I'll indulge myself with one more potshot at Mother Sheehan, thank you. Actually, I'll let Charles Krauthammer do it (and it's not a potshot):

The antiwar movement has found itself ill-served by endowing absolute moral authority on a political radical who demanded that American troops leave not just Iraq but "occupied New Orleans." Who blames Israel for her son's death. Who complained that the news media went "100% Rita" - "a little wind and a little rain" - rather than covering other things in the world, meaning her.
Most tellingly, Sheehan demands withdrawal not just from Iraq, but from Afghanistan, a war not only just by every possible measure, but also remarkably successful.

Is this a case of the anti-war movement being fooled by the media into embracing her as a leader? After all, the papers gave Sheehan "absolute moral authority" (and absolute adoring coverage), and then the various left wing factions coalesced around her. Ah, it doesn't matter, the "movement" would have found one of her ilk to lead them even if the media didn't create her for them.

Krauthammer concludes with a point made here often before:

... The only choices are to succeed in establishing a self-sufficient, democratic Iraq or to call an abject retreat that not only gives Iraq over to the tender mercies of people who specialize in blowing up innocents, but makes it a base of operations for worldwide jihad.
The very fact that Cindy Sheehan and her WWP comrades are so enthusiastic for the latter outcome tells you how difficult it will be to turn widespread discontent about the war into a mainstream antiwar movement.

It'll fizzle like all those other liberal/media fantasies; the left will wake up again, groggily, in post-election 2006, and wonder how they could be even futher in the minority. Wanna start guessing what election-stealing conspiracy theories they'll come up with then?


Krauthammer column here: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ideas_opinions/story/350940p-299318c.html