August 15, 2005

8/15: The Parent Trap

Web readers: To go directly to the SCOTUS coverage click here.

Cindy Sheehan, the "gold star" mother who is seeking an audience with Pres. Bush and is now in her 2nd week of camping outside his Crawford ranch, remains the most-discussed person in the political blogosphere. This a.m., "Cindy Sheehan" remains the #1 search on Technorati, as she was last Thursday. She is also the #2 most "prominently featured" person at BlogPulse, behind "person" Harry Potter and 1 place ahead of list mainstay Bush.

By this point, her saga is among the most emotional blogosphere debates of the year, perhaps second only to the death of Terri Schiavo in March. However, because the left was generally united in that case, a strong component of the Schiavo debate was largely an internal fight between "pro-tube" and "anti-tube" conservatives. This time there are just a handful of dissenters, making this one is a classic left-right battle, and unsurprisingly, it all boils down to Iraq. After Valerie Plame, Sheehan has become the latest proxy for debating the whether or not this war is a just one.

Liberals, perhaps spurred by Bush's low approval numbers, view Sheehan's plight as a powerful story of loss, as well as a chance to create a unified anti-war movement where one really hasn't gone before. They criticize conservatives for treating her callously. If conservatives are at all split, it is primarily about how much Sheehan is being used and how much she is responsible. They argue that Sheehan's politics are fringe left and point out that Sheehan's family disagrees with her crusade.

Also recapped from this weekend: a number of mostly-conservative blogs live-blogged Justice Sunday II on-the-scene at Two Rivers Baptist Church in Nashville, TN; plus, discussions of the CIA leak investigation and Air America's finances continue to churn; and law prof Jonathan Turley gets the better of Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL).

The first sentence of the first paragraph drew a few complaints; we've gone ahead and rephrased it slightly to eliminate any confusion.

SHEEHAN: Meet The Parent

• What the blogosphere is saying about Cindy Sheehan:
  
  

  >> Liberal bloggers call out conservatives for trying to interfere with Sheehan -- EllaGoes passes on the word that when conservative counter-protesters arrived at the ranch outside Crawford, "Sheehan supporters stood and sang 'God Bless America.' The response? A repeated chant of 'We don't care. We don't care. We don't care...'" A Daily Kos diary quotes a Sheehan supporter calling for reinforcements: "The brownshirts have arrived! Anyone willing to walk the walk needs to get to Crawford NOW!" Blunt News hosts video from ABC News, featuring a Bush neighbor in Crawford who "admits trying to intimidate" her and supporters by firing a rifle. Blunt News comments: "The Secret Service didn't even take this guy in."
  

  >> Conservatives don't believe the left has Sheehan's interests in mind -- Paul Geary of The New Editor is "feeling sorry" for her, writing: "This crowd will drop Cindy Sheehan as soon as the lens caps go on, or as soon as the next invented scandal involving the White House captures its fertile imagination. ... If she's remembered at all (doubtful), she'll be remembered unkindly not because she questioned the war, but because she questioned the war using the rhetoric of those whose obvious primary motive is hatred of the president and hatred of the US." Alarming News: "Nothing is done or said unless it can hurt Bush. They really couldn't give two figs about Cindy Sheehan, it's all about their Bush obsession."
  

  >> Some liberals want Sheehan to take her fight to Washington -- Frameshop's liberal Jeffrey Feldman argues that the Sheehan protest now "indicates that Americans are now thinking about the War in Iraq through the frame of the family, rather than thinking about Iraq through the frame of 'terrorism' or 'ideology.' The implications of this shift from ... are profound. Not only does this shift forewarn a political tidal wave soon to break on the President's foreign policy, but also of a much deeper, tectonic shift in the strategy beneath all the recent gains" by the GOP. He writes, the "great success" of Sheehan's protest "is no less than the moral authority for the Democratic Party to speak for the American family." But he fears that "overpaid and out-of-touch" Dem consultants will "suffocate" the party from making use of it. Daily Kos: "If Cindy Sheehan travels to Washington, DC, maintains her focus on the family costs of the Debacle, and to the Common Good of the country, it will have a great chance of resonating in a way a more traditional anti-war movement might not."
  

