This blog is for any discussions related to the website at http://www.SheehanForCongress.us as well as Cindy's upcoming campaign in general. What's on your mind?
I will be moving soon from Ohio to Arizona and will update then with new contact info. I am eager to see the campaign up and running and will offer sincere if somewhat meager financial contribution when I settle in AZ in September. Let me know how else I can help.
Good luck in your campaign. I did want to ask Cindy to run in the democratic primary against Pelosi. If you run as indeoendent you could win or you could spoil the election to the republicans. Also If you win you will be replacing congresswoman Pelosi and Steny Hoyer will become the speaker of the house. He is much worse than Nancy.
If Cindy Sheehan unseats Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the House, and if both Bush and Cheney are impeached, then Cindy Sheehan will be President of the United States, because the succession to the presidency is vice president, then speaker of the house!!!
If Sheehan wins, she will enter Congress a few days before Bush and Cheney are scheduled to leave. Also, there is zero chance she would be named Speaker as she has zero seniority.
Still, her victory would speak loud to Reps who fail to listen to the voices of their constituencies
The official site is starting to take shape at http://www.cindyforcongress.org
Jeff-- Correct Cindy would not become Speaker of the House immediately if elected.
Proud Liberal-- With CA-8 running about 75%-80% Democrat, even if Cindy and Nancy split the Dems 50-50, each of them will still have more votes that the Republican candidate. So CA-8 (California 8th district) is about as "safe" a district to run a third party as you could ask for.
I'd like to know what folks think of Cindy's strategy options. I currently favor that she use a two-party strategy: that she run in the Democratic Primary against Nancy with the support of Democratic Party progressives; AND that she do so with a negotiated agreement with the Green Party that if she loses the primary she will oppose Nancy in the general election as a Green Party candidate. I believe right now, Nancy is planning to run on a neither-party strategy to run as an independent in the general election. I think the corporate Democrats have much more to fear with a two-party strategy as I've suggested here (and to Cindy directly). What do you Cindy-supporters think?.
I'm both not an American and out of work at this time, but I'll do what I can to help Cindy, just as at the time of our last general election (May 2005), I helped Rose Gentle (sadly, Cindy's near equivalent in my country).
I love that drawing by Picasso, by the way! I've put it on one of my letterheads.
Cindy's decision to run as an independent against Pelosi is the best news this country has had for a long time. I don't live in the 8th Congressional Dist. of Calif., but will be sending a contribution to her campaign. Practically everyone I talk to supports Cindy, and I hope everyone can contribute whatever they can. Remember, Pelosi has BIG bucks, so it will be a tough fight. However, I believe the good people of San Francisco are aware of what the stakes are, and will ultimately vote Pelosi out of office. And this could start a nationwide trend--especially given the recent defection of many Democrats who supported the unauthorized spying bill.
When I first heard that Cindy was running for Pelosi's seat I thought that votes were going to be divided and the Republicans would conquer a divided Democratic party. But I have realized with the congress's continued support of this war, via the spending bill, and the recent revisions of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, my eyes have been opened by Cindy, a true American patriot. Unfortunately Republicans & Democrats are truly cut from the same cloth.
My daughter and I will support Cindy as much as we are able. We do not live in the district, but just a few miles away and want to help. As a matter of fact, my daughter was at the press conference today and said that it was very emotional.
This challenge is a perfect example of why the left facilitates the government we have today, and why the democratic party is a bunch of election losers. Can the democratic party maintain power in government for at least a few years before people start to go completely overboard? Although I have sympathy for Mrs. Sheehan, this is not the time nor the place to challenge Representative Pellosi. I cannot begin to tell you the anger you are causing independents who want the current administration out of power, but would not trade it in for another extreme position. What feels like the right thing to do sometimes is the wrong thing for the rest of us.
CharlesBklyn, I think there is a widely held assumption that "The enemy of my enemy is my friend" and it has locked us into a two-party system that is really just a one-party system.
Which do you prefer-- Coke or Pepsi? The RC Cola drinkers can't be taken seriously and people who don't want to drink sugar-saturated caffeinated, bone-erroding carbonated beverages are just a bunch of moon-bat tin-hatters, right?
I think a lot of us are saying that we see that the Dems and Reps are just two sides of the same coin and we're ready to act on that.
Focus on the issues. What are the sensible solutions? Are either of the two parties talking about the sensible solutions? I, for one, don't think so.
By the way, in one of Cindy's recent posting to her MySpace page, she recommended people watch the film/video "Zeitgeist" (http://wwwe.zeitgeistmovie.com). It's about some of the really big lies that are supposedly part of "what everyone knows". I heartily second the motion.
I have to say that while I respect Ms. Sheehan's campaign to end the war, and feel for her tragic loss, I think she has a lack of understanding about how Washington works.
Most of us Democrats were furious with the Republic Congress for the time consuming and pointless impeachment of President Clinton when there were much more important things to worry about.
These days, the world is too fragile to spend valuable time and resources on an impeachment. Our economy hinges on the edge of a recession. We have insurmountable trade deficits with countries like China and a staggering national debt. We have tens of millions of people without health care. We have an environment in crisis; failing infrastructure; an almost non-existant manufacturing sector; and a dependence on foreign oil that could cripple our country at any moment. Our borders might as well not exist and it's only a matter of time before there is another devastating attack on this country. There is so much in this country to worry about, that impeaching President Bush at this point would, as the party leadership has said, detract valuable time and resources from the issues that must be addressed. Moreover, the Democrats hold such a slim majority, that they would endager that majority by angering millions of Americans who put them in office to make a difference. Besides, after Bush was impeached, would we then spend millions and months more impeaching Dick Cheney? Afterall, he'd be your President.
