I had a feeling he would talk to McCain.... sm

Lately, people will do anything to get their own "15 minutes of fame." That's why you have so many reality shows.

I think it's all despicable and they should not have shown that on TV. Now every other "15 minute" famer will do something on the same order to see if they can get in the newspapers or on TV. Watch and see. There's still 6 days left.

Some Are Focusing Anger on Protester

CRAWFORD, Tex., Aug. 16 -- Cindy Sheehan rode into town 10 days ago, a forlorn mother with a question for her president: Why did my son die in Iraq?

But now the same wave of publicity and political anger that she rode to become a nationally known symbol of the antiwar movement threatens to crash down on Sheehan herself.

Cindy Sheehan hugs a supporter at her protest site in Crawford, Tex. Conservatives have criticized her, and she says some sympathetic groups have agendas she does not share. (By Jason Reed -- Reuters)

Conservative commentators and Web sites are taking aim at Sheehan with the same ferocity she has aimed at President Bush. In part, they are using her own words against her -- reciting such controversial comments as her vow to refuse to pay taxes to a government waging an "illegal" war and her desire to see Bush impeached.

The backlash is becoming a new object lesson in how saturation media coverage and the instinct for personal attack are shaping political debate. Some independent commentators said the pushback on the right has succeeded at scuffing the public sympathy and deference she had earned as the mother of a fallen soldier, and has shown how virtually any subject relating to the Iraq war and Bush's presidency is viewed through a partisan lens.

"Cindy Sheehan has emboldened the progressives who oppose the war and caused the conservative diehards who are behind the war to go into a defensive mode," said Michael Harrison, publisher of Talkers magazine, a trade publication for talk radio. "Cindy Sheehan is going to be a target, and they'll probably go through her past to find what they can to discredit her."

Since her son, Casey, 24, was killed in Iraq last year, Sheehan, of Vacaville, Calif., has traveled the country trying to drum up opposition to the war in Iraq. She has participated in peace conferences, demonstrations and a mock congressional hearing about the "Downing Street memo" -- notes of a meeting with British Prime Minister Tony Blair and his top advisers that said the Bush administration had decided to go to war and molded intelligence findings to support that decision.

In that time, Sheehan, 48, a soft-spoken woman who says she was radicalized by her son's death, has engaged in her fair share of inflammatory rhetoric.

"It's obvious Cindy Sheehan has become a political player, whose primary concern is embarrassing the president," Fox Television personality Bill O'Reilly wrote Tuesday in an online column. "She is no longer just a protester."

Bush, Sheehan said, lied to the American people about the war and should be impeached. She is refusing to pay taxes in hopes that the Internal Revenue Service will come after her to collect. "I'm not supporting a government that wages an illegal, immoral war," she said. "I want them to come after me, so I can put the war on trial."

Still, she said some of the statements attributed to her are distortions. Contrary to a letter attributed to her that is circulating widely on the Internet, she asserts that she has never said that the United States is waging the war in Iraq to protect Israel.

"I have said a lot of strong things, and I'll stand by everything I said," Sheehan said, adding that she thought the document had been altered. "But I didn't say that."

The scrutiny that has accompanied Sheehan's quick rise to prominence has extended to her family. Several in-laws have publicly criticized her protest -- announcing their displeasure in a release to the Drudge Report. News that Sheehan's husband, Patrick, has filed for divorce has been trumpeted by some bloggers as evidence of her extreme views.

Consequently, she has asked that her campsite near Bush's ranch be restricted only to organizations of military families, or those who have lost loved ones in the war.

"Attention got focused on the messenger and not the message," Sheehan said. "My thing is ending the war in Iraq. But there are a lot of people who want to attach their horse to my wagon, because of the exposure I'm getting."

The increased scrutiny of Sheehan is coming as some residents here are growing irritated with the stream of antiwar protesters drawn to her vigil.

On Tuesday, a spokeswoman for Sheehan announced plans to move the camp from the drainage ditches next to the winding road about two miles from Bush's 1,600-acre spread to a field on a ranch offered by one of Bush's neighbors. The new camp would be about a mile from the president's ranch. All that would be left behind at the original site would be three tents and hundreds of white wooden crosses bearing the names of troops killed in Iraq.

The move followed complaints by about 60 of Bush's neighbors, who petitioned McLennan County officials to expand a no-parking zone around the camp, in an effort to avert the traffic tie-ups that have become commonplace as the protest has grown. Also, Monday night a truck dragging chains and a pipe demolished some crosses; the driver, Larry Northern, 46, of Waco, Tex., was charged with criminal mischief.

Sheehan has promised to remain encamped throughout Bush's five-week stay here and to return whenever the president does. She also announced plans for a series of nearly 1,000 candlelight vigils Wednesday night across the country. Liberal advocacy groups MoveOn.org Political Action and Democracy for America are organizing the protests.

"All of this other BS just clouds my message," Sheehan said. "My message is that of a brokenhearted mom sitting down in front of George Bush's ranch, wanting to know why my son died."

Bush sent weapons to Israel. Iran sent weapons to Hezbollah. Bush must have figured that Americans wouldn't tolerate any more of his wars, so we're fighting Iran through Hezbollah via Israel. Reminds me of a chess game. I think this is the fault of Papa Bush. He should have given Georgie more GI Joes to play with as a kid.

Now that there is an agreed cease fire, Israel is stepping up the offensive. (Any surprises here?) I wonder how many more innocent people they will kill in Lebanon - including Christians - and how much more of Lebanon's infrastructure they will destroy before they finally cease their fire.

socially acceptable behavior without looking at the influences that set those standards. Christianity is what determined homosexuality to be unacceptable. It is the dominant factor in this debate as far as the US goes. The US generally accepted christianity as the norm some time ago in this country. In doing so it automatically put people in the sinner and non-sinner brackets. Homosexuals were obviously put into the sinning bracket. That is why they have been put in the closet. Not because "it's just not natural," but because it's a sin.

