left wing media whore in the form of a grieving mother," and a group of 50 Bush supporters gathered for a counter-protest, rallying with a telling chant: "We don't care, we don't care!" (You can bet there were more than a handful of "Support Our Troops" magnets on the back of their cars while they did it.)Regularly blogging at The Huffiington Post, Sheehan wrote this morning:
But you know what, the people who have come out from all over the country to give me a hug and support the cause of peace, overwhelms me so much, I don't have time to worry about the negativity and the hatred. The people who are slamming me have no idea about what it feels like to unjustly have a child killed in an insane war. Plus, they have no truth to fight truth with, so they fight truth with more lies and hate.This is an important woman, one who didn't ask to be thrust onto center stage but someone a movement is coalescing around. And, movingly, she's not shrinking from the call. Want to help her? MeetwithCindy.org can hook you up with media contacts, ways to support the Crawford Peace House, or directions on how to join her in Texas.
(Thanks, Jeff.)
Let's not forget the dead soldier. Here's a nice story on Casey Sheehan, an Eagle Scout and devout Catholic who loved Wrestlemania and the Dodgers. There's one silly detail in there that cuts to the quick and reminds me that this dead kid comes from a family just like mine or yours, the nickname of the Sheehan family van:
ReplyDelete"We did everything together. Even when one of us would want a frozen yogurt, we would all pile into 'Vanna White,' our white Chevy Astro Van," she wrote. "There was no such thing as one of us going and bring yogurt home for everybody. We all just went."
http://www.dailysouthtown.com/southtown/dsnews/136nd3.htm
A wonderful passage from Cindy's Huffington Post piece today:
ReplyDeleteThree active duty soldiers from Ft. Hood came to visit me and tell me that they really appreciated what I was doing and that if they were killed in the war, their moms would be doing the same thing. That made me feel so good after all of the negativity I had been hearing from the righties.
Here that, Bill O'Reilly and Michelle Malkin? Our soldiers that can speak for themselves believe Cindy is supporting the troops. Or, have they been co-opted by the "radical left," too?