Tuesday, August 09, 2005

Matt Drudge and the smearing of Cindy Sheehan.


Well, you knew it was only a matter of time until the right-wing smear campaign against anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan, and who better to start the despicably dishonest festivities than everyone's favorite conservative bottom feeder, Matt Drudge:

PROTESTING SOLDIER MOM CHANGED STORY ON BUSH

Mon Aug 08 2005 10:11:07 ET

The mother of a fallen U.S. soldier who is holding a roadside peace vigil near President Bush's ranch -- has dramatically changed her account about what happened when she met the commander-in-chief last summer!

Cindy Sheehan, 48, of Vacaville, Calif., who last year praised Bush for bringing her family the "gift of happiness," took to the nation's TV outlets this weekend to declare how Bush "killed an indispensable part of our family and humanity."

CINDY 2004

THE REPORTER of Vacaville, CA published an account of Cindy Sheehan's visit with the president at Fort Lewis near Seattle on June 24, 2004:

"'I now know he's sincere about wanting freedom for the Iraqis,' Cindy said after their meeting. 'I know he's sorry and feels some pain for our loss. And I know he's a man of faith.'

"The meeting didn't last long, but in their time with Bush, Cindy spoke about Casey and asked the president to make her son's sacrifice count for something. They also spoke of their faith.

"The trip had one benefit that none of the Sheehans expected.

"For a moment, life returned to the way it was before Casey died. They laughed, joked and bickered playfully as they briefly toured Seattle.

For the first time in 11 weeks, they felt whole again.

"'That was the gift the president gave us, the gift of happiness, of being together,' Cindy said."

Wow, that Cindy ... what a two-faced, opportunistic bitch. Or she would have been, except for (emphasis added):

Her role in that battle exploded Monday morning, when Matt Drudge - the infamous commentator behind the popular Drudge Report, a right-leaning online news site - accused Sheehan of changing her tune to serve political purposes.

Drudge's story, headlined "Protesting Soldier Mom Changed Story on Bush," was posted in the highest slot on the Web site that receives more than 5 million visits per day. It drew quotes from a Sheehan interview published June 24, 2004, in The Reporter, suddenly dragging the newspaper into the fray.

That story, by staff writer David Henson, was an account of Sheehan's visit with the president in Seattle.

In Henson's story, Sheehan admitted she and her husband, Patrick, debated before the meeting whether to ask pointed questions about the war and whether to vent their frustration over their son's sacrifice. Ultimately, the couple chose not to publicly criticize Bush in the meeting or shortly after...

Sheehan also said the trip to Seattle helped connect her family to others that had lost a son or daughter in Iraq. Sheehan said sharing their story with those families was rewarding, as was the time she got to spend with her own family.

"That was the gift the president gave us, the gift of happiness, of being together," she said in the story.

Drudge included that quote in his Monday morning report, but didn't explain that it referred to sharing time with her family, not the president...

Sheehan, in a press release distributed Monday by the Institute for Public Accuracy, explained she was "still in shock" during her 2004 meeting with the president.

"We had decided not to criticize the president then because during that meeting he assured us 'this is not political.' And I believed him," Sheehan wrote. "Then, during the Republican National Convention, he exploited those meetings to justify what he was doing. It's now clear to me that what I had feared is true: Bush lied us into war, and Casey, more than 1,800 other Americans and thousands and thousands of Iraqis are dead because of what he did."


Matt Drudge: a douchebag for sleazy, right-wing hackery.

AND THERE'S MORE, as Editor & Publisher launches into Drudge as well.

OH, GEEZ
: And Moronic in the Great White North leaps into the fray with both feet stuffed firmly in mouth. Isn't that adorable? He's linking to Drudge, just like eight gazillion other right-wing wankers. And that, boys and girls, is how an echo chamber works. Any questions?

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