New Angle on Cindy Sheehan
I am no shrink and this is just personal speculation on my part but think about this for a moment.
Cindy Sheehan, by her own admission, was anti-war when her Casey Sheehan joined the Army. He joined with the intention of going to Iraq. We (Greg and I) are wondering if maybe Cindy Sheehan isn’t pissed at George W. Bush so much as he is the convenient focus of her anger – at Casey, for joining the Army in the first place.
I don’t hear Cindy talking about all the things CASEY will miss out on, she is constantly focused on herself and what SHE is going through. It is not at all beyond the realm of reason, given her selfish behavior thus far, that Cindy Sheehan is mad as hell at her son ‘for doing this to her’.
It is also quite possible that Casey Sheehan may have joined the Army to get away from his mother.
Like I said, this is all just thinking outloud speculation, but it strikes me as more than plausible.
**UPDATE**
This from Drudge this moring:
“My son was killed in 2004. I am not paying my taxes for 2004. You killed my son, George Bush, and I don’t owe you a penny…you give my son back and I’ll pay my taxes. Come after me (for back taxes) and we’ll put this war on trial.”
[...]
TIME mag reports in new editions on Monday: Sheehan gets support from her surviving son, Andy, in principle, but he recently sent her a long e-mail imploring her, “to come home because you need to support us at home.”
Cindy Sheehan is no longer a grieving mother – she is an anti-war protester that is pursuing her activism at the expense of her own grieving family.
Yeah, I am WAY out there when speculating that Casey Sheehan would have some choice words for his mother.
**UPDATE**
Michelle Malkin: “The wheels just came off the Cindy Sheehan bandwagon.”
I have to say I agree. The left’s continuing attempts to paint the president as an unfeeling war monger simply don’t have legs – blatant lies and distortions usually fall apart when exposed to sunlight. Of course, if you are a Vampire, you are never blessed with sunlight of truth.
I also think we can expect to see more people like Linda Ryan, wife of Marine Cpl. Marc T. Ryan, of Gloucester City, who was killed in an explosion in Iraq in November, to begin speaking out:
“George Bush didn’t kill her son, it’s the evildoers who have no value of life who killed her son. Her son made a decision to join the Armed Forces and defend our country, knowing that, at any time, war could come about,” Ryan said.
Exactly. But that is the leftist way, isn’t it? Blame everyone except the guy that pulled the trigger – absolve everyone of personal responsibility because it is always someone else’s fault.
**UPDATE**
This about sums it up. The “peace” activists don’t give a crap about Cindy Sheehan or her son or the other 1,854 brave men and women that gave their lives for their country. This is all just another game to further their agenda and the dead are just their playing pieces.
Robert, I don’t think you’re “way out there” in speculating about the things that motivated Casey Sheehan and his misguided mother. Casey Sheehan seems like he was very different from his parents. He was an Eagle Scout, and he thought of the Army as “Boy Scouts with guns.” He was very brave and he believed that it was worth his life when he volunteered to break his fellow soldiers out of the uprising in Sadr City on April 4, 2004.
As for Cindy Sheehan, something must have happened between June 2004 and now to make her change her story about meeting the president. There’s a big difference between the sincere and comforting remorse last year and the “he treated it like a party” today. John McCain had some choice words this morning when he said that the president takes the losses of our uniformed personnel very seriously. I can only speculate as to what happened, but I think that anti-war groups like Code Pink and Iraq Veterans Against the War have slowly persuaded her into becoming the champion of their cause.
By now, Cindy Sheehan has become a mini-celebrity and the most effective activist on the extreme left. With all of the exposure she’s been getting, she hasn’t used it to tell America who her son was or what he did. Casey Sheehan has been lost in the noise, and that’s the biggest shame of all.
If I had a chance to speak with Mrs. Sheehan, I would ask her, “How do you feel about Moqtada al Sadr and his militia? Do you think that the people who really killed your son should rule Iraq?” I doubt that I could get a straight answer from her or her handlers.
MJ – You are absoutely right – people aren’t hearing about Casey Sheehan and his bravery. He has become just another prop for anti-war activists.
Just caught McCain on FNS – very forceful defense of the president indeed – was good to see for a change.
I didn’t know you had the gift of necromancy!
It must feel good to know more about Casey Sheehan, what he wanted and how he felt, than his own mother. After all, she only gave birth to him and raised him—obviously, y’all know him far better than that!
Well…either you can infallibly communicate with the dead, or you’re full of shit. I wonder which one it could be?
Yeah Don, I got it for my sixth birthday from my Uncle Deductive Reasoning Aunt Common Sense. Pretty cool gift for a six year-old, huh? Aunt Common Sense is WAY cool.
I think you meant your Ain’t Common Sense, Bob…
I am Patrick Sheehan’s cousin, although I have not seen him in since we were children, I do know he comes from a very ethical, spiritual and devoted family and I believe that he has brought these same values to his family.
