Time To Go
Newsbusters makes a devastating point when noting the "resignation" of Cindy Sheehan from the Democratic party and today as the "face" of the American anti-war movement:
The major media could give a crap.
It’s been a full 48 hours since antiwar icon Cindy Sheehan publicly announced that she was leaving the Democrat Party due to Thursday’s bipartisan agreement on an Iraq war funding bill.
Yet, Google News and LexisNexis searches have identified that not one major media outlet has covered her announcement.
Not one.
Given the media’s fascination with this woman since she traveled to Crawford, Texas, in August 2005 to picket near President Bush’s ranch, one must wonder why they have abandoned her now?
Does this suggest that the media’s antiwar proclivities are only important when they shed a negative light on the Administration and Republicans, but not when events such as this speak poorly about Democrats?
Before you answer, consider the following data. Since August 1, 2005:
CNN has aired 511 segments which included Sheehan’s name
ABC has aired 92
NBC has aired 75
CBS has aired 63
The Associated Press has published 280 articles which included Sheehan’s name
The New York Times has published 147
The Washington Post quite coincidentally has also published 147
The Los Angeles Times has published 122
USA today has published 40.
Please be advised that this data is un-audited, and unchecked for duplications. However, it is quite clear that Sheehan, when she served a function of embarrassing the Bush administration, got a lot of attention.In fact, as you might imagine, many of the 1,447 reports referenced above included actual interviews with Sheehan. And, if we broaden our search to include all major American press outlets, we find a total of 2,272 articles or transcripts referring to Sheehan since August 1, 2005.
Yet, when she made a major announcement concerning her departure from the Democrat Party for antiwar reasons, not one media organization thought it was newsworthy.
What’s the only logical conclusion?
Cindy Sheehan only had value to the press when her antiwar sentiments embarrassed the President. But, when she attacked Democrats for betraying their antiwar campaign promises, she became persona non grata.
How disgraceful.
Sheehan's "resignation" from the anti-war movement is posted over at Daily Kos, not exactly a place I care to link, but here it is:
I have come to some heartbreaking conclusions this Memorial Day Morning. These are not spur of the moment reflections, but things I have been meditating on for about a year now. The conclusions that I have slowly and very reluctantly come to are very heartbreaking to me.
The first conclusion is that I was the darling of the so-called left as long as I limited my protests to George Bush and the Republican Party. Of course, I was slandered and libeled by the right as a "tool" of the Democratic Party. This label was to marginalize me and my message. How could a woman have an original thought, or be working outside of our "two-party" system?
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. I guess no one paid attention to me when I said that the issue of peace and people dying for no reason is not a matter of "right or left", but "right and wrong."
I am deemed a radical because I believe that partisan politics should be left to the wayside when hundreds of thousands of people are dying for a war based on lies that is supported by Democrats and Republican alike. It amazes me that people who are sharp on the issues and can zero in like a laser beam on lies, misrepresentations, and political expediency when it comes to one party refuse to recognize it in their own party. Blind party loyalty is dangerous whatever side it occurs on. People of the world look on us Americans as jokes because we allow our political leaders so much murderous latitude and if we don’t find alternatives to this corrupt "two" party system our Representative Republic will die and be replaced with what we are rapidly descending into with nary a check or balance: a fascist corporate wasteland. I am demonized because I don’t see party affiliation or nationality when I look at a person, I see that person’s heart. If someone looks, dresses, acts, talks and votes like a Republican, then why do they deserve support just because he/she calls him/herself a Democrat?
Newsbusters has this pegged. Sheehan was important to the media as long as she attacked the Bush administration. Now, she's worthless to them and has been memory-holed. And I rather suspect that her resignation has a lot to do with her realizing that.
My advice – and this is not meant to be a snark – is to finally get some grief counseling. That is what has really been needed.
UPDATE: Others: Don Surber, BLACKFIVE, this blog is full of crap, The Populist, Little Green Footballs, Hot Air,
By ****Purple Avenger, May 28, 2007 @ 5:33 pm
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I think it just became too hard to edit around her incoherency commie politics when putting a report together. When she started embracing and spouting truther **** and getting cozy with comrade Chavez it was too much even for the MSM to spin away without investing too much time on production.By Bleepless, May 28, 2007 @ 6:53 pm
Where, oh where, will we ever find a spokesthing whose nuttiness is so obvious, shining through even the MSM self-censorship? We are not likely to be as lucky in the next self-anointed pile of filth, although AMA (absolute moral authority) is unlikely to stick to him/her/it.
By guy, May 28, 2007 @ 8:55 pm
Every time I hear about her I keep wondering if she has anyone who actually cares about her. Family? Friends?
Maybe someone has been been trying to reach her , but she’s just too out of it. Either way, maybe out of the spotlight she’ll actually be able to get some help.
I don’t like her apparent politics, but I hope like hell someone that wounded has someone to take care of her.