  >> Conservatives chew on the available evidence of what Sheehan's family thinks -- Early in the a.m. on 8/11, It Comes In Pints posted a letter from Sheehan's family, originally sent to KSFO: "The Sheehan Family lost our beloved Casey in the Iraq War and we have been silently, respectfully grieving. We do not agree with the political motivations and publicity tactics of Cindy Sheehan. She now appears to be promoting her own personal agenda and notoriety at the the expense of her son's good name and reputation. The rest of the Sheehan Family supports the troops, our country, and our President, silently, with prayer and respect." A few hours later, it was picked up by the Drudge Report, too. Dang If I Know posts links to a document strongly indicating that Sheehan husband Patrick Sheehan, has filed for divorce. It is available on the Solano Co., CA Superior Court website, titled Case ID: FFL087021 - SHEEHAN, PATRICK VS. CINDY.
  

  >> On 8/12, liberal Huffington Post featured only Sheehan-related stories (approx. 20) on its front page. HuffPo's anti-HuffPo satirist Greg Gutfeld writes: "No one sent me the email about it being ALL-CINDY FRIDAY, and now I feel like a wallflower at an orgy. A BIG FAT HAIRY WALLFLOWER. It's like showing up at a costume party, and everyone but me came dressed as a blood-sucking ghoul!" Today HuffPo fronts posts about other topics as well, although the top slot features a photo of the FNC logo and the header "THE SLIMING OF IRAQ MOM CINDY SHEEHAN..." Also prominently featured is an update from Sheehan herself, titled "Day 9 at Camp Casey". Sheehan reacts to Bush saying: "I have to go on with my life" as an explanation for not meeting with Sheehan: "WHAT!!!!!????? He has to get on with his life!!! I am so offended by that statement. Every person, war fan, or not, who has had a child killed in this mistake of an occupation should be highly offended by that remark. Who does he think he is?"
  

  >> A few other reports:
  

  • On 8/11 we covered Sheehan's sometimes-emotional, sometimes-raucous "blogcall"; now organizer Joe Trippi posts a WAV audio file of the Sheehan call on his blog.
  
  
  • Drudge Report reports that Sheehan recently said: "My son was killed in 2004. I am not paying my taxes for 2004." Drudge's source is not listed, but it comes from a Veterans for Peace speech in Dallas on 8/5; a fuller account can be found in a comment at Blog for America.
  
  
  • Moderate Joe Gandelman analyzes Sheehan's impact on each side so far. For the left, it has "given the floundering anti-war movement a focus, direction, and what Hollywood likes to call a 'high concept' symbol to press its case against the war," though the movement shows a "drift towards radicalism." For the right, it's "an instance where the rapidity of conservative response to Bush problems has been impressive," although criticisms of Sheehan could backfire.
  
  >> More from the right... Protein Wisdom's Jeff Goldstein protests: "'How dare you! Cindy lost her son!' has, in short order, become the new 'RACIST' or 'HOMOPHOBE' of progressive poltico speak." PoliPundit's Lorie Byrd finds Newsweek's report on Bush's private meeting with families of soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan contains too much "editorializing," such as suggesting that Bush might be "agonizing over the war that he chose to start." Conservative Brainster calls the whole scene "Crawfordapaloooza," because it's "become an annual event, with some liberal or other heading out to the Western White House demanding to see President Bush." In '04, it was Dem ex-Sen. Max Cleland.
  