As for Iraq, what do we expect from the Democrats? I suppose they could play with the rules of Congress to somehow force a withdrawal bill through both houses, but it will then be vetoed, and they can't very well amend the constitution to make a veto overide easier. Are they supposed to do this again and again? The fact is that a bill to force the withdrawal from Iraq will not make it through Congress, much less President Bush, and there isn't much Nancy Pelosi can do about it.
That leaves you with cutting off funding. Good luck. Outside of a few Senators and Reps, no one wants to cut off funding. Our troops need those funds, or does Ms. Sheehan want more tragedies to hit other families like hers because the money doesn't exist for body or vehicle armour? I know the argument, we allow the necessary funding to keep the troops safe during the withdrawal, and perhaps that could work. But let me ask, what happens next election cycle when the republican machine casts every democrat who voted to cut off funding as a traitor or unpatriotic. Fair or not, that is what would happen and rather than a majority in Congress, we'd have a President (assuming its a democrat) who couldn't do anything because he'd have a republican Congress. Don't place too much faith in "the people," to see through that propaganda. Those same "people" voted President Bush in for a second term.
And finally, while Bush did create the mess in Iraq, how can we abandon those people to chaos and civil war and genocide, because you're kidding yourself if you think that won't happen. And what do you think happens to the rest of the middle east? It will be a nightmare. And I know the counter arguments, make them if you must (our troops are fighting a pointless war, the war in unwinnable, we have more important issues, we should be concentrating on Bin Laden). All of that is true, but we are already there and leaving will create a humanitarian crisis never before seen. I for one applauded President Clinton's use of the military to stop genocide and in humanitarian situations. We are simply going to end up having to do it again. We will end up back in Iraq at some point in the future if we leave now. I don't want to be left with Bush's mess, but the fact is the mess was created, and we are responsible for cleaning it up. Moreover, think about what happens to our standing in the world when the news in every country displays the violence, chaos and bloodshed that will erupt when we leave? One of the Democrats main arguments against Bush is that he squandered the world's outpouring of symptahy and good will after 9/11. Does anyone really think it improves by leaving Iraq? No, it improves by securing Iraq. It improves by cleaning up after ourselves, and make no mistake, we need the rest of the world to at least respect us if we want their help in curbing terrorism, if we want them to sit at the negotiating table to make environmental changes, if we want to improve our balance of trade, and if we want them to curb humanitarian abuses in their countries. If we want American's to be safe all over the world, then we cannot make matters worse than they are in Iraq.
We need a peaceful middle east, or at least a stable one. We should never go to war for oil, but we are dependent on them for our energy and if the violence in Iraq spreads to other countries, our energy supplies get cut off or prices skyrocket. I don't know about you, but I can't afford $5.00+ per gallon for gas, and that's just your car. What happens to heating oil? How do you think your food is delivered to the grocery store? What happens to those prices when the cost of feul for trucks, planes, and ships goes through the roof? Again, it won't take much to turn the lights off on this country, to pull food off your table, to force you to make a decision between heating your house, or driving to work, and the spread of the violence in Iraq to Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the rest of the middle east could do just that. And of course, there's Israel. Forgetting for one second that they're our allies, they are also a nuclear power. You are sadly mistaken if you think Israel won't use their nukes if they are threatened by a region in chaos and have no other choice.
What we need is a commander in chief and military leadership with the plan and vision to quell the violence quickly, secure the Iraqi government, train and equip the Iraqi military and police forces, ensure the military isn't beholden to one person, but respects the democratic process, and then get us out. It's not impossible, it just takes a better plan. It'll take military minds smarter than me, and certainly smarter than Bush, but it is possible.
No, Ms. Sheehan is dillusional if she thinks that Nancy Pelosi could have done anything to get us out of Iraq by now and is wrong to think that the best use of our resources is to impeach a lame duck president just to install someone worse in Cheney. The Democratic Congress could probably have done more by now, but they've made some advances (minimum wage, for example), and need a stronger majority and a Democratic President to do more.
My heart and prayers go out to Ms. Sheehan, but she could not have done any better than Ms. Pelosi with what there is in Washington to work with.
Ms sheehan needs to for a sacramento seat or a vacaville seat beacause she does not live in SF 8th district and you can't impeach both bush and cheney at the same time the votes are not there
I think sometimes you just have to do the right thing. Cindy is definitely doing that by running for Congress. All these people who are saying impeachment is a waste of energy and takes time away from "more important" matters just don't get it. Recently I heard Congresswoman Barbara Lee say, when asked why so few in Congress support Dennis Kucinich's bill to impeach Cheney (remember that it is important to impeach Cheney either before Bush or at the same time) that there was something wrong with all those in Congress who are against impeachment, since THE MAJORITY of Americans favor impeachment. She basically said that those Congresspeople were not representing their constituents. In San Francisco, there is no doubt that the vast majority of voters favor impeaching BOTH Bush and Cheney. This is why it is important that Cindy challenge Pelosi.
I am a San Francisco resident and attorney who has grown monumentally frustrated with both the Democrats and Nancy Pelosi's failure to stop the war. Speaker Pelosi's failure to halt the funding of the war in Iraq is an outright betrayal. In some circumstances the Democrats conduct is worse than President Bush's, as we expect the Republicans to ignore us but not those who are supposed to be on "our" side.
