Cindy Sheehan Quits..."Dems caved in to Bush"

[sandman]

FORT WORTH, Texas - Cindy Sheehan, the soldier's mother who galvanized an anti-war movement with her monthlong protest outside President Bush's ranch, said Tuesday she's done being the public face of the movement.
 
"I've been wondering why I'm killing myself and wondering why the Democrats caved in to George Bush," Sheehan told The Associated Press while driving from her property in Crawford to the airport, where she planned to return to her native California.

"I'm going home for awhile to try and be normal," she said.

In what she described as a "resignation letter," Sheehan wrote in her online diary on the Daily Kos blog: "Good-bye America ... you are not the country that I love and I finally realized no matter how much I sacrifice, I can't make you be that country unless you want it.

"It's up to you now."

Sheehan began a grass roots peace movement in August 2005 when she camped outside Bush's Crawford ranch for 26 days, demanding to talk with the president about her son's death. Army Spc. Casey Sheehan was 24 when he was killed in an ambush in Baghdad in 2004.

Cindy Sheehan's protest started small but swelled to thousands and quickly drew national attention. Over the next two years, she drew huge crowds as she spoke at protest events. But she also drew criticism for some actions, such as meeting with Hugo Chavez, Venezuela's leftist president.

"I have endured a lot of smear and hatred since Casey was killed and especially since I became the so-called "Face" of the American anti-war movement," Sheehan wrote in the diary.

Kristinn Taylor, spokesman for FreeRepublic.com, which has held pro-troop rallies and counter-protests of anti-war demonstrations, said dwindling crowds at Sheehan's Crawford protests since her initial vigil may have led to her decision. But he also said he hopes she will now be able to heal.

"Her politics have hurt a lot of people, including the troops and their families, but most of us who support the war on terror understand she is hurt very deeply," Taylor said Tuesday. "Those she got involved with in the anti-war movement realize it was to their benefit to keep her in that stage of anger."

When Sheehan first took on Bush, she was a darling of the liberal left. "However, when I started to hold the Democratic Party to the same standards that I held the Republican Party, support for my cause started to erode and the 'left' started labeling me with the same slurs that the right used," she wrote in the diary.

She said she sacrificed a 29-year marriage and endured threats to put all her energy into stopping the war. What she found, she wrote, was a movement "that often puts personal egos above peace and human life."

She said the most devastating conclusion she had reached "was that Casey did indeed die for nothing ... killed by his own country which is beholden to and run by a war machine that even controls what we think."

Sheehan told the AP that she had considered leaving the peace movement since last summer while recovering from surgery.

She decided on Memorial Day to step down and spend more time with her three other children. She said she was returning to California on Tuesday because it was Casey's birthday. He would have been 28.

"We've accomplished as much here as we're going to," Sheehan said, saying she was leaving to change course. "When we come back, it definitely won't be with the peace movement with marches, with rallies and with protests. It will be more humanitarian efforts."

Last year, with $52,500 in insurance money she received after her son's death, Sheehan bought 5 acres near downtown Crawford as a permanent site for protests.

"Camp Casey has served its purpose," she wrote in the diary. "It's for sale. Anyone want to buy five beautiful acres in Crawford, Texas?"

[fuckin crazy]

A more humble woman never walked the Earth . She will be in my thoughts .

[D]

Thank God



I never liked Cindy Sheehan.

1. Her son RE ENLISTED! So obviously he believed in the war and the cause. She has a right as a grieving mother to do what she wants but it wasnt George Bush's fault her son died. He volunteered to go back so he knew what he was getting into and she needs to accept that and move on.

[sandman]

the 'left' started labeling me with the same slurs that the right used," she wrote in the diary.

interesting comment. sadly, she was played by people claiming to share her beliefs. she got a real tough lesson in politics. but she should have known better.

[SLCPUNK]

She had more balls than any of the cowards here ,who proudly beat their chest through this Iraq meltdown.

I always found it ironic that as much the Reich-wing pretend to love democracy (we are "spreading it" after all), they simply hated this woman for practicing freedom of speech.

Rosie has some free time coming up, maybe she could swoop down and buy that land from Sheehan and pick up where Cindy left off.

[freedom78]

I never cared for her either.  If there's one lesson the US should have learned from the Cold War, it's that you should not, simply for the sake of spiting your enemy, share company with dictators and thugs.  We did that FAR too often, and it's bit us in the ass.

Well, Cindy did it, too, all for the sake of embracing people who are anti-Bush, despite the fact that Chavez is little more than an authoritarian strongman.  How can I admire her principles when, in her single minded pursuit of one moral stance, she's willing to sacrifice or discard all other moral high ground?

