I've been against leading Dems in general visiting Cindy BUT

[LittleClarkie]

if one were to go, somehow I think we'd avoid the "Fristing" of Cindy if it were a WOMAN politician.

Does that sound sexist? I hope not. I just think it would be powerful for women and mother politicians to stand next to her.

But for the most part, I fear that any leading Dem will look like Frist standing over Schiavo like a vulture, calculating the benefit to his political base, pretending he gave a shit about the poor woman.

[wtmusic]

1. Appearances be damned

let people think what they want to think.

[benburch]

2. Dennis Kucinich could go without drawing that perception.

We all know his record and credentials on related matters.

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

27. I'd second that...

I'm still not sure politicians should get involved at the scene (but why the hell are they silent elsewhere?), but if anybody's going to make the trip, Kuncinich has earned it.

[Melodybe]

3. Why not Wes Clark, he was a general and is not an elected offical

well not yet anyway, fingers crossed.

[FrenchieCat]

9. Wes Clark was asked about Cindy's plight

by one of the bloggers at his Wespac event in DC last week.

According to this blogger, he said that Clark was emphatically supportive of Cindy....more so than the blogger had expected, in reference to the tone that the General used in conveying his support.

If I can find the post in where he wrote this, I will post it.

[Greeby]

4. Maxine Waters went there over the weekend

http://www.truthout.org/multimedia.htm

4th one down

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

5. Why wouldn't we want Dems to meet with her? We want Bush to.

[LittleClarkie]

13. It's not what we want. It's what she wants

Has she said that she wanted to meet with top Dems. Not that I know of. But she has said that she wants to meet with the president.

I don't give a shit what we want. It's all her.

[madeline_con]

6. I think anyone, male female or whatever their job

should go see her if they support her.

[DemInDistress]

7. I see this differently

last year when bush met Cindy neither she or the rest of America was aware of the Damn Downing Street Memo's revealing the Bush crime Family had deliberately forged facts that would support war in Iraq.Should bush meet with Cindy he may be asked about those memo's and inadvertantly put his foot in his mouth with answers that could lead to a prison sentence....I dont believe rove has confidence in bush meeting with Cindy.Another thing how many Democratic politicians were privvy to those memo's back in June 2004? answer,none..thankfully someone inside MI6 leaked those documents,I salute him !!!!

[yorkiemommie1]

10. rove

is in constant contact, you betcha.

[Booster]

8. Joan Baez is going and that will scare the shit out of the people

who support this war. Go, Joan - I Love ya.

[Fridays Child]

11. More than a few should go, to ask her forgiveness...

...for agreeing to send her son to war. And they could take a lesson in courage from her, while they're there.

[LittleClarkie]

15. Maybe they could meet with the president and get his apology too

for lying to them. Never forget where this started. It didn't start with a bunch of lied to Senators. It started with Bush.

[Fridays Child]

20. I agree but I've never understood how some of our senators were fooled.

We knew. And we weren't listening to crackpots, either. We were reading international news and listening to the voices that the American corporate media tried to silence. It was not rocket science to figure out who was credible. When they now complain of being lied to by the B*sh administration, I have to take it with a ton of salt.

[LittleClarkie]

21. We're smarter than the average bear

I wonder where most of them get their news. Can't quite picture them surfing the net using alternative news sources like we do.

[jobycom]

12. Wouldn't Al Gore be interesting?

He's not an active politician now, and he's been a strong critic of the war, and of Bush. Plus, he's a Viet Nam veteran. Plus, he beat Bush in an election. If he could make one of his fiery speeches supporting Cindy and her question, it could be interesting.

[LittleClarkie]

14. I could live with a non-active politician like Gore

I just think it's enough of a circus down there. And I'm afraid the thing will lose it's purity if politicians go and pose with her.

The only politician I'm interested in seeing with her is Bush.

[jobycom]

16. I agree with that. Still, someone who could

draw more attention without stealing the message would be good. Not sure if Gore could do that or not, but I can't think of another highly-placed politician who could get away with it. Celebrities are problematic, too.

The longer it goes on, though, the more a politician could get away with visiting. Soon it will be more than just a protest, it will have become an event on its own, and then politicians making a pilgrimmage to Cindy might work. If that makes sense, I didn't explain it well.

[LittleClarkie]

18. True, if it goes past the end of the month

And yet some are hostile to the IWR politicians, saying that they can't support her now with blood on their hands.

I'm not one of those. The one with blood on his hands is Bush. To give some of the blame to Congress would be to dilute the blood on his hands. He wanted it. He lied to get it. It's all his. He's the one who needs to apologize to her.

[mike_c]

23. I agree with that hostility, and think that anyone who voted...

...in favor of the IWR needs to repudiate their vote and apologize to their constituents before ANYTHING they say about the war against Iraq is credible. If they have the courage to do that, they'll earn my respect.