Please contact me as I have experience in political matters from my tenure in Washington D.C. (I also worked on on Pete Stark's staff in D.C.) and would like to assist in your campaign against Pelosi.
You can contact me via this e-mail or by phone at 415-609-2079. Thank you.
I am pleased that Cindy is running to replace a Democrat in Congress--and such a powerful one too! What Cindy said about the Democratic party is true. They, like the Republicans, are bought and paid for by the corporations. The same corporations that are making such wonderful profits on our endless wars. Our 'leaders' say that our nation has no money to take care of the people and our environment, but they vote Billions for the endless wars.
Cindy can say what we all really want. We want to be citizens in a nation that is respected by the people of the world -- not hated and feared.
I am retired and have lots of time to work for the election of Cindy. I will be out on the street talking to people all over the district.
When is the campaign going to start using it's volunteers? I live out of the district, however I will do what ever I can from Sonoma County to help Cindy take it away from Nancy Pelosi!
Barry, You're certainly not the first to raise "when" questions related to the Sheehan campaign. I think enough people are waiting and privately asking that it's time to openly discuss these questions-- "Is the campaign serious? Will they let people help? Who's in charge? When does it start?, etc.
We've signed up 476 supporters on http://www.sheehanforcongress.us. Yesterday, I issued a call on the web site for the campaign to do a few basic things to get the campaign jump-started.
On October 1, if there hasn't been substantial progress, I'm thinking I'll ask the 476 people in the database to begin lobbying Team Cindy to take these first steps to make it possible for us to start doing useful work for the campaign.
There is much to be done, but many have stepped forward to help. The bottleneck at this time is authorization and coordination. Hoping we can cooperatively get past that bottleneck soon.
SeminolePride77's comments are emblamatic of the problem we find ourselves in. As with so many of the over-educated yet weak-minded, he has drunk the Kool-aid of conventional thinking and finds himself boxed in by the notion that the dems and repubs are the only choices available, and that voting for one or the other is the be all and end all of options/tactics.
If he were right we would be toast. But he's not right. There is an endless supply of creative options.
I live in Canada, but my last residence in the US was in Pelosi's district, so my wife and I can and will both be voting AGAINST her. I was prepared to do this without regard to who her opponent would have been. Yes, that's right, I was going to vote republican (before Cindy announced). Why? Because there have to be consequences for the Dems when they betray their "supporters". Only when betrayal costs them will they choose another way.
Another thing, why is it that everyone always and at every moment thinks that getting and having money is the only way to succeed in a political campaign?
I've got a printer. As do thousands of other boilin' mad 8th district "insurgents". (And others across the nation.) On our own, we can print up some "Bye-Bye Nancy" "IEDs" (improvised excoriating denunciations) and paper our neighborhoods with them. With fliers, staple gun, and doggie (optional) we can go out for our daily walk, and bodda-bing, bodda-boom, Pelosi's deer-in-the-headlights face and shameful record of betrayal is plastered all over town. What will be the impact on alternative-seeking voters when every 8th district street becomes a forest of "Bye bye Nancy"s. What signal is sent to the political parasite class when the most powerful Dem in the House is run out of town by a spontaneous AND COST FREE popular uprising?
In the end it boils down to this. It will continue to get worse until it gets bad enough so that people get mad enough to do something about it. But if you wait till you have to fight off Blackwater, you can just kiss the whole deal goodbye.
It's not even constitutional for Pelosi to take impeachment "off the table." She could stop the war on a dime by not letting funding bills reach the floor.
Nancy Pelosi is a coward and a traitor to all San Franciscans who elected her sorry ass.
If Cindy runs against Pelosi in the primary, as a Democrat, then I'm in. If she goes independent, fugettaboutit. We need to make a statement here. Pelosi talks about holding the president accountable, and that is so much bullshit. It's time to hold Pelosi accountable.
Pelosi could have stepped to the plate and done the right thing. Her political future would have been assured. Instead, she triangulates upon future political success while thousands die in the god-forsaken war. The blood of those people is now on her hands.
Pelosi needs a wake up call. She needs to be pulled down off her pedestal and kicked to the curb. If that's what Cindy is into, I'm for her. Otherwise, it's just a waste of time.
I agree with Wm Arney.I'm with Sheehan if she runs on the Democratic ticket. An independant is not likely to do much good as there will be too many straight line Demos. that will offset the indies vote. But, I like the idea of giving Pelosi and the rest of the Demos. the major wakeup call. I heard someone describe Reid as a beaded curtain, you just walk right through him- It must end. In fact all of the Demos who now have the power to stop the war need to do so and quickly. You must remember that the preamble says "We the people" That's us folks. If you are too busy to accept your responsibilities as a citizen move on. A democracy gets the kind of government it deserves. So why do we the Democrats just keep rolling over and over and over and over, it's sickening. Where are the Sam Irvins these days. I didn't see that old man stammering in front of Haldeman and Ehrlichman. I just remember his enormous eyebrows going up and down with visible irritation when he was given improbable answers, and lies.
There is also an important item that has been shunted to the back pages of all the MSM and needs to be discussed and then repealed. And that is the dissolution of our sovereign borders. I'm sure you must know they have been abolished. We are no longer a sovereign nation. We are part of the North American Union. So much for the presidential oath. "Sworn to defend and protect the constitution of the United States." What United States? We've been sold out to the corporatocracy. Our Federal government has been privatized,and we let it happen. My God America WAKE UP. The Present day Dems. with the exception of a few act as though they have just entered a funeral parlor. And I guess they have, their own. I live in So. CA but I will support Cindy if she runs on the Demo. ticket.
