Bush sets record-longest vacation in recent history

[Charade]

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I think there's some obscure law that says if you don't agree - 100% - with everything that the President thinks, says and does, you have to be decalred "nuts"..

In sharp contrast, anyone who believes in, voted for Bush and his policies must also be nuts. And stupid.

 

[What the Heck]

Actually, you have answered my questions. Since I am not going to assume that you are a coward, this means that you really do not believe that war in Iraq is a nobel cause. Both you and Cindy Sheehan are in agreement on this issue, the war in Iraq is not a nobel cause. Thanks for confirming the basic premise behind Cindy Sheehan's main reason for protesting this war in Iraq.

Wow, what logic. If something isn't A then it must be B - even though there is a C, D, E, etc.

 

[What the Heck]

No. She is becoming a politcal icon because she is a grieving mother who will not remain silent.

Wow, isn't that slamming her? I thought her contention was that she was an innocent mother who lost a son - no politics? You just proved the point of all of the people you claim are "sliming" her.

 

[rcyannacci]

Oh yes, she "turned the table on the leader of the free world." She'll be in alll the history books.

Historians write the history books...they will decide. So you guys just keep on attacking these "liberal elites" and we'll see how it turns out.

If only Bush had met her - AGAIN - then all would be well. Cindy begs to differ.

The media decides what is newsworthy all on its own. Meeting with her - AGAIN - would not change anything.

This is a really dated way of thinking about the media. If you think citizens have no control over news generation, then you've been living under a rock.

(I didn't know "ThAnswr" is your resident sage. Is she sharing duties with "Professor Mouse" ?)

This is a smilie, Joe. It typically means someone is making a tongue-in-cheek statement. Sorry to confuse. Although if you want to take it on face value, that's fine too. Both Professor Mouse and ThAnswr are well informed on the issues and express their points in a coherent and entertaining fashion. I wish that were universally true, but alas...

 

[What the Heck]

Even if Sheehan did not have any "leftist" groups supporting her the neocons would be vilifying anyway for daring to criticize Bush and for saying that her son's death was senseless. Even if she refused to have anything to do with any political group she would be slimed and maligned and written off as insane.

The problem isn't that she has "leftist" groups supporting her, the problem is she is a founding member of one of those "leftist" groups - long before she decided to go to Texas.

 

[What the Heck]

In sharp contrast, anyone who believes in, voted for Bush and his policies must also be nuts. And stupid.

And, of course, a right wing "Nazi". Gee, thats not a slimie attack, is it?

 

[BuckNaked]

Saying she is using her son's death for political reasons is sliming. Saying that you disagree with her politics and the way she is getting her mesaage across would not be sliming. Calling her inane, shrill, etc is sliming. Got it?

So even though she herself is putting out a political message, if we say so, that's sliming?

Interesting...

 

[JoeEpcotRocks]

Historians write the history books...they will decide. So you guys just keep on attacking these "liberal elites" and we'll see how it turns out.



This is a really dated way of thinking about the media. If you think citizens have no control over news generation, then you've been living under a rock.



This is a smilie, Joe. It typically means someone is making a tongue-in-cheek statement. Sorry to confuse. Although if you want to take it on face value, that's fine too. Both Professor Mouse and ThAnswr are well informed on the issues and express their points in a coherent and entertaining fashion. I wish that were universally true, but alas...

I, too, look forward to how history views our war on terror (as opposed to the past appeasement).

Citizens can have influence on the media, but the media decides what is newsworthy.

My comments re "the sage" were tongue-in-cheek as well.

 

[Professor Mouse]

Would any, some or all of the people that are repeatedly accusing others of sliming Sheehan do me a favor? Could you please explain to me what you consider sliming? Because it seems to me that anyone that doesn't agree with what this woman is doing and dares to say so is accused of sliming a grieving mother.

Brenda, here is a nice piece from A. Huffington. It Takes a Village to Smear Cindy Sheehan

The right wing attacks on Cindy Sheehan -- desperate, pathetic, and grasping at straws -- expose much less about their target than about the attackers.

I mean, trying to slime a grieving Gold Star mom because she is inconveniently questioning the reasons her son was sent off to die in Iraq? Why that would be like trashing a much-decorated war hero or outing an undercover CIA agent…

Oh, right…

How much longer can the Bushies get away with mauling the very values they profess to stand for before their supporters start getting wise to the fact that the only value they really value is power?

Think about it, they’ve shown absolutely no compunction about turning the sleaze machine on an undercover agent who’d spent her career working to protect us from weapons of mass destruction, a Silver Star/Purple Heart veteran who volunteered to fight in a war the administration chickenhawks gamed the system to avoid, and now the mother of a dead soldier.