  

  >> More from the left... Liberal Hullabaloo suggests the "anti-military right" is on the rise. He asserts that "veterans are being called cowards and fakers, disabled vets are mocked for not having the right wounds," and quotes a comment from a or getting them in the right way, GOP hags are wearing cute little 'purple heart' bandaids on their cheeks." He bases it on a comment from The Poor Man which may or may not be genuine. Daily Kos approvingly quotes mid-tier conservative blogger Cunning Realist, who writes: "The growing division between the professional class of spinning punditry and the vast expanse of Middle America that actually does the working, the fighting and the dying so the pundits can spend their time chattering has never been more clear than with this story."

BLOGGERS VS. BLOGGERS: Media Whores Online

The controversy over Sheehan spills over into personal acrimony amongst bloggers, starting with RedState's Erick Erickson, who wrote on 8/12: "Cindy Sheehan's son was killed in Iraq. She's a grieving mother. Last year, the President met with Mrs. Sheehan, comforted her, and grieved with her. At the time, Mrs. Sheehan thought the President had done well and appreciated him. Enter August, no major news, and a media still smarting over the President's re-election despite everything they threw at him. Cindy Sheehan returns entering stage right -- this time a left wing media whore in the form of a grieving mother." Erickson later apologized for the "media whore" line in a subsequent post.

Liberal bloggers found the comments, and MyDD's Jerome Armstrong finds it "sorta ironic" that whereas Red States disallows profanity in its comments, Erickson "gets a free ride for using the term 'whore' to attack someone. But not just for any old someone, but" Sheehan. Lefty Steve Gilliard responds calls Erickson's comment "a truly vile and rephrensible thing. Mrs. Sheehan lost her son in combat fighting for this country. To call her a 'left-wing whore' will affect how people see you and your site. Even your readers disagree with the sentiments here and their expression." Liberal TBogg: "Suffice it to say that he is a dick and next time he says that "we" will remain in Iraq, someone needs to ask him when he's going to hop his bloated ass over to Iraq and take Casey Sheehan's place."

In the afternoon of 8/12, Eschaton posts Erickson's e-mail address and AIM handle, both available on RedState previously and still. Before long, Erickson posted to RedState reports of hate mail and death threats, quoting a few, editing for profanity.

Fellow RedStater Josh Trevino considers the term "media whore," arguing it is "correct to apply the term to Ms. Sheehan, who is not merely expressing public grief over her son's death -- for which no person of ordinary compassion could condemn her -- but also railing against American 'imperialism' and the state of Israel; and declaring America a one-party state saved from fascism by the internet(!). Oh, and the 2004 elections were, apparently, fraudulent. We may feel empathy or pity as it strikes us for the circumstances that brought Ms Sheehan to utter these absurdities: but we are under no compulsion to respect them, nor to call them anything but what they are."

Erickson wasn't the first to make such an argument. On 8/11 Instapunk dissented from those on the right who say Sheehan is being used. Instead, he writes: "This is perversion. And it's time somebody said it out loud. Cindy Sheehan, your son died a hero. Go home now and find some meaning in it that isn't just about you and the politics of those who hate their country."

It's not for everybody but certainly clever, The Poor Man Photoshops Paul Krugman, liberal blogger Duncan Black and others onto the cover of Pet Sounds, and composes lyrics set to "Kokomo." Balloon Juice's John Cole swears off writing about the issue, since "the jackasses on the far left are going to distort this post, lie, vilify, and attack anyway, and it just isnt worth it..."

PULPIT POLITICS: And Justice Blogging For All...