I support Cindy Sheehan's ***independent*** run to oust Nancy Pelosi. Fortuitously, my wife and I are voters from her district.
I think Cindy's run can be seen as prototypical and suggestive of a wider opportunity. The third part idea is of course not new, but I would suggest that current circumstances make this a particularly favorable moment for such an undertaking. Last night on Olbermann or Washington Week (can't remember which) someone commented about Hillary's very high negatives. That comment was followed by something I hadn't heard before, which was that all the Repub candidates also have high negatives. High negatives on both sides seems to me the ideal condition for an ***independent*** (ie third) party.
Though it must be obvious why, I feel compelled to explain (maybe just to recapitulate the logic for a reexamination). A "negative" voter is a "refusenik" regarding "their own" party. At the same time, for either seemingly rational considerations of ideological disagreement or simply timeworn tribal antagonism, they won't vote for the other party. So they've got nowhere to go(in the simple, "uncreative" analysis). They are caught in the dilemma that confronts us all in a two party system, and which is exploited by the two parties in a "good cop, bad cop" sort of manipulation which serves the parties but not the people.
There are any number of ways this opportunity may be exploited. From the Cindy Sheehan model: Take out a top political leader otherwise totally secure in their incumbency, sending a message that there is no such thing as a safe seat if you refuse the will of your constituency; to a full blown third party that will simply eat the other two parties for lunch, leaving them little more than dried out husks populated by the zombie true believers(please excuse my self-indulgence).
Regarding a third party, allow me one little tactical suggestion. If I were involved in forming a third party I would call it the New Republican New Democrat Party. Why? Generally I'm opposed to manipulative tactics because no one likes to be manipulated. But the sad truth is that human nature is a severe factor in the reality-based political dynamic, so if you want to be successful then you have to acknowledge that reality and deal with it. The point of the NRND Party name is that humans, tribal creatures that they are, strongly and irrationally identify with whatever group they belong to. Consequently is is easier for them to transfer their support/loyalty to another group of similar name (and by implication, similar values). (I put the Repub name first in NRND because they are more primitive creatures more susceptible to the irrational. ;-))
Returning to the Cindy Sheehan model, I would like to see a list compiled of heretofore non-political persons with potential as independent candidates. Persons who, like Cindy, are above all notable for their "stones" and their integrity. Scott Ritter comes to mind for me. I'd like to hear whom others would nominate.
Best, Jeff Davis
"Everything's hard till you know how to do it." Ray Charles
Currently, Cindy Sheehan has the attention of the national media and should use her opportunity wisely. Her campaign message should be focused on unseating ALL those currently serving in the US Congress and state legislatures, regardless of party, not just Nancy Pelosi. We have a golden opportunity to throw the “elected elite” out of office and show them that American voters can regain their voice at the ballot box. This won’t happen if we continue to vote for the same old Democrat and Republican hacks. I urge Cindy to ask Americans to vote ALL incumbents at both the federal and state level out of office, including Nancy Pelosi. If an incumbent is running unopposed, we need to find suitable write-in candidates long before the elections take place and get all the voters behind the write-ins. It doesn’t matter to which party the non-incumbent belongs as long as we, the voters, can send a strong message to Congress that we want true representation.
Hopefully, democrats, republicans, independents, libertarians, greens and all the other parties can stand together in the next few elections to let the “elected elite” know that elitism is out and their days are numbered.
Mr. Baber (or somebody who can contact Ms. Sheehan),
Please pass on to Ms. Sheehan's election committee that if she is truly serious about running for Congress she needs to complete her website and provide a way to hear feedback and opinions from others, both supporters and opposition (politics is a rough business). After watching Ms. Pelosi on the Sunday morning talk shows, I felt compelled to pass on my two cents worth of support for Ms. Sheehan's candidacy though I live out of state and considered now conservative despite the good old days as a rabble-rousing Poli Sci major from 1968-1972...and perhaps a bit of advice about some of the simple political tactics that made the peace movement back then so successful, none of which I've seen today. Despite my preconceived perception based on the popular news media, from what I have researched on Ms. Sheehan’s platform and beliefs, I now realize she supports good old fashion commonsense Jeffersonian democracy...Political Tactic #1. Actually, this is not a matter of liberal vs. conservative, doves vs. hawks. Indeed it is nothing less than a matter of the survival of the nation. The U.S. is rapidly evolving from global revulsion to global laughing-stock. To quote Mr. Dylan, "For the times they are a-changin'"...and in a Flat World, the change is accelerating. Please pass on the word to Ms. Sheehan. She might be surprised by the support out there. (Were you able to decipher Political Tactics #2, #3 and #4 in this posting?)
36 comments:
I will be moving soon from Ohio to Arizona and will update then with new contact info. I am eager to see the campaign up and running and will offer sincere if somewhat meager financial contribution when I settle in AZ in September. Let me know how else I can help.
Good luck in your campaign. I did want to ask Cindy to run in the democratic primary against Pelosi. If you run as indeoendent you could win or you could spoil the election to the republicans. Also If you win you will be replacing congresswoman Pelosi and Steny Hoyer will become the speaker of the house. He is much worse than Nancy.