My brother was killed at the age of 23 and my daughter-in-law died suddenly at 33. Both of these deaths devastated our family. It took a decade for the pain to become bearable.
Casey Sheehan’s family is trying to deal with the worst imaginable loss. Each one has to deal with it in there own way. Cindy has decided to make it public. I can only hope that she is not being manipulated by any activist groups, that she is striking out in anger and truly believes in what she is doing.
Many people have stated how her perception of the meeting with the President has changed dramatically over the course of a year. I do not find that unusual at all.
Being removed from the situation and having the opportunity to re-evaluate it, commonly allows a person to see things that were not evident at the actual meeting. When you are in pain you want to believe in the sincerity and compassion that people show you. Sometimes, when removed from the situation subleties of a person demeanor become more apparent. Things that you barely noticed are evaluated and new opinions can form based on this new evaluation. This happens in everyday life, so why should it be unusual for someone who’s whole being is consumed by grief?
I am joining this discussion to ask you to back off. None of you (nor myself) understand what the Sheehan family is going through. Anger is part of the recovery process in dealing with devastating pain. There is no avoiding it and each person will deal with it in their own way.
Many of you have said Cindy Sheehan is selfish, that she only talks about what she has lost. What you don’t realize is what she lost is all there is. Casey is in her heart and yes, she is probably angry at him as well as the President. Casey not being here is what takes up most of her energy.
With time she will get past the anger, but that will not necessarily change her perception of the President.
We should be looking at Cindy with compassion and sorrow for her loss. Public sorrow (for some people) is an open invitation to cruelty and should be not tolerated. We should be showing compassion for a familys loss, practicing patience and understanding as they go through the stages of recovery.
Please keep your speculations and cruelty to yourself. You don’t have to agree with her, expressing your disagreement with compassion can be more effective and maybe she will be able to respond and answer some of your questions. Or not.
Jacine
Jacine – I am going to give you the benefit of the doubt on your assertion that you are Patrick Sheehan’s cousin, although I have no way of knowing if that is factual or not. I will assume it is for the moment.
I sympathize with Cindy – I honestly do – but ask yourself this question. What would Casey say to her now? I also wonder where you gleen your insight from as you state you have not seen Patrick since you were children – did you know Casey Sheehan? Have you ever met Cindy Sheehan? That seems unlikely given your statement.
While you write a very compelling case for Cindy and her grief, it doesn’t change facts.
Casey volunteered for the Army. He re-enlisted to go to Iraq. He volunteered for the misson in which he lost his life. It is quite obvious, given these facts, that Casey Sheehan believed in what he was doing, even if his mother did not. Is Cindy simply allowed to disregard that to pursue the public spectacle she has become? How does it serve Casey’s memory? I believe, as do a growing number of other people, that what she is doing is dishonoring the memory of her son, plain and simple. I also personally believe she is hurting this country with her anti-war rhetoric – just how much destruction is a grieving mother allowed to level while she works out her grief on the public stage?
Enough is enough. If you and the rest of your family care about Cindy, you will go down to Crawford and bring her home to take care of the rest of her family. Haven’t they suffered enough too?
I respect your opinion, but I do not agree with it and I have no intention of not speaking out on this subject – unlike Maureen Dowd, I do not believe Cindy Sheehan has unrestricted moral authority – especially since I believe her son would be very upset by what she is doing.
Jacine,
With all due respect to your family,
Despite her horrific loss, when Ms. Sheehan decided to make a public spectacle of herself in Crawford, including publicly and repeatedly attaching herself to an activist political platform and granting interviews to the press, she knowingly and willingly forfeited her right to privacy.
So long as Ms. Sheehan decides to be a public activist, a public discussion on her actions – including motivations – is more than appropriate.
Everyone in this country sympathizes with a grieving mother who has lost her son. But that does not give anyone carte blanche to make themselves the center of a publicity stunt without opposing viewpoints and analysis being expressed.
If privacy for Ms. Sheehan and your family is what you seek, Ms. Sheehan herself is the one you should be asking to back off.
Greg
I feel her pain..I got two kids in the military..Had many opportunities to “camp” outside their boot camps to stop them..did I do that?? NO..it was their decision..they are adults ..even if God forbid I loose them…I will know they honoured their country and they were happy doing this..and that’s enough fo me.
When Mrs Sheehan disengage herself of all the others who are maniputaling her..then and only then she will have peace and take a minute to thank her son for allowing her all that freedom. May God keep his soul.
May God keep his soul, indeed, and yours and your family’s as well.
THIS peace activist who serves in the military is AGAINST THE WAR and is AGAINST GEORGE BUSH!
A quick call to Beale AFB confirms that you are indeed active military, Casey. What a “peace activitst” is doing in the military is beyond me, but you are certainly entitled to your opinion. I imagine, though, you are in the minority overall as it pertains to GWB and the war in Iraq.