[jobycom]

26. Then you don't understand the issue

or the history of the IWR.

[mike_c]

28. on the contrary-- I understand them quite well....

I simply do not accept the notion that the Bush administration "tricked" all those senators who had no idea they were voting to authorize a certain invasion and a war of aggression. They're intelligent and perceptive enough to have known better-- and a few apparently did. Most who voted in favor of the IWR believed that they would gain political capital from a quick, victorious romp over the dry husk of a bogeyman who's name still resonated with the public. They miscalculated, and that miscalculation has returned to bite them in the ass. Note that not one single congress person or senator who opposed the IWR has suffered any political consequences for that opposition, so even the frequently cited argument that they had to go along with the president to avoid appearing unpatriotic holds no water.

Those who voted for the IWR betrayed the principles that America stands for, and are complicit in one of the most shameful episodes in American history.

No, JC-- I think you simply want to rationalize away the stigma that shameful vote will always leave on the men and women who cast it.

[jobycom]

25. The IWR didn't make the war happen

Bush made it happen. People have forgotten how this all started. Bush was stating that he had the authority to invade without Congressional approval. There weren't enough opponents to stop him. The IWR put some limits on how he could invade. In the end it didn't help, but Bush would have invaded without the IWR, anyway.

So I have no problem with IWR Dems who have turned on the invasion since. I agree with you, the blame is all Bush's. I blame Congress for falling for his lies, and for not showing common sense in stopping the war, but it would not have happened without Bush, and it would have happened without the IWR. So it's Bush's fault.

[mike_c]

30. the IWR gave Bush political cover to invade Iraq....

Congress knew that was precisely what it was giving him when they passed that resolution. It was an act of congressional cowardice, abdicating their own constitutional responsibility to be the final arbitors of whether the nation goes to war-- and don't give us any nonsense about the War Powers Act, which was never intended for this sort of situation. It was also an act that usurped the authority of the United Nations, and thereby violated U.S. treaty obligations. History will remember it as a war crime.

[AntiCoup2K4]

17. Clark or Gore would be OK. and Waters as well.

But anyone who voted for the war should probably stay away, in my humble opinion.

[LittleClarkie]

19. I still say that let's too many folks off the hook

Expand that to anyone who was verbally supporting the war, vote or not, and maybe I could agree. Though I still want all the blood on Bush's hands, not on the legislators he lied to so that he could have his damned war.

[HKTech]

22. Give 'em enough rope...

The GOP Freefall has happened without any Democratic help ( I mean, other than voting for all the GOP programs). The erosion of support for the Invasion has evaporated despite the MSM's pro-war drumbeat and lack of anti-War Protests and teach-ins.

They would love to change the focus to the Democrats - we'd be playing into their hands. A lack of Professional Democrats, keeps the focus on Cindy and the Blame on the GOP. They are desperate to change the focus - think about it Moore puts a link to Cindy on his webpage and the GOP goes apesh*t trying to put Cindy and Moore in bed together. They are begging for Kerry, Hillary, Bill, anybody to go to Crawford.

The vicious attacks on Cindy shows the GOP is in its death throes.

[global1]

24. After *'s Vacation & When He Comes Back To Washington.....

Cindy will be coming to Washington as well. That's time enough for her to meet with the Dems - and she could meet with all of them there. Right now - this should be between Cindy and *. Leave Cindy alone in Crawford. She seems to be holding up quite well. We all know that * is not going to meet with her. Cindy will make a tremendous point and this will resonate more than having Dems come to Crawford and try and get a photo op with her. Let them meet her in D.C. where they are expected to be - and where they are expected to be political. They blend in there and will draw less criticism from the RW there.

[ontobush]

29. I'm surprised John Conyers

hasn't been there. But I know he's busy working the DSM and the havoc it will bring to the bush administration.

Now that I typed that, I think he's where he should be. haha

[theboss]

31. Most Dems on the Hill probably disagree with her

If the issue is immediately getting out of Iraq, that's not a position most Dem politicians have. So...what would they talk about?

[Fleshdancer]

32. I see what you mean. Reminds me of this incredible article I read on BBC:

Why mothers push for peace
http://212.58.240.35/1/hi/world/americas/4144532.stm

I don't know if you've seen this before, but this article starts out talking about Cindy but then it also discusses the tradition of mothers campaigning for peace around the world:

The Committee of Soldiers' Mothers in Russia, a human rights organisation, has been campaigning against conscription and the war in Chechnya for years.

...

And in Argentina, the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo continue their decades-old marches in Buenos Aires on behalf of loved ones abducted by Argentina's 1976-1983 military regime.

...

One such was the Israeli grassroots group called the Four Mothers, which is widely credited with playing a significant part in shaping Israeli public opinion towards pulling the military out of Lebanon in 2000.