If Cindy Sheehan unseats Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the House, and if both Bush and Cheney are impeached, then Cindy Sheehan will be President of the United States, because the succession to the presidency is vice president, then speaker of the house!!!
Sorry, Tom.
If Sheehan wins, she will enter Congress a few days before Bush and Cheney are scheduled to leave. Also, there is zero chance she would be named Speaker as she has zero seniority.
Still, her victory would speak loud to Reps who fail to listen to the voices of their constituencies
I heard theres an official site
I heard theres an official site for the campaign- where is it?
The official site is starting to take shape at http://www.cindyforcongress.org
Jeff-- Correct Cindy would not become Speaker of the House immediately if elected.
Proud Liberal-- With CA-8 running about 75%-80% Democrat, even if Cindy and Nancy split the Dems 50-50, each of them will still have more votes that the Republican candidate. So CA-8 (California 8th district) is about as "safe" a district to run a third party as you could ask for.
I'd like to know what folks think of Cindy's strategy options. I currently favor that she use a two-party strategy: that she run in the Democratic Primary against Nancy with the support of Democratic Party progressives; AND that she do so with a negotiated agreement with the Green Party that if she loses the primary she will oppose Nancy in the general election as a Green Party candidate. I believe right now, Nancy is planning to run on a neither-party strategy to run as an independent in the general election. I think the corporate Democrats have much more to fear with a two-party strategy as I've suggested here (and to Cindy directly). What do you Cindy-supporters think?.
I'm both not an American and out of work at this time, but I'll do what I can to help Cindy, just as at the time of our last general election (May 2005), I helped Rose Gentle (sadly, Cindy's near equivalent in my country).
I love that drawing by Picasso, by the way! I've put it on one of my letterheads.
I hope she runs. I am trying to convince all my friends to vote for anyone but the Republicans or Democrats as they are now one big uber party.
Cindy's decision to run as an independent against Pelosi is the best news this country has had for a long time. I don't live in the 8th Congressional Dist. of Calif., but will be sending a contribution to her campaign. Practically everyone I talk to supports Cindy, and I hope everyone can contribute whatever they can. Remember, Pelosi has BIG bucks, so it will be a tough fight. However, I believe the good people of San Francisco are aware of what the stakes are, and will ultimately vote Pelosi out of office. And this could start a nationwide trend--especially given the recent defection of many Democrats who supported the unauthorized spying bill.
When I first heard that Cindy was running for Pelosi's seat I thought that votes were going to be divided and the Republicans would conquer a divided Democratic party. But I have realized with the congress's continued support of this war, via the spending bill, and the recent revisions of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, my eyes have been opened by Cindy, a true American patriot. Unfortunately Republicans & Democrats are truly cut from the same cloth.
My daughter and I will support Cindy as much as we are able. We do not live in the district, but just a few miles away and want to help. As a matter of fact, my daughter was at the press conference today and said that it was very emotional.
To Whom This May Concern,
This challenge is a perfect example of why the left facilitates the government we have today, and why the democratic party is a bunch of election losers. Can the democratic party maintain power in government for at least a few years before people start to go completely overboard? Although I have sympathy for Mrs. Sheehan, this is not the time nor the place to challenge Representative Pellosi. I cannot begin to tell you the anger you are causing independents who want the current administration out of power, but would not trade it in for another extreme position.
What feels like the right thing to do sometimes is the wrong thing for the rest of us.
CharlesBklyn,
I think there is a widely held assumption that "The enemy of my enemy is my friend" and it has locked us into a two-party system that is really just a one-party system.
Which do you prefer-- Coke or Pepsi? The RC Cola drinkers can't be taken seriously and people who don't want to drink sugar-saturated caffeinated, bone-erroding carbonated beverages are just a bunch of moon-bat tin-hatters, right?
I think a lot of us are saying that we see that the Dems and Reps are just two sides of the same coin and we're ready to act on that.
Focus on the issues. What are the sensible solutions? Are either of the two parties talking about the sensible solutions? I, for one, don't think so.
By the way, in one of Cindy's recent posting to her MySpace page, she recommended people watch the film/video "Zeitgeist" (http://wwwe.zeitgeistmovie.com). It's about some of the really big lies that are supposedly part of "what everyone knows". I heartily second the motion.
Hi Cindy,
You start a people's movement under the banner "A better world is possible" and many will follow you.
Evangelos
I have to say that while I respect Ms. Sheehan's campaign to end the war, and feel for her tragic loss, I think she has a lack of understanding about how Washington works.
Most of us Democrats were furious with the Republic Congress for the time consuming and pointless impeachment of President Clinton when there were much more important things to worry about.
These days, the world is too fragile to spend valuable time and resources on an impeachment. Our economy hinges on the edge of a recession. We have insurmountable trade deficits with countries like China and a staggering national debt. We have tens of millions of people without health care. We have an environment in crisis; failing infrastructure; an almost non-existant manufacturing sector; and a dependence on foreign oil that could cripple our country at any moment. Our borders might as well not exist and it's only a matter of time before there is another devastating attack on this country. There is so much in this country to worry about, that impeaching President Bush at this point would, as the party leadership has said, detract valuable time and resources from the issues that must be addressed. Moreover, the Democrats hold such a slim majority, that they would endager that majority by angering millions of Americans who put them in office to make a difference. Besides, after Bush was impeached, would we then spend millions and months more impeaching Dick Cheney? Afterall, he'd be your President.