The right wing smear machine whirrs on -- using its media mouthpieces to do this dirtiest of dirty work. First it was the lie that Sheehan had, in the words of Drudge, “dramatically changed her account” of her June 2004 meeting with Bush. Despite the fact that this supposed flip-flop was a total distortion created by taking quotes out of context, the story quickly made its way into the hands of conservative bloggers… and allowed the TV jackal-pack to start tearing away at Sheehan’s flesh. For all the details on how this went down, check out Media Matters blow-by-blow description. The lowlights included Bill O’Reilly and Michelle Malkin tag-teaming up to push the idea that Sheehan’s “story hasn’t checked out”. O’Reilly also claimed Sheehan “is in bed with the radical left”, and, later suggested “this kind of behavior borders on treasonous”… and, for bad measure, tried to slime Sheehan by linking her with “people who hate this government, hate their country”.

Rush Limbaugh played his usual role, parroting the flip-flop party line, saying that Sheehan was “trying to pull a little bit of a swindle” and that “she’d been totally co-opted by…the whole Michael Moore leftist mentality.” Fred Barnes piled on, saying of Sheehan: “She’s a crackpot” (no doubt using the same video-based diagnostic technique pioneered by Bill Frist). And Michelle Malkin went all Patricia Arquette on the case, using her heretofore unpromoted ESP powers to let us know that Sheehan’s dead son Casey wouldn’t approve of “his mother’s crazy accusations”.

Beyond contempt. But I will say this for these sleazeballs: they are nothing if not resilient. After the Cindy as Flip-Flopper story was revealed as a very poorly done hatchet job, a second load of sludge was quickly dumped: the ludicrous statement from the (ahem) “Sheehan Family” condemning Cindy’s “political motivations and publicity tactics” (run under a banner headline proclaiming “Family of Fallen Soldier Pleads: Please Stop, Cindy”).

Where do I start with this piece of manufactured offal? How about the fact that no one put their names on the statement, which was “signed” by “Casey Sheehan’s grandparents, aunts, uncles and numerous cousins”. Don’t these folks have names? The only name attached to the “Sheehan Family” statement (delivered to Drudge via email with permission “to distribute as you wish”) belongs to Cherie Quartarolo who describes herself as Casey’s aunt and godmother. So did I miss something? Since when does godmother outrank mother? What I really want to know is: how does Casey’s second-cousin-twice-removed feel about Cindy’s vigil? How about his ex-brother-in-law’s cleaning lady?

Cindy deals with all this very succinctly in her latest post, but suffice it to say that Casey’s dad and their three other children are all supportive of what Cindy is doing. Hmm… I always thought conservatives were big proponents of the importance of the nuclear family. Does James Dobson know about this attempt to undermine the primacy of a mother?

I guess it takes a village to trash a grieving Gold Star Mom.

The right wing slime machine is in full operation. Faux news can be counted on as can the Fat drug addict with lard for brains. Even with a whole village sliming her, Cindy Sheehan is getting her message out.

 

[JoeEpcotRocks]

"It takes a village" ?? Is Hillary against her too.

 

[What the Heck]

Brenda, here is a nice piece from A. Huffington. It Takes a Village to Smear Cindy Sheehan The right wing slime machine is in full operation. Faux news can be counted on as can the Fat drug addict with lard for brains. Even with a whole village sliming her, Cindy Sheehan is getting her message out.

Gee, such a reliable, moderate source. As long as the slime is coming from the left, hey, thats not slime it's new propoganda. But say anything about their new darling (Snow White didn't have the press clipping she has), back off bud. Wow. Talk about your faux news.

 

[What the Heck]

"It takes a village" ?? Is Hillary against her too.

Oh yea, I remember that. "It takes a village to raise a child" - unless you are a white single parent male, then you are screwed.

 

[rcyannacci]

The problem isn't that she has "leftist" groups supporting her, the problem is she is a founding member of one of those "leftist" groups - long before she decided to go to Texas.

I don't agree with this line of reasoning. Essentially you are saying that she can either be a grieving mother OR a political activist, but not both.

That's a completely unreasonable expectation that would deny political agency to the very people who need it.

I thought her contention was that she was an innocent mother who lost a son - no politics? You just proved the point of all of the people you claim are "sliming" her.

This is the tyranny of binary thinking...something must be either one thing or the other but not both. Just not realistic...

I won't pretend to have read this whole thread or know what everyone here has argued, but I don't think this woman has to give up her rights to grieve as soon as she enters the political arena. If anything, I have more respect for her refusing to be treated like a victim. She cares enough in what she is saying to accept being slimed by the political machines. That's activism, like it or not.

edit because my typing is awful

 

[BuckNaked]

I don't agree with this line of reasoning. Essentially you are saying that she can either be a grieving mother OR a political activist, but not both.

