Cindy's Smiles

Stories vary on the attendance at last weekend's anti-war protests - everything from 2,000 to 250,000. The most widely carried wire service report quoted the organizer as saying that they met the goal of 100,000. This is meaningless since organizers always say that they met their targets. Regardless, it is obvious that they were short of the estimated million who protested at the start of the war.

The Instapundit pointed out that there is no real anti-war movement. No major politicians showed up and the protests are led by the anti-American left. Christopher Hitchens points out that they are not anti-war, they are anti-American.

Never the less, Cindy Sheehan had a bit of fun hugging Jesse Jackson from the rear. Check out her smile here.

Cindy has been doing a lot of smiling recently. Two days later she was still smiling when she was arrested for blocking the sidewalk.

Why was she smiling? She says that she was having fun plus:

There is another and more important reason that I was smiling. I had not genuinely smiled since Casey was killed in Iraq. I thought my hope was buried along with my son and I was in a pit of hopeless despair. Camp Casey gave me back my hope because America came out in huge numbers to support us and they raised their voices with ours in unison to take our country back and to hold this administration accountable for the lies and mistakes that are killing tens of thousands of innocent people. There were hundreds of thousands of regular Americans who came out to protest the war and Bush's policies this past Saturday. Hundreds of faithful Americans turned out for our interfaith religious service Sunday night next to the Washington Monument. The so-called religious right doesn't have a monopoly on God. I am so pleased that the people of America are becoming active participants in Democracy and America is ready to put their money where their collective mouths are: to bring our troops home and hold BushCo accountable. It is a wonderful thing to be doing something that makes a difference and it is a wonderful and miraculous thing to have my hope back. That is why I am smiling.

She hasn't smiled since Casey died? What was that goofy expression on her face when she pressed herself against Jackson?

Regardless, I think that the real reason that she was smiling was that she managed to attract a camera again. Her Saturday protest totally failed at getting press. It seems that everyone was paying attention to Hurricane Rita instead of Cindy. Cindy has this to say:

Now about Hurricane Rita: I woke up on Saturday morning filled with excitement. I knew that the rally and march were going to be amazing events and I was thrilled to be a part of them. I switched on the TV and turned on CNN and for 2 hours, I watched one of their reporters in front of the same downed tree and it wasn't even raining. I knew that there was a hurricane and it was damaging. At the point of the news cycle though, I thought CNN could be covering other news. 40 soldiers have been killed this month so far in Iraq and countless Iraqis have been killed. The war is still going on and the news has been dominated by hurricanes and the terrible aftermaths. I actually think the mainstream media has been doing a good job of pointing out the dropped balls in the Gulf States. However, CNN and other mainstream news outlets ALWAYS report other news besides the illegal occupation of Iraq.

[...] I was also disappointed that that tragedy superseded the protest coverage. Wolf Blitzer called our protests: Insignificant.

Saturday was the most important event in peace history in decades. The numbers were underreported and the wonderful energy was unreported by the mainstream media. With the MSM there will always be something more important than covering the atrocity of Iraq: Michael Jackson, Scott Peterson, Terry Schiavo, The Runaway Bride, etc. It is time we hold our media accountable, too. Balanced coverage of all issues and some investigative reporting would be extremely refreshing.

I am sorry for what seemed to be an insensitive remark about the people who were affected by Rita, but that was not my intention. I am very aware that the failed policies of the Bush administration have all put us in the same boat, so to speak, and we need to take responsibility for righting the wrongs here in our country and in Iraq.

To Cindy, everything has to be about her. If the MSM chooses to pay attention to a major storm instead of her protest then she wants to hold it accountable. And I'm at a loss at why she thinks that Bush is responsible for Rita.

Wolf Blitzer was right. The protests were insignificant. Cindy managed to rally her base but her support never went beyond that and she is 14 minutes and 59 seconds into her fifteen minutes of fame. Even a second arrest is unlikely to be very well covered.

Actually, I wouldn't have bothered writing about it if it wasn't for her smile.