• FRC's Charmaine Yoest , who organized the blogger delegation (and as we reported on 8/10, faced some scrutiny for covering their expenses), posts a series of observations, including this conclusion.
• Not all conservatives agreed on JSII's socially conservative message. Captain's Quarters' Ed Morrissey, who live-blogs within a single post, complains: "We have another reference to a 'right' to homosexual sodomy. I'm no fan of the Lawrence decision, but why pick on 'homosexual' sodomy? It sounds like sodomy doesn't bother them at all, just the homosexuals. Can we just drop the footstamping about homosexuality?" Meanwhile, Yeah, Right, Whatever comments: "I can't say that I disagree with what I've heard so far. What concerns me is that some of the speakers are speaking in such a strong religious manner that they may turn off some of the less fervent among us."
• Nashville's own Bill Hobbs quotes from the songs: "At first glance, the chorus reads as if it's a call for some kind of imposed theocracy, but it's not -- it's a recognition that even those in the highest seats of power in government are, ultimately, not God." Like Morrissey, he keeps his live-blogging within a single post. So does Joe Carter at Evangelical Outpost
• TN-based liberal Jackson Miller comments, "after hearing the same fear-mongering over and over again for over an hour, I have realized there is no substance here tonight. ... While I attempted to come here today without any pre-conceived ideas, I am going to have to stand by my earlier assertion that the intention of Justice Sunday II is to co-opt Jesus and Christianity for the political goals of the Extreme Right." Nevertheless, he thanks Yoest for arranging for him to attend. Red State Rant's Lance McMurray says thanks as well, and tips his hat to his fellow JSII bloggers.
• Alarming News' Karol Sheinen misses having ex-Sen. Zell Miller in public office. Trey Jackson posts photos of a pro-choice protest outside the church.
• Outside the event, liberal Tennessee Guerilla Women reports: "I didnt catch sight of Phylis Schlafly or Tom Delay, and Ill probably sleep better for it. Media people were crawling all over the place, asking us why we were there and taking our pictures. The rightwing Redstate.org came by with camera in hand. We snapped their pictures too."
• From a further distance, moderate Ann Althouse comments on James Dobson saying "unelected judges believe they know better than the American people": "There's no detail or serious analysis of the kind that would be interesting to someone who has studied law. These are ridiculous overstatements, and I'd be embarrassed to be sitting still listening to such empty jabbering."

ROVE-PLAME-MILLER: How Do We Know For Sure Fitzgerald's People Aren't Leaking?

From journalist Murray Waas' Whatever Already blog: "What has not been previously reported until now (a blog breaks news!?), is that not only could Rove not remember the name of the journalist who purportedly might have told him of Plame's CIA employment, but he also claimed to remember virtually nothing about the circumstances of the purported conversation. He could not even recall whether the conversation took place on the phone or in person."

Meanwhile, liberal bloggers are swarming around a Waas article in the Village Voice, which reports that FBI investigators "doubted" several key points in Rove's testimony.

ThinkProgress, the blog of John Podesta's Center for American Progress, lists the "21 Administration Officials Involved in Plame Leak," starting with Rove and Libby at the top, followed by Rice and Hadley, concluding with VP Cheney and Bush. Each entry has a picture and oppo-style quotes from major news publications. The Mahablog calls it "a great Traitorgate info resource."

BLOGS VS. THE DCCC: Burton's Certain

National Journal's Beltway Blogroll quotes DCCC comm. dir. Bill Burton defending the cmte from complaints that it hasn't adopted the same "50-state strategy" supported by DNC chair Howard Dean and the liberal netroots. Burton said the DCCC has "more than 30 candidates to contest GOP-held House seats in 2006 -- 10 times more than the same point" in '03. Burton also noted that ArchPundit, Seeing the Forest, Sisyphus Shrugged and other liberal blogs are still on good terms with the DCCC.

BLOGS VS. THE MSM: That Warmongering Post

Liberal AMERICAblog's John Aravosis notices that the Washington Post will be a co-sponsor of the Pentagon's 9/11 rally/concert, as reported by Editor and Publisher: "A newspaper is cosponsoring a government propaganda rally. Lovely. How low can the Washington Post go? They got us into this war and now they're going to help keep us there. Way to go Wash Post." After a few more outraged posts on the subjects he he writes: "Enough already. It's time for the Washington Post to start acting like a real newspaper again rather than the spokesman for the Bush administration and the Iraq war." He provides contact info (including e-mail address) for Washington Post publisher Bo Jones. Lefty Atrios says he isn't so bothered by it: "Now that they've unequivocally revealed their true face, we can just treat them as they are. And, yes, there are good reporters at the Post. But, the Post as a Washington Institution is just a bootlick to Republican authority.