As for Iraq, what do we expect from the Democrats? I suppose they could play with the rules of Congress to somehow force a withdrawal bill through both houses, but it will then be vetoed, and they can't very well amend the constitution to make a veto overide easier. Are they supposed to do this again and again? The fact is that a bill to force the withdrawal from Iraq will not make it through Congress, much less President Bush, and there isn't much Nancy Pelosi can do about it.
That leaves you with cutting off funding. Good luck. Outside of a few Senators and Reps, no one wants to cut off funding. Our troops need those funds, or does Ms. Sheehan want more tragedies to hit other families like hers because the money doesn't exist for body or vehicle armour? I know the argument, we allow the necessary funding to keep the troops safe during the withdrawal, and perhaps that could work. But let me ask, what happens next election cycle when the republican machine casts every democrat who voted to cut off funding as a traitor or unpatriotic. Fair or not, that is what would happen and rather than a majority in Congress, we'd have a President (assuming its a democrat) who couldn't do anything because he'd have a republican Congress. Don't place too much faith in "the people," to see through that propaganda. Those same "people" voted President Bush in for a second term.
And finally, while Bush did create the mess in Iraq, how can we abandon those people to chaos and civil war and genocide, because you're kidding yourself if you think that won't happen. And what do you think happens to the rest of the middle east? It will be a nightmare. And I know the counter arguments, make them if you must (our troops are fighting a pointless war, the war in unwinnable, we have more important issues, we should be concentrating on Bin Laden). All of that is true, but we are already there and leaving will create a humanitarian crisis never before seen. I for one applauded President Clinton's use of the military to stop genocide and in humanitarian situations. We are simply going to end up having to do it again. We will end up back in Iraq at some point in the future if we leave now. I don't want to be left with Bush's mess, but the fact is the mess was created, and we are responsible for cleaning it up. Moreover, think about what happens to our standing in the world when the news in every country displays the violence, chaos and bloodshed that will erupt when we leave? One of the Democrats main arguments against Bush is that he squandered the world's outpouring of symptahy and good will after 9/11. Does anyone really think it improves by leaving Iraq? No, it improves by securing Iraq. It improves by cleaning up after ourselves, and make no mistake, we need the rest of the world to at least respect us if we want their help in curbing terrorism, if we want them to sit at the negotiating table to make environmental changes, if we want to improve our balance of trade, and if we want them to curb humanitarian abuses in their countries. If we want American's to be safe all over the world, then we cannot make matters worse than they are in Iraq.
We need a peaceful middle east, or at least a stable one. We should never go to war for oil, but we are dependent on them for our energy and if the violence in Iraq spreads to other countries, our energy supplies get cut off or prices skyrocket. I don't know about you, but I can't afford $5.00+ per gallon for gas, and that's just your car. What happens to heating oil? How do you think your food is delivered to the grocery store? What happens to those prices when the cost of feul for trucks, planes, and ships goes through the roof? Again, it won't take much to turn the lights off on this country, to pull food off your table, to force you to make a decision between heating your house, or driving to work, and the spread of the violence in Iraq to Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the rest of the middle east could do just that. And of course, there's Israel. Forgetting for one second that they're our allies, they are also a nuclear power. You are sadly mistaken if you think Israel won't use their nukes if they are threatened by a region in chaos and have no other choice.
What we need is a commander in chief and military leadership with the plan and vision to quell the violence quickly, secure the Iraqi government, train and equip the Iraqi military and police forces, ensure the military isn't beholden to one person, but respects the democratic process, and then get us out. It's not impossible, it just takes a better plan. It'll take military minds smarter than me, and certainly smarter than Bush, but it is possible.
No, Ms. Sheehan is dillusional if she thinks that Nancy Pelosi could have done anything to get us out of Iraq by now and is wrong to think that the best use of our resources is to impeach a lame duck president just to install someone worse in Cheney. The Democratic Congress could probably have done more by now, but they've made some advances (minimum wage, for example), and need a stronger majority and a Democratic President to do more.
My heart and prayers go out to Ms. Sheehan, but she could not have done any better than Ms. Pelosi with what there is in Washington to work with.
I thank
I thank Cindy Sheehan and all of her supporters for this great service they are providing the Democratic Party.
Are there any Meetup.com sites being utilized yet, for Cindy's congressional campaign?
Ms sheehan needs to for a sacramento seat or a vacaville seat beacause she does not live in SF 8th district and you can't impeach both bush and cheney at the same time the votes are not there
I think sometimes you just have to do the right thing. Cindy is definitely doing that by running for Congress. All these people who are saying impeachment is a waste of energy and takes time away from "more important" matters just don't get it. Recently I heard Congresswoman Barbara Lee say, when asked why so few in Congress support Dennis Kucinich's bill to impeach Cheney (remember that it is important to impeach Cheney either before Bush or at the same time) that there was something wrong with all those in Congress who are against impeachment, since THE MAJORITY of Americans favor impeachment. She basically said that those Congresspeople were not representing their constituents. In San Francisco, there is no doubt that the vast majority of voters favor impeaching BOTH Bush and Cheney. This is why it is important that Cindy challenge Pelosi.
Cindy:
I am a San Francisco resident and attorney who has grown monumentally frustrated with both the Democrats and Nancy Pelosi's failure to stop the war. Speaker Pelosi's failure to halt the funding of the war in Iraq is an outright betrayal. In some circumstances the Democrats conduct is worse than President Bush's, as we expect the Republicans to ignore us but not those who are supposed to be on "our" side.