[sandman]

it's interesting that the media has ignored Cindy's letter to the Democratic Congress.

I hadn't heard of it until late today. and it's still not the easiest thing to find. 

[25]

the Reich-wing

I know it's a joke and isn't meant to stand up to any level of thought but. . . how does that make sense? The Realm Wing? The Empire Wing?  It bothers me!

[SLCPUNK]

It bothers me!

Don't let it bother you, it's merely playing with words.....

[SLCPUNK]

it's interesting that the media has ignored Cindy's letter to the Democratic Congress.

I hadn't heard of it until late today. and it's still not the easiest thing to find. 

It was on the front page of yahoo news this morning. 

[25]

It bothers me!

Don't let it bother you, it's merely playing with words.....

I suppose the correct translation, since you're using it as an adjective, would be "the rich wing." There, I feel better now. 

[SLCPUNK]

I suppose the correct translation, since you're using it as an adjective, would be "the rich wing." There, I feel better now. 

As long as you are ok, then I'm ok.

The last thing I want is anybody to be "bothered."

[The Dog]

it's interesting that the media has ignored Cindy's letter to the Democratic Congress.

I hadn't heard of it until late today. and it's still not the easiest thing to find. 

It was on the front page of yahoo news this morning. 

and it was on CNN's front page as well.  Fucking liberal media bias!!!   

[The Dog]

A more humble woman never walked the Earth . She will be in my thoughts .

well said.  I give her all the credit in the world for trying to make a difference.  A lot of people just like to talk, she actually took action.  I'm actually sad to see her stop her protest but I can totally see why she'd want to stop....

[D]

I dont hate her for what she was doing and I am definitely not right winged.

I dont like her because if she really was against the war, why did she only start protesting when her son died?

Its like it was ok as long as it was other people's kids getting killed, but let hers get killed and then all of a sudden she goes off on her sandbox over something her son obviously believed was a worthwhile cause.

He RE ENLISTED! I dont understand what is so hard to understand with that.

The guy served his time, Got out and by his own free will RE UPPED knowing full well the potential consequences. I feel she is dishonoring her son by doing what she did cause he obviously believed.

The guy was a free man who made an adult choice by his own free will so whats the beef?

[25]

The guy was a free man who made an adult choice by his own free will so whats the beef?

Cindy Sheehan made an adult choice of her own free will for something she obviously believed was a worthwhile cause, knowing full well the potential consequences. Where's the beef? Got milk?

[freedom78]

The guy was a free man who made an adult choice by his own free will so whats the beef?

Cindy Sheehan made an adult choice of her own free will for something she obviously believed was a worthwhile cause, knowing full well the potential consequences. Where's the beef? Got milk?

His problem with her isn't with her rights to protest but, obviously, her failure to do so on principle, prior to her son's death, and her use of her son's death when there may be evidence that their views of this war, or at least of his willingness to serve, were different.

[25]

The guy was a free man who made an adult choice by his own free will so whats the beef?

Cindy Sheehan made an adult choice of her own free will for something she obviously believed was a worthwhile cause, knowing full well the potential consequences. Where's the beef? Got milk?

His problem with her isn't with her rights to protest but, obviously, her failure to do so on principle, prior to her son's death, and her use of her son's death when there may be evidence that their views of this war, or at least of his willingness to serve, were different.

Should that even be a consideration? Are timing and familial dissonance deal-breakers in war protest etiquette? And is D really railing against cause-and-effect? The answers to those questions and more coming up; first, a message from our sponsors.

[stolat]

The guy was a free man who made an adult choice by his own free will so whats the beef?

Cindy Sheehan made an adult choice of her own free will for something she obviously believed was a worthwhile cause, knowing full well the potential consequences. Where's the beef? Got milk?

Is she really acting on her own free will or is she acting upon the laws of a much higher force? Has she tapped into the age old battle bewteen good and evil? This force is present whenever there is war in the world. The battle between good and evil is the subject of many myths in many different cultures - call it an universal truth.

[25]

The guy was a free man who made an adult choice by his own free will so whats the beef?

Cindy Sheehan made an adult choice of her own free will for something she obviously believed was a worthwhile cause, knowing full well the potential consequences. Where's the beef? Got milk?

Is she really acting on her own free will or is she acting upon the laws of a much higher force? Has she tapped into the age old battle bewteen good and evil? This force is present whenever there is war in the world. The battle between good and evil is the subject of many myths in many different cultures - call it an universal truth.

You could call it an universal truth but that would sound awkward unless the "an" had a silent n.  That's probably why we don't say an house or an unicycle anymore. Cindy may have tapped into a higher force, or she may have tapped into an embarassing side-effect of Lortab, either way D doesn't like it.