Big Stetson Tip to lizardoids for title link: From DailyKos: "We should call her "Mother Sheehan". We should never call her Cindy; I don't know her. "Mother Sheehan" is her title, and expresses her ceremonial status as a bereaved mother, calling forth over the dead body of her son. She is not a person now, she is a mother, which is not an expression of her individuality, but rather the expression of her eternal character: the mother, the bringer of life who has been wronged by state power
Well, okay. Mother Sheehan it is, then. But, then, that's part of her unassailable appeal. Everybody has a mother; and who's not going to respect a mother whose son died in Iraq?
It's also part of my own fascination with her. See, I'm a mom, too ... and there's something about this one that's been difficult to figure out.
Let's take a look at her history.
As y'all might know, I had surgery last Monday. Am feeling pretty good, but am on limited activity orders. Translation: I'm kind of the crazy lady they keep locked upstairs ... but, I'll roll with it for awhile longer.
So, I've had some time to track down everything I can find about Cindy, excuse me, Mother Sheehan ... interviews, history, bulletin board threads, you name it.
For starters, there's actually a pretty honest interview with her by DarkSyde over at DailyKos (as long as you understand DarkSyde has his bias). In it, she states: "We live near an Air Force base and our economy depends on war. It is a very conservative, republican community. White upper-middle class.They believe that Bush is keeping our country safe and that I am a traitor for speaking out against a President during time of war."
In the interview, she describes how her son was killed (he was in the back of a Light Medium Towed Vehicle that was ambushed on 04/04/04; while she feels the lack of armor contributed to his death, he died from a shot to the head. I'm not sure that better armor protects against head shots .... but ohwell).
She also talks about how her family and her friends have turned against her because they don't agree with her anti-war activities: "I have lost almost every friend that I had before Casey died. My husband and I are separated, because he doesn't support my activities, although he knows the war is a lie..."
It's an interesting comment, particularly since she stated at the beginning of her vigil at the Crawford Ranch that her husband completely supported her and two of her kids would be there in a few days.
From another source I read, she married her high school sweetheart at the age of 17, and they had their four kids pretty quick. She was involved in church activities, she and Casey formed the youth program at their Catholic Church, and she says that she wasn't involved in anti-war activities during the Nam war because she was in Grammer School and Jr. High.
Anyway, although she is a life-long Democrat, I don't see any traces of moonbat spore on the web before about a year and a half ago.
This is interesting, though. She says that her son enlisted in 2000, without telling anybody unil after he signed the papers. He was 21, and, according to an Amy Goodman interview reported by MenswearDaily, when she found out he'd re-enlisted in 2004, she offered to drive him to Canada or run over him with a car so he wouldn't have to serve in that immoral war ..."
Tragically, he was killed four days after he went to Iraq, Mother Sheehan has stated that she feels that the army recruiter lied to him, that Bush lied to him, and that in any event, he was against the war, but only re-enlisted to support his buddies.
Actually, according to FrontPageMagazine, that's not quite true. Casey was a mechanic in his first stint, the only thing that could be guaranteed was that he could continue as a mechanic. Also, being a chaplain's assistant, which Casey was interested in, was a combat position. I'd wager Casey knew that. Click waaay down to the bottom of the FrontPageMagazine article for a description of current recruiting practices. (and please, take a moment to read the paragraph that describes Casey as a hero ...)
Sheehan's also complained that her son was promised money he never got. Our "voluntary" son recently enlisted. He has $20,000 coming to him as a bonus. The money will be give to him in $5000 amounts, on a timed basis (which frankly, I think is a good idea considering that the kid's 17). Casey was supposed to have also gotten a sizeable enlistment bonus. His mother has stated he only got a portion of it, but I'm wondering if those funds as well were to be distributed over time, and I don't know if sign up bonus monies are given to next of kin; social security benefits aren't.
Also, to be fair ... yah. Recruiters have been know to stretch a point or two. One of the sweeter high school girl I know, a truly lovely person, but clueless, stated that the Marine recruiter had told her "Sure ... there's a great future for cinematographers in the Marines ... "
On the other hand, anyone who doesn't understand that if you sign up for the service these days, you're headed for Iraq is probably too clueless to be trusted with a sharp object, much less a gun.