Please contact me as I have experience in political matters from my tenure in Washington D.C. (I also worked on on Pete Stark's staff in D.C.) and would like to assist in your campaign against Pelosi.
You can contact me via this e-mail or by phone at 415-609-2079. Thank you.
Cindy,
You are true to your name it means Peace in Irish, I live here in San Francisco and am ready and willing to help you give the voiceless a voice.
Nancy and the Demo do not speak for me or most peace loving people.
Thanks,
John
I am pleased that Cindy is running to replace a Democrat in Congress--and such a powerful one too! What Cindy said about the Democratic party is true. They, like the Republicans, are bought and paid for by the corporations. The same corporations that are making such wonderful profits on our endless wars. Our 'leaders' say that our nation has no money to take care of the people and our environment, but they vote Billions for the endless wars.
Cindy can say what we all really want. We want to be citizens in a nation that is respected by the people of the world -- not hated and feared.
I am retired and have lots of time to work for the election of Cindy. I will be out on the street talking to people all over the district.
So will Cindy address the Venezuelan economy taking under the jackbooted direction of her hero Chavez?
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/09/02/bloomberg/bxbux.php
When is the campaign going to start using it's volunteers? I live out of the district, however I will do what ever I can from Sonoma County to help Cindy take it away from Nancy Pelosi!
Barry LP
Barry, You're certainly not the first to raise "when" questions related to the Sheehan campaign. I think enough people are waiting and privately asking that it's time to openly discuss these questions-- "Is the campaign serious? Will they let people help? Who's in charge? When does it start?, etc.
We've signed up 476 supporters on http://www.sheehanforcongress.us. Yesterday, I issued a call on the web site for the campaign to do a few basic things to get the campaign jump-started.
On October 1, if there hasn't been substantial progress, I'm thinking I'll ask the 476 people in the database to begin lobbying Team Cindy to take these first steps to make it possible for us to start doing useful work for the campaign.
There is much to be done, but many have stepped forward to help. The bottleneck at this time is authorization and coordination. Hoping we can cooperatively get past that bottleneck soon.
SeminolePride77's comments are emblamatic of the problem we find ourselves in. As with so many of the over-educated yet weak-minded, he has drunk the Kool-aid of conventional thinking and finds himself boxed in by the notion that the dems and repubs are the only choices available, and that voting for one or the other is the be all and end all of options/tactics.
If he were right we would be toast. But he's not right. There is an endless supply of creative options.
I live in Canada, but my last residence in the US was in Pelosi's district, so my wife and I can and will both be voting AGAINST her. I was prepared to do this without regard to who her opponent would have been. Yes, that's right, I was going to vote republican (before Cindy announced). Why? Because there have to be consequences for the Dems when they betray their "supporters". Only when betrayal costs them will they choose another way.
Another thing, why is it that everyone always and at every moment thinks that getting and having money is the only way to succeed in a political campaign?
I've got a printer. As do thousands of other boilin' mad 8th district "insurgents". (And others across the nation.) On our own, we can print up some "Bye-Bye Nancy" "IEDs" (improvised excoriating denunciations) and paper our neighborhoods with them. With fliers, staple gun, and doggie (optional) we can go out for our daily walk, and bodda-bing, bodda-boom, Pelosi's deer-in-the-headlights face and shameful record of betrayal is plastered all over town. What will be the impact on alternative-seeking voters when every 8th district street becomes a forest of "Bye bye Nancy"s. What signal is sent to the political parasite class when the most powerful Dem in the House is run out of town by a spontaneous AND COST FREE popular uprising?
In the end it boils down to this. It will continue to get worse until it gets bad enough so that people get mad enough to do something about it. But if you wait till you have to fight off Blackwater, you can just kiss the whole deal goodbye.
It's not even constitutional for Pelosi to take impeachment "off the table." She could stop the war on a dime by not letting funding bills reach the floor.
Nancy Pelosi is a coward and a traitor to all San Franciscans who elected her sorry ass.
If Cindy runs against Pelosi in the primary, as a Democrat, then I'm in. If she goes independent, fugettaboutit. We need to make a statement here. Pelosi talks about holding the president accountable, and that is so much bullshit. It's time to hold Pelosi accountable.
Pelosi could have stepped to the plate and done the right thing. Her political future would have been assured. Instead, she triangulates upon future political success while thousands die in the god-forsaken war. The blood of those people is now on her hands.
Pelosi needs a wake up call. She needs to be pulled down off her pedestal and kicked to the curb. If that's what Cindy is into, I'm for her. Otherwise, it's just a waste of time.
I agree with Wm Arney.I'm with Sheehan if she runs on the Democratic ticket. An independant is not likely to do much good as there will be too many straight line Demos. that will offset the indies vote.
But, I like the idea of giving Pelosi and the rest of the Demos. the major wakeup call.
I heard someone describe Reid as a beaded curtain, you just walk right through him- It must end.
In fact all of the Demos who now have the power to stop the war need to do so and quickly. You must remember that the preamble says "We the people" That's us folks. If you are too busy to accept your responsibilities as a citizen move on. A democracy gets the kind of government it deserves.
So why do we the Democrats just keep rolling over and over and over and over, it's sickening.
Where are the Sam Irvins these days.
I didn't see that old man stammering in front of Haldeman and Ehrlichman. I just remember his enormous eyebrows going up and down with visible irritation when he was given improbable answers, and lies.
