[Peace-discuss] Ignoring Cindy Sheehan

[C. G. Estabrook]

	War Coverage and the Obama Cult
	Why we aren't getting the real story
	by Justin Raimondo, August 24, 2009

There was a time when Cindy Sheehan couldn’t go anywhere without having a 
microphone and a TV camera stuck in front of her. As she camped out in front of 
George W. Bush’s Crawford ranch, mourning the death of her son Casey in Iraq and 
calling attention to an unjust, unnecessary, and unwinnable war, the media 
created in her a symbolic figure whose public agony epitomized a growing 
backlash against the militarism and unmitigated arrogance of the Bush 
administration. It was a powerful image: a lone woman standing up to the most 
powerful man on earth in memory of her fallen son.

Touting "an exclusive interview with Cindy Sheehan" on Good Morning America, 
four years ago ABC anchorman Charles Gibson intoned: "Standing her ground. She 
lost her son in Iraq, she opposes the war, now she’s camped out at President 
Bush’s ranch and says she won’t leave until he meets with her."

The level of coverage only increased in the coming days and weeks. As Cindy 
continued her vigil, Gibson enthused:

"All across the country protests against the war in Iraq, inspired by the mother 
standing her ground at President Bush’s ranch."

Flashing across their television screens, viewers saw the headline “MOM ON A 
MISSION: IS ANTIWAR MOVEMENT GROWING?” as Gibson averred:

“This morning a war of words. All across the country protests against the war in 
Iraq, inspired by the mother standing her ground at President Bush’s ranch. But 
is anyone in the White House feeling the heat?”

That was then. This is now: in an interview [.mp3] with Chicago’s WLS radio on 
Aug. 18, Gibson was asked whether his network planned to cover Sheehan’s plans 
to travel to Martha’s Vineyard, where she is protesting the escalation of the 
war in Afghanistan while President Obama is vacationing there. Gibson’s answer:

"Enough already."

It is one thing to decide war protests aren’t newsworthy, that they’re just the 
irrelevant emanations of a fringe element radically out of step with the 99 
percent of the country that’s marching happily off to war. That, however, is 
very far from being the case. Back in 2005, Cindy represented a minority that 
was on its way to becoming a majority. Today, she starts off her renewed vigil 
with over half of the American people agreeing with her that the Afghan war 
isn’t worth it...

Full article at
http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2009/08/23/war-coverage-and-the-obama-cult/