Let me get this straight. Some people were upset with Cindy for SMILING?!

[LittleClarkie]

During her protest and arrest on Monday?

You have GOT to be kidding me.

What the hell does THAT have to do with the price of tea in China.

Ahem. I was over at Kos. There are one or two over there I'd like to biff upside the head now. They were in one of Cindy's diaries re: the smile and her comments re: the hurricane.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, some folks are putting way too much emphasis on little things like a smile or an offhand comment from a woman who is essentially just like anyone else. She's not a polished politician. If she accidentally puts her foot in her mouth once in a blue moon, so what? I've done it. So have you.

Geez.

[cry baby]

1. I was surprised to read what she said about smiling...

I hadn't heard any criticism about that at all.

[SeattleGirl]

2. I don't get it either.

Cindy has been saying since Crawford that she wanted to be arrested. To me, her smile was not a bad thing at all.

[LittleClarkie]

4. And it tugged at my heart when she said that it was one of the first times

she'd smiled like that since Casey died.

And as she was getting fireman carried, the thought that American might get a peek at her underwear tickled her, she said.

And yet there is someone over there whining about how MLK wouldn't do that, Gandhi wouldn't do that, blah, blah, blah. Good grief. Of all the things to get upset about. Yikes.

[SeattleGirl]

22. I wonder, what's with the demand for perfection that seems

to be running through a lot of the threads here lately? One of Cindy's appeals to many people, I think, is that she is EveryMother, EveryWoman, EveryPerson. She's not a political hack, she's not a politician, she's you and me and everyone who has ever had pain in their lives. Now, I personally have not lost my child, thank God, so I cannot identify with her that way, but I am much more empathetic to someone who is "of the people", instead of a slick commercialized hack.

To answer my own question, I think a lot of the anger, sniping, etc. that I am seeing here lately is because we see things happening, we see cracks in the facade of the freeptards and PNACers, but it's not happening fast enough. So unfortunately, sometimes people turn on each other. My theory, anyway.

[LittleClarkie]

23. Well, we're treating her as we've treated everyone else

if we expect Kerry, Clinton, Clark, Edwards, Gore, etc, etc, to be perfect and do exactly what we want exactly when we want it and in the exact words we want, then perhaps it's not surprise that the attitude carries over to a newly minted public figure like Cindy.

As for your theory, for some reason we get nervous when something is going well too, I think. Are we so unused to success that it makes up alittle yippy?

[SeattleGirl]

26. Perhaps you're right, but

might it also be that we have been smacked down so many times by the lying, cheating, amoral Bushbots that that can contribute to the attitude also. How many times have we felt hope, only to have the hope thrown into the sewage? How many times has victory, even a small one, been snatched away?

I'm not being defeatist here, just adding to what you I said, and what you said. I'm not giving up at all, but just thinking that this might be part of why sometimes we have a pack dog mentality, and turn on each other.

Makes me think of my clients: they often lash out at me, because I am the easiest target they have. The never see their claims managers, they think their doctors and lawyers are gods, so when they are pissed at the system they are in, yours truly is often the target. Fortunately, I am usually able to diffuse things before they get out of hand, but I understand why they go after me initially. We cannot directly smack * and his minions around, so I guess we sometimes settle for smacking each other around. Sad, but kind of understandable, I guess.

[LittleClarkie]

27. Sort of like being ruder to your own family

than you would EVER be to a stranger. Family quarrels and all. We can all call a Dem politician an ass, but woe be it to someone outside the "family" who dares to do the same.

[SeattleGirl]

29. Absolutely!

"We always hurt the ones we love", huh? Mayhaps that's because since they love us, they tolerate our temper tantrums, our idiosyncrasies, our weirdnesses and quirks, and love us anyway, even if we need to occasionally be kicked in the ass for our behavior.

I love DU, but sometimes some folks can get on my last nerve. Oh well, not being perfect myself, I cannot judge them too harshly.

[jhawk_tim]

30. Not the first time she has smiled

I have seen countless pictures of her at Crawford smiling. Damn, this is the kind of "feel good" spin done by the right!

[LittleClarkie]

31. 1. going by her words 2. first time she'd smiled LIKE THAT

I think she meant.

Yeah, man, pick dem nits.

Just reporting what she said. No spin.