IRAQ: You'd Have To Ask Larry Noble

The question is posed at liberal TPM Cafe: "Is Iraq a Noble Cause?" The responses differ wildly; the 1st comment, in part: "Iraq is a noble cause, but not the way you intended the question to be read. We made a major error in invading Iraq. We violated international law and common decency in doing so. Now the noble part is doing what is necessary to atone for that." Armando at Daily Kos sees the Bush admin -- as well as conservative bloggers -- attempting to "shift the blame" for when "Baghdad becomes Saigon," as he had predicted earlier.

OHIO 02: Anti-Regulation Paranoia? These Lefty Blogs Almost Sound Like Businessmen!

Ohio 02 and Swing State Project initially bought into a rumor posted at the OH-based gossip page The Whistleblower, which claimed Rep.-elect Jean Schmidt (R) is already working on the "Bloggers Reform Act of 2006" which would include criminal penalties for "all the lies published on their blogsites." RedState's Mike Krempasky then called Schmidt's office, obtained their denial on the record (as well as their interest in starting a blog on her House site), and posts his results as debunking the claim. SSP and Ohio 02 amend their posts, the latter calling it "another typical Whistleblower scoop."

AIR AMERICA: The Times, Are They A-Changin'?

Conservative, Michelle Malkin notes the first appearance of a New York Times story about Air America's possibly illegal loans, which she is disappointed to find not on A1 but on the "NY/Region" page. She writes: "The article is a rehash of everything blogs and a sprinkling of MSM outlets have already reported. Underwhelming. Entirely expected. And wholly inadequate given the paper's massive previous coverage of Air America." Malkin later pointed out that the Times "botched" some of its reporting in the story. Macho Nachos adds: "The good news is that the Times was only behind the Arizona Republic, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, The Oregonian, the Washington Times, the Sun, the Post, the Daily News, the Opinion Journal, Investors Business Daily and about a zillion blogs (with no editors!) on this story that almost exclusively happened within the confines of New York."

MISCELLANY: If Both Sides Hate You, Are You Necessarily Doing Something Right?

• On 8/10 pollster John Zogby took heat on the left for allegedly skewing poll results to suit conservative clients; this weekend Zogby takes it from the right. PoliPundit notes that Zogby wrote in a Financial Times op-ed that Bush "and his team wanted" war with Saddam "from the time they took office," a claim D.J. Drummond calls "plainly as a pack of lies."
• Conservative PoliPundit looks at the GOV races in the West and the Pacific West. Liberal Chris Bowers provides his ranking for SEN seats the Dems will have the hardest time defending; #1 is the MN seat being vacated by Mark Dayton.
• Ex-Reagan aide Lynn Nofziger asks for prayers for GOP activist Paul Weyrich, who recently "had a nasty accident that left him crippled and in constant pain," and whose legs were to be removed by doctors last week. Like Nofziger, conservative Bizzy Blog has had differences with Weyrich, but salutes him.
• Liberal Truth Caucus, which recently posted photos of a booze-addled College GOPer event, now has "exclusive" photos of College GOPers hanging out with Reagan-era College GOP chair Jack Abramoff.

