On Wednesday, House Democratic leaders had their Capitol news conference disrupted by a group of anti-war activists led by Cindy Sheehan.
According to press accounts, Sheehan said "We put them back in power," she said of the Democrats. Passing out fliers calling for defunding the Iraq war, Sheehan shouted: "These are our demands. And they're not requests — they're demands."
That got me to wonder – how did Cindy Sheehan put the Democrats back into power and who is she to make demands?
I didn’t recall reading much last fall about Sheehan campaigning for anybody and decided to do a little research.
I found an interview she gave right before the Election on October 21. Here’s some of what she said regarding the Democrats and whom she was supporting:
“I hold very little hope that, due to the utter corruption of our electoral system, and the Republican reign of terror and fear against the American public, the Democrats will even take back one or more Houses of Congress.”
“Even if the Democrats take back the lower House, the potential Speaker, Nancy Pelosi (D-Ca) has already said that impeachment would not be “in the cards.” Rep. John Conyers (D-Mi) has also backed off of impeachment rhetoric. Since Bush has said over and over again that the troops aren't coming home while he is president, it is up to us to make sure that his presidency is cut short.”
“Although I admire the Democrats on many issues, when it comes to war and peace, most get their pockets lined by the same corporate interests.”
“Of course, I only care about candidate's record on the war and what they say about peace. I prefer to call our movement a "peace" movement, because "antiwar" is too narrow.”
“I would vote for a Republican if they were calling for the withdrawal of troops and for impeachment, and I definitely think a viable third party could rein in the "two" parties we have now”
“So far I have supported three who ended up losing in the primaries: Marcy Winograd, Jonathan Tasisni and Christine Cegelis — all of whom are Democrats, first two up against pro-war incumbents. I have also supported Jeanne Cricenzo, a Democrat, Malachy McCourt for Governor of New York who is a Green and Michael Berg and Todd Chretien, both of whom are Greens. Kevin Zeese of Maryland who is an independent candidate. And most recently I told Howie Hawkins, who is running against Hillary Clinton in New York as a Green, that I would support his antiwar campaign.”
“I think that to save our democracy our country needs a viable and credible third party. This nation was founded on rule by a few rich white males, and for all intents and purposes, we are still ruled by a corporate elite."
“We need a third party that will represent all the people, not just the wealthy.”
Then I found a press release issued on behalf of third party candidate running for Congress in suburban Chicago against a first-term incumbent Democrat.
Cindy Sheehan: Make One Democrat Pay!
"Having failed to stand up in opposition to the Iraq war in the first place, and failing to offer a strong peace platform now, the Democratic Party nevertheless is about to reap big gains from the blood of my son Casey and others like him."
"We have an opportunity to make at least one pro-war Democrat pay the price for selling out on the war. We must send a message to pro-war politicians of both parties."
"Our friend Bill Scheurer, editor of The PeaceMajority Report, co-founder of VotersForPeace, and longtime member of Military Families Speak Out, is running an explosive grassroots campaign in the IL-8th Congressional District against first-term incumbent Melissa Bean, a pro-war Bush Democrat."
"I urge all citizens is all districts to vote for peace candidates, no matter what party they are, but in Bill Scheurer, there is a clear choice for peace."
So there you have it. I was unable to find any information about any Democrat who actually won with Cindy Sheehan’s assistance.
But there’s plenty of evidence that she did quite a bit to hurt Democratic candidates, including call on voters to make the Democrats pay and is support of forming a 3rd Party.
That’s fine. She should support the candidates she wants. But she just shouldn’t disguise herself as a Democrat and make demands on people. Because it's Democrats who will suffer by being considered aligned with this nutcase.