[donheld]

3. Some were upset with her smiling, some where upset cuz she frowned

Some were upset cuz she stood up, some were upset when she sat down. Some were upset cuz she looked east, some were upset when she looked west. Some were upset cuz she uses her son, some were upset cuz she did things they wish they'd done. Some like to be upset.

[LittleClarkie]

6. Well yeah

We're kinda good at that, I guess.

[fujiyama]

10. Some were upset she held onto Jesse Jackson with affection

Sure, she's made herself open to public criticism but if someone is going to criticize her, they should try doing so on substantive grounds.

[Ksec]

5. Yes, the freeps are using it

as if she was making a joke or something.

[LittleClarkie]

7. Not just freeps

Some weenie whiners on our own side as well.

[democracyindanger]

9. Like doing a video about WMD's?

Mugging for the camera, looking in closets and under desks in the White House, chirping, "Nope, no WMD's in there!"

Freepers can eat shit.

[tjdee]

8. It was strange.

If I get arrested, you'd better believe I'm not going to be grinning like she was. Most people wouldn't be. And on tv that doesn't look so good.

But she was, so okay, fine, whatever. For whatever reason. I imagine, actually, that getting arrested just for standing there would strike one as absurd and worth laughing about.

But seeing that big grin on tv was weird. That doesn't have anything to do with the price of tea in China, but it was.

[LittleClarkie]

11. It might have looked strange but I thought her explanation was interesting

She'd been singing old protest songs and church hymns and trying to keep things light, trying to keep things also peaceful and non-violent. And then there was the hoist by the cops where it looked like America was going to get a free look at her undies. And so she smiled. She said she hadn't done that really since Casey died.

Anyway, you're right. It is what it is. I was just amazed to find someone at Kos having essentially a hissy about it.

[Ksec]

12. Agreed, although the smiling may have appeared strange her

character and ethics are solid. She would probably have canned the smiling if she had a do-over but thats what you get with a lady that has not lived her life in front of a camera. She'll learn as she goes.

[LittleClarkie]

19. She'll either get used to the pressure or decide it's all too much and

stop when she thinks she needs to. After which a Hackett or another mom or another 1971 Kerry will come along.

Unlike what some have said about ANSWER, she can't really be spun as out of the mainstream when she's a mom who lost her kid, just as a relatively clean cut, moderate and articulate young Kerry was hard to combat.

The fact that they're trying to come up with Gold Star moms to counteract her is a good sign I reckon, much like Nixon came up with O'Neill to counteract Kerry.

I do think she's our very own Kerry, 1971 in some ways.

[tjdee]

14. Yeah...she's not a political operative, for pete's sake.

She's just a middle aged lady whose son died. Those people flipping out, or saying she no longer helps us, or whatever, forget that. We're so hungry for media to cover us that we're extra critical about what gets through (like the ANSWER stuff ).

This is just a lady doing her best. I'm cool with that....but LOL, it was still weird.

[LittleClarkie]

17. Well, I suspect that her best coverage and most impact was Camp Casey

But she's still making the news, bless her.

Sadly, sometimes it appears the media will build someone up just to tear them down. So you can be a media darling one minute, and then everything you do is wrong the next minute. She will either learn to live with the picking of nits, or she won't. If it all gets to be a bit much for her I suspect we will have someone else coming along like a Hackett or another Gold Star mom to pick up her torch.

I'm big on people being able to express their opinions, except there was something about being on her diary, where you KNOW she's gotta be reading, only to see some weenie giving her a hard time about a damn smile.

People for good or ill have GOT to remember that she's just a human being.

[Der Blaue Engel]

24. Protestors who plan to be arrested are often smiling as they're led away

It's part of the defiance. I have a great picture from the front page of the San Francisco Chronicle of my midwife grinning as she's being cuffed in front of City Hall years ago during a pro-choice demonstration. I was so proud to know her when I saw that picture, and I know she was proud of being arrested for her beliefs.

A civil disobedience arrest is a badge of honor, and when it's your first, I imagine many people would feel quite a rush.

Cindy Sheehan,

[file83]

13. This is the reason Cindy was smiling:

Support Cindy! I love that woman!

[bee]

15. jon stewart commented on the smiling on the daily show tonight.

joked about, rather. So... this doesnt surprise me at all. Itll probably get worse...

[cynatnite]

16. It seemed like the reaction of someone who had never been arrested before

My sister has a habit of laughing when she should be crying. It's just how she reacts to certain kinds of situations. My step-dad's family gave her hell over it when he passed away.