And that's where I have a problem with the whole thing. Since we are not a theocracy, religious concepts have no place in determining something as personal as marriage. For that matter, I also think it's absolutely absurd that govt weighs in on this issue. I think it's a personal choice, not for the church and not for the govt.

It was simply an exaggerated example to make a point about the subjectiveness of deciding what constitutes an observation versus an insult. I think that was obvious to most people. Regarding your snide observation, no I do not talk like that. As I said it was an example.

Perhaps your other boards do not have such a marked slant. And shall I make an observation on the tedious repetition that is found in your milieu's absolutely ENDLESS recitation of the evils of liberals, just to mention a few? ONe doesn't even need to read the content of the posts, merely scan the subject lines and the repetition is obvious.

There are things that the poster felt needed to be said, and you see, this is a liberal board.

As it has been said ad nauseam, anyone can post on this board. Liberals post on the conservative board as well. I must have been absent the day you were named moderator.

You have a habit of mis-representing the facts, of twisting them to fit your agenda and your conscience.

On the basis of what, three posts, you say I have a habit of misrepresenting the facts and twisting them to fit my agenda and m conscience. Pot calling the kettle black, I would say. You posted erroneous information, represented it as fact, and I called you on it. If anyone's conscience should be bothering them, that would be you.

You say most of the people of the U.S. were against slavery. At different points in history that may or may not have been true, there weren't a lot of nationwide polls back then. Could you share your facts? Just the facts, ma'am.

I again refer you to history. History is full of the people who opposed slavery. We are at war right now as a country but as it is perfectly clear, is it not, that the whole country is not behind the war.

The fact is though that slavery was perfectly legal for 100 years in this country. Try twisting that one. That's what I mean when I say this country condoned slavery. But I think that was obvious to most folks.

Because it is legal does not mean all the people in the country condone it. Abortion is legal in this country but I sure as heck do not condone it. That doesn't mean I bomb abortion clinics or stand outside them and ridicule the people using them. But I do not condone it, nor do many others. I follow the laws of the land but I do make sure with my vote and in other ways to work to see that law gone. And I think that is obvious to most folks as well.

Secondly, you say this was Congress's war just as much as Bush's. Well, we know that is not true either. It was Bush and his cronies that planned this war, probably even before 9/11. There was erroneous evidence presented to Congress that led them to okay military action.

I really am incredulous that there are still people who buy that nonsense. Erroneous evidence presented to Congress? The Senate Intelligence Committee had the very same information the Bush administration had. And if all those congresspeople are so ignorant they could be *fooled* into buying into lies (if there were any, which there is no proof there were) that led the country into war, then I would think, for the love of pete, that you would be equally as incensed at them. What proof do you have that Bush and his cronies planned anything? None, because there is none. As you said, just the FACTS, ma'am.

If your daughter came home from school and stated that the neighbor girl beat her up you would might believe the evidence. However, do you not change your course of action if it turns out the neighbor girl didn't do the actual damage?

I believe you twist and arrange the evidence so you don't feel guilty about this utter madness and endless slaughter we know as Iraq as you similarly defend the US government role in the slaughter of indigenous peoples.

There you go again. First, my friend, I do not feel guilty. I have nothing to feel guilty about. I support the American military and I certainly support the war on terrorism. I do not readily forget 3000 people dying. I will never forget watching those people jump out of that building to avoid being incinerated and for what? Simply because they were Americans. How easily you seem to blow that off.

And I did not defend the US government role in the slaughter of indigenous peoples. I did not defend slavery. Both were wrong. Abortion is wrong, but they happen every day, and they happen NOW. There is no longer slavery and there is no longer the slaugher of indigenous peoples. Why does it not bother you that it is legal to slaughter upwards or over a million babies unborn babies every year? Why don't you get involved to stop that?

My whole point is that the US is indeed a great and often noble and generous country. I really want it to stay that way though and powerful people have a way of corrupting the moral values that have sustained this country for so long.

Excuse me yet again...but that is exactly what I said. The moral values that the country was founded upon and have sustained and how far we have gotten from that. But I guess we are talking about two different sets of moral values. What set are you talking about?

The US has taken some pretty bad detours along the way but fortunately common sense and good character have generally won out in the long run. Complacency and acceptance of corrupt power is always a threat though and that's why we need to QUESTION always those that are in near-absolute power. I firmly believe that those who question are the MOST patriotic.

I never said questioning was unpatriotic. What is unpatriotic in my view and always will be is suggesting that any American soldier died in vain. What I think is unpatriotic is while we have men and women dying in combat, no matter who sent them there or for what reason, we owe them the respect to, if we cannot support their mission, to not go public with rampant criticism and for the love of everything Holy not to suggest publically that they are fighting and dying for nothing. Not only do I think that is unpatriotic, I think it is selfish and mean. Doesn't mean you or anyone else can't grouse about it friends in the privacy of a home, but to go public with it where friends, family and loved ones of soldiers who have died there, were injured there and continue to fight there can read it. I don't know why some people (not naming anyone in particular) cannot just hold all that in until the troops come home. Then if they want to dissect it, take it apart, malign it or whatever, our troops are home and no longer in harm's way.

It is rhetoric like you are repeating that Al Qaeda loves to hear, and their greatest propaganda tool. Playing right into their hands. And yes, giving that upper hand to the enemy is to me, yes, unpatriotic.