Speaking for myself, I'm certainly not saying that at all. Of course one can be both at the same time. But at the same time, I don't see how it can be considered sliming her to say that she's a political activist.

 

[rcyannacci]

I, too, look forward to how history views our war on terror (as opposed to the past appeasement).

Citizens can have influence on the media, but the media decides what is newsworthy.

My comments re "the sage" were tongue-in-cheek as well.

Good to know.

If you want to passively wait for history to be written, be my guest. But, I've already started writing...

 

[What the Heck]

I'm won't pretend to have read this whole thread or know what everyone here has argued, but I don't think this woman has to give up her rights to grieve as soon as she enters the political arena. If anything, I have more respect for her refusing to be treated like a victim. She cares enough in what she is saying to accept being slimed by the political machines. That's activism, like it or not.

I don't have a problem with her being a political activist. I respect her being a grieving mother. I see no reason why she can't be both. I do have a problem when she drapes herself in the flag of the one claiming that is all she wants. She "just wants to meet with the President". Then it comes out, she already met with him. She is only there as a grieving mother. Then she has T-shirts showing her website. Please. If her cause is so noble, why does she have to give the truth out in spurts?

 

[rcyannacci]

Speaking for myself, I'm certainly not saying that at all. Of course one can be both at the same time. But at the same time, I don't see how it can be considered sliming her to say that she's a political activist.

I have no problem with the activist label. In fact, it can be rather empowering.

 

[peachgirl]

Not a slam at all.

No inference is needed. I admit it's a tough dance the right is doing...Slamming those who disagree without coming off looking like they're attacking mothers of dead soldiers.

His death and the SGLI money that came from it is most likely what has allowed her to spend so much time and energy in his name

You want to claim that saying her son's death is what allows her to do this isn't attacking her?

I guess she's just really lucky he died so that she could promote her political agenda, right?

You're failing.

 

[Professor Mouse]

Bushies and the conservatives hate having Iraq compared to Vietnam and for good reason. It now appears that Bush is headed down the same road as LBJ. Bush following LBJ's path

WASHINGTON - For those who covered the White House in the '60s, the similarities between Lyndon Johnson and George W. Bush seem to be growing daily - with, of course, one exception: Johnson became a lame-duck president by choice while Bush legally can't seek re-election.

The latest polls show that public support for the Iraq war is declining rapidly and that angst has begun to detract from what normally would be high marks for the president during a period of steady economic growth. Concerns about Iraq also have spilled over to other areas of Bush's agenda, just as war concerns did for Johnson.

During the last two years of his presidency, LBJ was losing much of the political advantage he had gained for domestic accomplishments that have had enormous impact on the lives of Americans, including Medicare and Medicaid, landmark civil-rights legislation, the economic opportunity act and other successful initiatives after winning a landslide election in 1964. The nation's preoccupation with the disaster that was Vietnam and the radicalization of American youth shoved every other Johnson milestone to the rear, where they remain to this day....

That Bush faces the same sort of assessment unless there is some major break in the Iraq situation is evident in the new surveys that show his approval rating on the war and its conduct plummeting to below 40 percent. His overall approval has declined to 42 percent, the lowest of his presidency. Those numbers could spell real trouble for Republicans in next year's congressional elections, and if the killing of U.S. troops by fanatical insurgents continues at its current pace into the presidential-election season, the GOP's chances of holding onto the White House in 2008 could be slim to none.

Present are the same elements that turned Johnson's presidency from the heights of positive to the depths of negative - false assumptions that led to disastrous consequences. The decision to invade Iraq was based on the erroneous belief that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction and was likely to use them - just as the Vietnam War was based on the similarly erroneous domino theory....

The Bush administration's decision to invade Iraq rather than try to contain it also has destabilized the Muslim world, causing difficulties for Saudi Arabia and other allies and giving the terrorists an object of common hate by which to recruit young radicals to the cause of martyrdom. As a result, the job of reconstructing Iraq into a bulwark of democracy in the Middle East has been hamstrung. Does anyone remember the Phoenix Program in Vietnam? It too was designed to build a new society from the ashes.

Those who do not study history are doomed to repeat it. Ignoring the military similarities, the political comparison is scary if you are a Bushie. This is one reason why the Bushes hate the fact that Cindy Sheehan is giving a face and a voice to the victims of Bush's unnecessary war.

 

[Professor Mouse]

Gee, such a reliable, moderate source. As long as the slime is coming from the left, hey, thats not slime it's new propoganda. But say anything about their new darling (Snow White didn't have the press clipping she has), back off bud. Wow. Talk about your faux news.

Brenda wanted examples of what we consider to examples of the right wing media sliming Cindy Sheehan and I provided with a good list of examples of such attacks. You are free to disagree with Huffington all you want but she has put together a nice little website. Heck, I even bolded the right wing slimes.