I never thought anything more than just a reaction to something she had never experienced before. She knew ahead of time what would happen and was prepared for it.

I don't get the big deal made about it, either.

[LittleClarkie]

18. She said she'd never been arrested before

so yeah. I'm sure. And from what I hear the cops were being nice enough. They still had a job to do, though.

[Burried News]

20. Great smile Cindy - you've got them watching.

I got one for the opposition. Here's to you Swamprat:

[Carolab]

21. She was smiling because she got what she wanted.

She got arrested and that got attention again. So she gets to speak out publicly again. It's a good thing.

[LittleClarkie]

28. There were those over at Kos

(I didn't see the same attitude here, though it might have been) who thought that the Sept 24th rally was enough, and that the arrest detracted from her protest the day before. But how many folks saw the protest the day before. Precious few, it sounds like.

[spuddonna]

25. Actually, when I saw the pics of Cindy being arrested...

I was so happy, I was grinning like a Cheshire cat!

All that kept going through my mind was "You did it, Cindy! You did it! Look how far you've come. It all led up to this. See the people around you? They are just a small percentage of the people in America that support you! And everyday more and more people are realizing that we need to get out of Iraq NOW!"

And for the first time in several weeks I felt so happy, almost giddy! After the sorrow of watching people being ignored for days in NO, after seeing the poor people trapped on the highways out of Houston, I was happy...

Cindy has a goal: end this war now so no other mother has to go through the same thing she did. The arrest was a big part of making this happen. I guess people would be yelling at me, too... because I would have been smiling and waving the peace sign...

[ladylibertee]

32. WTF ? I'm sorry but there has got to be undercover Repubs here.

Anyone who has a problem with Cindy smiling and wants to make a big "petty" deal about it?I suspect has some alterer motive because that's too darn picky.So what? She smiled.My lawd.

[LittleClarkie]

33. Not terribly bright to be sure

and not helping his cause since he is very, very obviously a Gore supporter. Poor Gore. He doesn't need supporters like that.

[ladylibertee]

34. I know.Sheeezze.

[wmills551]

35. I don't care about her smiling

I don't like how she made time to go into new york and give HRC a hard time. Lets stick to Republicans. I don't like her comments about "fighting this war for Israel". I don't like this sense that is creeping over me that she is falling in love with the cameras. I don't like how she has become so disconnected from her own family. I believe she has done a good thing and should now return to her life.

[Kickin_Donkey]

36. I think the smile is what made it ...

People who criticize her for that obviously have no experience with civil disobedience. Look at the people around her -- some of them are cheering.

It was a nonviolent arrest for a nonviolent "offense." She was treated with kid gloves. It's not like she'd just been arrested for manufacturing meth after a gunbattle with the cops.

What was she supposed to do? Scream and scowl and flail like some anti-abortion nut protester?

With proverial Middle America, the smile probably did more good than harm.

[Gnostic]

37. Anybody who says Cindy is hurting the cause is full of crap

If anybody is hurting the Dems it's wishy washy, let's try to please please please everybody, support the troops pro-war flippy-floppy mealy mouths like Clinton, Kerry and gang. They're so afraid to alienate the troop demographic, so they're allll for getting them boys their ARMOR and WEAPONS they need to fight this war PROPER! Why, we can't pull out NOW! It would be a disaster! Etc, etc, puke puke.

Cindy gained a massive following and has contributed incredibly to the anti-war and anti-Bush cabal cause than any mealy mouthed top Dem could wet dream of doing. That's because she's real, she's connected with the people on their level (unlike rich kid brats who never had a hard day in their life like the aforementioned) and has actually personally lost something dear to her as a result of this farce (another thing both top Dems and Repugs can't relate to). But what really has done it is she says what she feels, and does'nt really care what anybody else thinks of her for it, and that's exactly where the Dems have failed and why they lost election after election.....because since they refuse to take a hard line stance against this farce and oppose it ENTIRELY they appear as untrustworthy ambivalent flippy floppies who say one thing and mean another.

The party needs to wake up, has for a long time. It needs a rock solid agenda that it never sways from, just like the competition are masters at. No support the troops, no armor, no "we need to stay now that we're there" bullshit as just one example. A unified, solid stance and philosophy, and without regard for political correctness and fear of pissing anybody off.