"Flip-flopping" Americans why are conservative bloggers attacking her?

[julialnyc]

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2005/08/09/sheehan_protest/index.html

"Flip-flopping" Americans
Antiwar protester Cindy Sheehan isn't the only one who has changed her mind about Iraq, so why are conservative bloggers attacking her?


Aug. 9, 2005 | Cindy Sheehan, the angry 48-year-old mom from Vacaville, Calif., whose son died while serving in the Army in Iraq and who has been staging a lonely bring-the-troops-home vigil outside President Bush's ranch beneath the baking Texas sun, has clearly become a thorn in the president's vacationing side. Putting a public and empathetic face on the war's toll in America, Sheehan, whose son, Casey, was killed in April 2004, has posed a very simple request to Bush: Come out and talk to me about Iraq and why my son died. To date, Bush has passed on the invitation, but the minions on the far right have decided to try to knock Sheehan off her media perch, just as more military mothers and fathers opposed to the war are set to join Sheehan's protest.

Taking peculiar pleasure in trying to discredit the small-town mother, right-wingers have been in a 24-hour tizzy over what they perceive as a flip-flop by Sheehan on Iraq. They excitedly reassure themselves that her alleged inconsistency about the war ought to disqualify her from being a legitimate war critic. Problem is, the oddly playful bloggers, busy mocking Sheehan as a "crazy," "exploited," "left-wing moonbat," aren't really staring down a lone mother who may or may not have shifted her opinion about Bush and the war since 2004.


If the Republican National Committee-fed bloggers looked up from their monitors for a few seconds, they might realize that when they're done with Sheehan they're going to have to discredit a few million other Americans -- because, as recent polls indicate, they, like Sheehan, have turned on the war and place the blame for the mess squarely on Bush's shoulders.


Over the weekend conservatives at the Free Republic unearthed a June 25, 2004, article from Sheehan's hometown newspaper, the Reporter, which detailed Sheehan's visit with Bush at Fort Lewis near Seattle earlier that month. Portions of the article suggested Sheehan was grateful for her time with Bush, in contrast with her current complaints about him. Freepers then passed along the clip to Matt Drudge, who talked about it on his Sunday-night syndicated radio show. On Monday morning he hyped his analysis on his Web site, concluding that Sheehan "has dramatically changed her account about what happened when she met the commander-in-chief last summer!"

much more.................

[wake.up.america]

1. She is being attacked because their sect leader is under fire.

That is what makes it so difficult. Rational thinking plays no role.

[emulatorloo]

2. Another snip for the lurking freepers

<snip>

In other words, things change, information accumulates and people react accordingly. Apparently, however, bloggers like Michelle Malkin, who took it upon herself in one of her posts to speak for Sheehan's dead son (does self-righteousness know no bounds?), have convinced themselves that thinking people simply do not change their opinions about dynamic issues like war and peace, ever. No matter how strong the insurgency in Iraq grows, no matter how many coalition countries walk away from the rebuilding effort, no matter how many dates are set for Iraq's sovereignty, no matter how many Americans are killed, no matter how many billions of dollars Halliburton pockets with no-bid contracts, no matter how much evidence accumulates that the Bush administration was both dishonest about the war during the run-up and incompetent during the so-called reconstruction, Americans, let alone parents of dead service members, are not supposed to alter their views. They're not supposed to flip-flop.

<snip>

[Junkdrawer]

3. I was about to post that Cindy's "Flip-flop" is her chief strength...

She can't be dismissed as a "liberal mom who dishonors her son".

She's a Catholic woman whose alter boy son died in Iraq

.. and was hand picked to visit the President

.. and tried to accept his condolences

.. and was shocked to find a "hollow eyed" sociopath

.. and was pushed over the edge when she read the DSM and realized Bush lied to everyone the whole time.


She's the neighbor next door, that nice woman who works two cubes down from you.

In short, she's trouble for Bush because she's Genuine, 100% Middle America.

[frictionlessO]

8. That should pretty much be its own thread. Bullet points done well!

Seriously post as its own thread and I'll nom if you let me know.

You hit the nail on th ehad and this makes for a great meme.

Thanks for writing it!

[Junkdrawer]

9. Done:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4296793

[DS1]

4. If combat in Iraq devolved into U.S. Troops getting off a plane

and having their throats cut much like a meat rendering facility, there would still be conservatives saying that "we don't change horses in midstream", "gotta finish the mission".

On another note, if combat in Iraq DID change into that situation, I'd buy them all plane tickets - even if it did put me in the poor house.

[JAbuchan08]

10. If things get that bad we'll know we've won

because the insurgents are getting desperate.

[julialnyc]

5. snip..

Sheehan herself put it best. Speaking with Air America recently, she noted, "Why is my meeting in June of 2004 relevant? Over 1,100 more soldiers are dead since then, the Downing Street memo report out, the Senate intelligence report has come out, and the 9/11 Commission report has come out. Saddam is gone, they've had free democratic elections in Iraq, and our troops are still there."

[louis-t]

6. Note the word 'lonely'

Trying to paint a picture of one, lone nut in the desert. Can't wait for the photos of thousands to come in.

[sandnsea]

7. They smear, it's what they do

I really hope we don't let this become about anything else except smear campaigns are what they do. I like her take the best, Why is the media focusing on the words of a distraught mother instead of the lies of a President?

[julialnyc]

11. that's what everyone should say

Why is the media focusing on the words of a distraught mother instead of the lies of a President?