When Casey originally enlisted, the Army was about fringe benefits. When he re-listed, how could there have been a doubt in his mind that he was headed to Iraq? He was 24, he'd already served one hitch, and he knew what he was getting himself into.
You know, if he opposed the war, and wanted to support his buddies ... he could have just not re-enlisted, engaged in anti-war activities, and supported his buds with mail, packages, phone calls, e-mail, IM's and so on. He didn't. He chose to re-enlist.
Anyway, he was tragically killed (by a bullet in the head) last April.
In May, a month after she buried her son, his mother went to her first VeteransForPeace event, at Arlington West. She told her husband it was the only place she wanted to be for Mother's Day.
By the middle of last summer, Cindy Sheehan was featured in a nationwide commercial, with other anti-war moms, designed to get Kerry elected. The commercial was made by Fenton, which is funded by Soros. Incidentally, Fenton also made the commercial which is running now in Crawford, featuring Cindy. The company also did some PR work for the Sandinistas in the 1980's.
The commercial appeared about 4-5 months after her son's death. People do show grief in different ways.
She started Gold Star Families for Peace, a support group for families that have lost loved ones in Iraq. That's a good thing, but it also seems that one of the requirements for membership is that the bereaved family must also profoundly hate Bush. They're affliated with Code Pink, Veterans For Peace, and other well funded, well established anti American groups.
And, she began posting vitriolic comments to many anti Bush websites, particularly after Bush won the election.
By January of 2005, she and a group of other moms tried to crash Bush's inauguration ... they were turned away, but managed to connect with some sympathic reporters from AP and Reuters who wrote stories on how grieving moms were turned away from Bush's inauguration.
By March, she'd appeared on Nightline and apparently objected to the way the host treated her. Here's the letter she dashed off to them, and here's an excerpt: ... Am I emotional? Yes, my first born was murdered. Am I angry? Yes, he was killed for lies and for a PNAC Neo-Con agenda to benefit Israel. My son joined the Army to protect America, not Israel. Am I stupid? No, I know full-well that my son, my family, this nation, and this world were betrayed by a George Bush who was influenced by the neo-con PNAC agenda after 9/11. ..
By then, she was involved in speaking engagements ... and had separated from her husband. She also had lost her job, which she also blamed on Bush, and was a self proclaimed "full time activist." (Which is about as lucrative as "full time poet."She says she's been using her son's insurance money to fund her trips across the country ... but apart from that, I've been wondering where her money's coming from? Also .. her daughters are currently in Europe ... that costs money, too ... she's refusing to file an income tax return, because she says she doesn't want any money to go to Bush's illegal war. It's interesting ... my theory is that she's perhaps being funded by one of the "Billionaires Against Bush," but that's a topic for another entry)
One of those speaking engagements was at San Francisco State University, where she shared the program with Lynne Stewart last March -- less than a year after her son's death. Lynne Stewart was the attorney convicted for passing along fatwas (Islamic religious edicts) from Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman to his terrorist followers in Egypt’s Islamic Group. Rahman is the blind sheikh responsible for the first World Trade Center bombing in 1993 that left six Americans dead and more than 1,000 people injured...
While she was there, Sheehan made some interesting comments: “9/11 was Pearl Harbor for the neo-conservatives’ agenda” and declared the U.S. government a “morally repugnant system...
"We have no Constitution. We’re the only country with no checks and balances.."
"Let George Bush send his two little party animals to die in Iraq..."
And, in a statement sure to honor her son's death: “America has been killing people on this continent since it was started. This country is not worth dying for..."
Sooo, what is her view of her son ... who swore to uphold the constitution, and did in fact die for his country (not Israel) ... ?
Then, in June (two months ago, and 15 months after her son's death), she was involved in the pretend impeachment trial, hosted by John Conyers. Onstage, she was flanked by Joe Wilson ... and showed ... baby pictures of her son ...
She's also got a website AfterDowningStreet; it's another site catering to the Bushlied crowd.