THOUGHT OF THE DAY: Over Construction

Riding Sun's Gaijinbiker quotes from a Globe and Mail op-ed which explains how blogs killed the "Under Construction" signs once ubiquitous on personal homepages: "The weblog format, which date-stamps every update and puts it in chronological order, understands that nothing is ever finished. Old homepages were designed to reach a state of completion, but blogs are designed to be added to, bit by bit, day by day. If a weblog comes to an end, as they sometimes will ... then something's gone amiss. The natural state of the blog is a work in progress, and that's a natural fit with its users. We don't need to put pictures of Mr. Under Construction on blogs, because he's perfectly implicit." Riding Sun's Gaijinbiker provides a link to his own outdated homepage, and adds: "I have a feeling that showing someone your old website is going to become the modern equivalent of showing them your old high school yearbook photo."

LEST WE FORGET: Weapon Of Choice

Christopher Walken is running for president in 2008?! That's what it says at Walken2008.com. The following quote, attributed to Walken, is prominently featured on the page: "Our great country is in a terrible downward spiral. We're outsourcing jobs, bankrupting social security, and losing lives at war. We need to focus on what's important-- paying attention to our children, our citizens, our future. We need to think about improving our failing educational system, making better use of our resources, and helping to promote a stable, safe, and tolerant global society. It's time to be smart about our politics. It's time to get America back on track."

However, World Net Daily suspects that it's an "elaborate hoax being perpetrated by members" of the anarchic General Mayhem message boards -- and reports that the site was registered on 8/10 by someone named Richard Strickland of Destin, FL. After Sheehan, "Christopher Walken" was the #2 search on Technorati this a.m.

SCOTUS SPECIAL: Topsy-Turley

What the blogs are saying about John Roberts:

RELIGION: The Turley Tapes

Washington Times reports, GWU law prof Jonathan Turley claims to have tapes proving that his Los Angeles Times report was correct -- to wit, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) asked Roberts about whether religion would interfere with his decisions (see Blogometers for 7/26 and 7/27). Durbin had denied being the source and denied asking the question; ex-Sen. Fred Thompson (R), Roberts' "sherpa," disputed Durbin's assertions. Now Durbin has revised his statements.

Conservative Betsy Newmark: "It appears that the first lie was the way Durbin said the conversation with Roberts went in the first place. Durbin apparently lied to Turley at first by saying that Roberts said he would recuse himself from any decision that conflicted with his religion. But the people who were from Roberts' side deny that is what he said. And it would have been a big story if it had been true. But it wasn't and Durbin himself denied that that was what Roberts said when the story broke." More Newmark: "I predict that no other news sources than those with a conservative bias like the Washington Times or Fox News will revisit the story. We'll see if the L.A. Times does since theirs was the paper in which Turley's column first appeared."

Conservative Hugh Hewitt: "Professor Turley is no conservative, but a very reputable law prof and usually a pretty sharp talking head as well. I beleive him, and so should you." In a header, Power Line calls Durbin "The Cowardly Liar."

GROUPS I: Neocon, Paleocon, Silicone

At Bench Memos, NRO's Jonathan Adler acquits Roberts of being unconservative for having done moot court work on bealf of Playboy Enterprises, which Human Events Online reports has caused some consernation, such as from conservatve gadfly Eugene Delgaudio, who "says conservatives should be 'outraged'." Adler reminds readers: "One of the basic underlying values of our legal system is that all parties merit zealous representation, and it is improper to presume that he supported the position of those he helped represent." Commenters at GOP-leaning Confirm Them note that in the case at hand, Justice Thomas agreed with Playboy (which won its case) while Justice Breyer dissented.

GROUPS II: NARAL The Trouble In The World

Fox News reports that NARAL's comm. dir. has resigned over the ad flap. Conservative Tiger Hawk comments: "I find it hard to believe that NARAL's communication director would quit in the teeth of a nomination battle without having been pushed out. It is a virtual certainty that NARAL gave him an incentive to leave, and perhaps an ultimatum."

At its blog, Bush v. Choice, NARAL states that it "stands behind the original ad, but when people and talking about an organization when they should be talking about a potential lifetime appointment something's gotta give. It's just too bad that people need a reminder like this to focus on what's really important."

Posted by at August 15, 2005 12:44 PM