"Flip-flopping" Americans why are conservative bloggers attacking her?

[julialnyc]

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2005/08/09/sheehan_protest/index.html

"Flip-flopping" Americans
Antiwar protester Cindy Sheehan isn't the only one who has changed her mind about Iraq, so why are conservative bloggers attacking her?


Aug. 9, 2005 | Cindy Sheehan, the angry 48-year-old mom from Vacaville, Calif., whose son died while serving in the Army in Iraq and who has been staging a lonely bring-the-troops-home vigil outside President Bush's ranch beneath the baking Texas sun, has clearly become a thorn in the president's vacationing side. Putting a public and empathetic face on the war's toll in America, Sheehan, whose son, Casey, was killed in April 2004, has posed a very simple request to Bush: Come out and talk to me about Iraq and why my son died. To date, Bush has passed on the invitation, but the minions on the far right have decided to try to knock Sheehan off her media perch, just as more military mothers and fathers opposed to the war are set to join Sheehan's protest.

Taking peculiar pleasure in trying to discredit the small-town mother, right-wingers have been in a 24-hour tizzy over what they perceive as a flip-flop by Sheehan on Iraq. They excitedly reassure themselves that her alleged inconsistency about the war ought to disqualify her from being a legitimate war critic. Problem is, the oddly playful bloggers, busy mocking Sheehan as a "crazy," "exploited," "left-wing moonbat," aren't really staring down a lone mother who may or may not have shifted her opinion about Bush and the war since 2004.


If the Republican National Committee-fed bloggers looked up from their monitors for a few seconds, they might realize that when they're done with Sheehan they're going to have to discredit a few million other Americans -- because, as recent polls indicate, they, like Sheehan, have turned on the war and place the blame for the mess squarely on Bush's shoulders.


Over the weekend conservatives at the Free Republic unearthed a June 25, 2004, article from Sheehan's hometown newspaper, the Reporter, which detailed Sheehan's visit with Bush at Fort Lewis near Seattle earlier that month. Portions of the article suggested Sheehan was grateful for her time with Bush, in contrast with her current complaints about him. Freepers then passed along the clip to Matt Drudge, who talked about it on his Sunday-night syndicated radio show. On Monday morning he hyped his analysis on his Web site, concluding that Sheehan "has dramatically changed her account about what happened when she met the commander-in-chief last summer!"

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