There is also an important item that has been shunted to the back pages of all the MSM and needs to be discussed and then repealed. And that is the dissolution of our sovereign borders. I'm sure you must know they have been abolished. We are no longer a sovereign nation. We are part of the North American Union.
So much for the presidential oath. "Sworn to defend and protect the constitution of the United States." What United States?
We've been sold out to the corporatocracy. Our Federal government has been privatized,and we let it happen. My God America WAKE UP.
The Present day Dems. with the exception of a few act as though they have just entered a funeral parlor. And I guess they have, their own.
I live in So. CA but I will support Cindy if she runs on the Demo. ticket.
I support Cindy Sheehan's ***independent*** run to oust Nancy Pelosi. Fortuitously, my wife and I are voters from her district.
I think Cindy's run can be seen as prototypical and suggestive of a wider opportunity. The third part idea is of course not new, but I would suggest that current circumstances make this a particularly favorable moment for such an undertaking. Last night on Olbermann or Washington Week (can't remember which) someone commented about Hillary's very high negatives. That comment was followed by something I hadn't heard before, which was that all the Repub candidates also have high negatives. High negatives on both sides seems to me the ideal condition for an ***independent*** (ie third) party.
Though it must be obvious why, I feel compelled to explain (maybe just to recapitulate the logic for a reexamination). A "negative" voter is a "refusenik" regarding "their own" party. At the same time, for either seemingly rational considerations of ideological disagreement or simply timeworn tribal antagonism, they won't vote for the other party. So they've got nowhere to go(in the simple, "uncreative" analysis). They are caught in the dilemma that confronts us all in a two party system, and which is exploited by the two parties in a "good cop, bad cop" sort of manipulation which serves the parties but not the people.
There are any number of ways this opportunity may be exploited. From the Cindy Sheehan model: Take out a top political leader otherwise totally secure in their incumbency, sending a message that there is no such thing as a safe seat if you refuse the will of your constituency; to a full blown third party that will simply eat the other two parties for lunch, leaving them little more than dried out husks populated by the zombie true believers(please excuse my self-indulgence).
Regarding a third party, allow me one little tactical suggestion. If I were involved in forming a third party I would call it the New Republican New Democrat Party. Why? Generally I'm opposed to manipulative tactics because no one likes to be manipulated. But the sad truth is that human nature is a severe factor in the reality-based political dynamic, so if you want to be successful then you have to acknowledge that reality and deal with it. The point of the NRND Party name is that humans, tribal creatures that they are, strongly and irrationally identify with whatever group they belong to. Consequently is is easier for them to transfer their support/loyalty to another group of similar name (and by implication, similar values). (I put the Repub name first in NRND because they are more primitive creatures more susceptible to the irrational. ;-))
Returning to the Cindy Sheehan model, I would like to see a list compiled of heretofore non-political persons with potential as independent candidates. Persons who, like Cindy, are above all notable for their "stones" and their integrity. Scott Ritter comes to mind for me. I'd like to hear whom others would nominate.
Best, Jeff Davis
"Everything's hard till you know how to do it."
Ray Charles
Currently, Cindy Sheehan has the attention of the national media and should use her opportunity wisely. Her campaign message should be focused on unseating ALL those currently serving in the US Congress and state legislatures, regardless of party, not just Nancy Pelosi. We have a golden opportunity to throw the “elected elite” out of office and show them that American voters can regain their voice at the ballot box. This won’t happen if we continue to vote for the same old Democrat and Republican hacks. I urge Cindy to ask Americans to vote ALL incumbents at both the federal and state level out of office, including Nancy Pelosi. If an incumbent is running unopposed, we need to find suitable write-in candidates long before the elections take place and get all the voters behind the write-ins. It doesn’t matter to which party the non-incumbent belongs as long as we, the voters, can send a strong message to Congress that we want true representation.
Hopefully, democrats, republicans, independents, libertarians, greens and all the other parties can stand together in the next few elections to let the “elected elite” know that elitism is out and their days are numbered.
Mr. Baber (or somebody who can contact Ms. Sheehan),
Please pass on to Ms. Sheehan's election committee that if she is truly serious about running for Congress she needs to complete her website and provide a way to hear feedback and opinions from others, both supporters and opposition (politics is a rough business). After watching Ms. Pelosi on the Sunday morning talk shows, I felt compelled to pass on my two cents worth of support for Ms. Sheehan's candidacy though I live out of state and considered now conservative despite the good old days as a rabble-rousing Poli Sci major from 1968-1972...and perhaps a bit of advice about some of the simple political tactics that made the peace movement back then so successful, none of which I've seen today. Despite my preconceived perception based on the popular news media, from what I have researched on Ms. Sheehan’s platform and beliefs, I now realize she supports good old fashion commonsense Jeffersonian democracy...Political Tactic #1. Actually, this is not a matter of liberal vs. conservative, doves vs. hawks. Indeed it is nothing less than a matter of the survival of the nation. The U.S. is rapidly evolving from global revulsion to global laughing-stock. To quote Mr. Dylan, "For the times they are a-changin'"...and in a Flat World, the change is accelerating. Please pass on the word to Ms. Sheehan. She might be surprised by the support out there. (Were you able to decipher Political Tactics #2, #3 and #4 in this posting?)
Dan
http://theflatworldtimes.blogspot.com/
Cindy will appear on Radio Inside Scoop tomorrow, April 23 at 5 pm Easter Time. The podcast will be available for download as well.
Radio Inside Scoop
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