On August 7th, although she was supposed to go to a "Downing Street Memo thing" with John Conyers (where is all this travel money coming from?), she spoke instead to the VFP, stating among other things "..I said to my son not to go. I said, you know it’s wrong, you know you’re going over there. You know your unit might have to kill innocent people, you know you might die..." This comment's played really well in Al Jazeera, and on Islamofascist websites; they like to write about how American Troops kill babies before breakfast because it helps with the recruitment of suicide bombers to send to Iraq.
Another tribute to her son, I suppose. And, I suppose she forgets that if a US serviceman is caught targeting a civilian, the army hauls him/her up for a court martial.
Anyway, at that speaking engagement, she decided to "partner" with VFP, who escorted her and her entourage to the camp out in Crawford.
And, the rest is history. Or, an attempt to re-do history, anyway. I'd like to add here that to me, it seems like she is being heavily manipulated, in her grief, by alot of rich well-established leftist groups, who have managed to separate her from the usual means of support - like friends, family and community.
But, I'm not giving her a pass. Because I also am a mom, and here's why she offends me at such a basic level:
First: I have two kids near the age of enlistment, and it's one of the many options they consider from time to time. And, it's an option that their dad and I would support, although we'd like them to get through college first.
But, there's a chance that sometime in the next ten years they might choose to serve. Or they might have to serve, particularly if we pull out from Iraq now. I promise -- right now, there's some busy Islamofascist putting together a montage of Mother Sheehan's comments to recruit suicide bombers who will blow up Americans. In just a few months, the voluntary son will probably face an insurgent inspired by the words of the mother of an American soldier ... after all, she did say that her son's unit killed innocents, didn't she?
Second, over the years, I've stayed pretty aware of my kids, their friends and their friends' families. And, I will tell you that nothing drives me nutzier than a mom who tried to validate her existance through her kids. Pull up the image of the mom of a toddler who wins a beauty pagent, and you'll see what I mean.
Now, with "Mother" Sheehan ... who would listen to her if she didn't have a dead son? Who would send her to England, or Washington, or interview her on TV, or put her photo on the cover of a magazine if she didn't have a dead son ...? She'd be just another moonbat.
It's one thing to try to live through a living child ... but, living through a dead child is downright creepy.
Of course, one might point out that if it weren't for the death of her son, she wouldn't be doing all this stuff. And, that might be true ... but, that brings us to my next point - which is responsibility.
Third point, then: A mother has the responsibility to not allow her child to be exploited. By anybody, even herself. Even if you're having a bad day, or a bad life ... it is your job as a mother to put your foot down if someone is twisting your child into service their needs. Even you.
I look at "Mother" Sheehan, and I'm put in mind of the woman who neglects her kids in favor of the fourth guy she's shacked up with in 4 years ... then turns around and says "They're so happy I'm happy ..."
Now, some might point out that her drive to impeach Bush is because she feels he exploited her son, and other servicemen. But ... Bush isn't the one that's said her son's unit kills innocent people, or that this country isn't worth defending ... or any of the number of statements I've marked in red above.
Oh, and incidentally ... in trying to prove Bushlied ... she's also making her son out to be some hapless, easily swayed dummy. That's honoring his memory? That's fullfilling the last duty she can perform for him?
I'm sorry ... as a fellow mother, I'm not buying it. The loss of a child is tragic. Awful. Unimaginable grief. But ... you do not get to assuage it by trashing your dead child for your own purposes.
The last duty you have to a dead child is to preserve that childs memory.
Now, elsewhere on the web, the leftist line is to compare "Mother" Sheehan to Joe Walsh, and to MADD.
Doesn't wash. You do not find one member of MADD writing Budweiser commercials. And, last time I checked, Joe Walsh has never spoken at NAMBLA.
I've also heard "Mother" Sheehan compared to Rosa Parks. Also doesn't wash. Rosa Park was valiant. Rosa Parks felt that this country is worth defending, and she stood up for her constitutional rights. According to her own statements, "Mother" Sheehan, who has never been oppressed a day of her life, does not feel that the constitution in this country exists.
There's a fourth element in here, too. "Mother" Sheehan can either have her son remembered as a victim ... or a hero. She's choosing to push victimhood.
On the other hand, in this scenario, there's only room for one hero. Check any leftist weblog.
¶ 9:30 PM
