La Shawn Barber thinks some bloggers have gone too far in criticizing Cindy Sheehan.
The left is using her plight to espouse more anti-Bush rhetoric, and the right is demonizing a woman grieving over the loss of her child.
I wish she had provided links to some examples. The posts that I've read have expressed sympathy for her and dismay that she is allowing herself to be used by the Left. As an American, she has the right to express any views she wants. Others have the right to disagree. Just because we sympathize with her loss doesn't mean the death of her son should be used as a shield to protect her from further upset. If you seek attention, you have no cause to complain about the kind of attention you get.
Posted by marybeth at August 15, 2005 11:02 AM BloggingExamples? OK:
Mrs. du Toit: "a brood mare"
Dean Esmay: "fascist propagandist" (obviously)
RedState.org: "left wing media whore"
Want lots more? Read any post on FreeRepublic (where she is known as "Traitor Cindy Sheehan") or Little Green Footballs dealing with Sheehan. Or maybe Michelle Malkin's rumormongering about Sheehan's possible pending divorce.
That enough?
Posted by Thomas More at August 15, 2005 03:21 PMThank you for the examples. Except for Michelle Malkin's, those aren't sites I visit regularly so I've missed most of the name calling.
Now I guess I'll have to look up those posts because I can't think of any reason this woman would be labeled as a "brood mare" or "facist" anything. "Media whore" has been tossed out by both sides and is distasteful regardless of who is using it about whom.
Since Malkin's post about Patrick Sheehan filing for divorce has been confirmed, I wouldn't call it rumor mongoring. Sheehan opened up her personal life to get media attention. It is unfortunate for her, and more so for her family, that this attention also includes other things that they might have preferred to be kept private.
Posted by marybeth at August 15, 2005 03:53 PMCindy Sheehan's life and the lives of her family are fair game. OK. I look forward to her therapist's notes, or her teenage abortion records being made public because she's an anti-war activist. She brought it on herself, after all.
Posted by Thomas More at August 15, 2005 06:56 PMYes, I can see how revealing confidential medical information is exactly the same as reporting something that is public record.
Posted by marybeth at August 15, 2005 09:17 PMLive by hyperbole, die by hyperbole.
Cindy Sheehan may have started out as a grieving mother, but she has quickly morphed into a candidate for 'The Surreal Life'. Thank you for posting her unedited remarks to Veterans for Peace - that really opened my eyes, especially the slam against Isreal.
Posted by Peter Porcupine at August 16, 2005 09:05 PMWhile there have been some conservatives who've crossed the line in describing Cindy Sheehan (something no liberal would ever do of course), I think far more of us are conflicted. I have tremendous sympathy for her as a grieving mother. I have tremendous contempt for her as a cynical manipulator of the media (Not that they're unwilling or unwitting dupes) and opponent of the war. Listening to her, you'd never know that her 24 year old son was in Iraq because he volunteered for a second tour of duty there. I understand her pain, but she's dishonoring his enormous sacrifice...and that of all the other moms and dads who have lost children. This is not an immoral or unjustified war. It is a conflict we did not choose but cannot avoid fighting. Every life lost in this war has been a painful necessity to our continued freedom.
Posted by Bob at August 17, 2005 06:15 PM