2005

Where’s The Anger Towards Sheehan Coming From?

ArchPundit August 14, 2005 7 Comments

I’m not terribly comfortable saying Cindy Sheehan should get an automatic meeting with the President, but I also don’t think one has to be angry with her for protesting the President. Jim Leach does a good job making the point about the loud conservative response to Sheehan

Let’s compare and contrast the treatment of this mother of a dead soldier with another story in the news today. Rich Miller at Capitol Fax blog has the latest on the plans by the hideous Fred Phelps and his group to demonstrate at a military funeral in East Peoria. Disgusting, and yet how does it — the exploitation of a family’s grief for his own twisted political agenda — truly differ from what the right is doing to Cindy Sheehan?

Does Sheehan have a ‘political agenda’–well yeah, getting out of a war (a position I don’t really agree with in terms of immediate withdrawal). Has she said some contradictory things. Sure. So what? Does that change her grief? No. If you don’t like Cindy Sheehan you can ignore her, but I don’t understand why anyone should be angry with her.

Or as Jim ably puts it:

George W. Bush should be able to handle one grieving mother on his own without the right-wing echo chamber ganging up on her.

hmmmmm…..The Brady Postcard Isn’t From Brady?

ArchPundit August 14, 2005 1 Comment

I received it at my home address so I’m wondering if it was a mailing targeted towards bloggers–if you received it as well drop me a note or mention it in comments. Brady claims it is not from him.

What is interesting is often when someone does this sort of thing they still send it out as a bulk permit which let’s you track where it came from with some ability to figure out the mailer. Not in this case, they used stamps instead of bulk mailing. It was sent out from Springfield with a code of 627 on the 10th of August.

If the mailing was big enough, it could have violated the law, but if it was sent out to a small group of people to make a ruckus, it might fall under reporting limits.

Illinois Dem Net Speakers

ArchPundit August 14, 2005 1 Comment

In the previous post, you’ll find the speakers for Illinois DFA’s event, but the Dem Net will be having an impressive group as well. I’ll be making both events. The Corona Pavillon is an especially good location for a noon meeting at the State Fair, however. 😉 For more information–click the Dem Net Blog ad.

We’ll have some of Illinois’s top Democratic Leaders to address our very own Statewide Meetup. Speakers include Alderman Joe Moore (Chicago), Mayor Tim Davlin (Springfield), Attorney General Lisa Madigan and others. The location for this year’s Statewide Democratic Meetup will be in the Corona tent on the Fair Grounds (photo – map). Date and time is Wednesday, Aug. 17. 12:15pm-1:45pm.

Joe Moore, Chicago Alderman and National DNC Member, is working overtime.

DFA at the State Fair Too!

ArchPundit August 14, 2005 No Comments

From the DFA folks who share one of my big hobby horse. Note that their meeting is one hour before the Dem Net Meeting at Noon, so you can make both (as I will be). I’ll post my letter to what I’d like to see the Party doing on here sometime Tuesday.

I know not everyone will be able to come down to the Rally in
Springfield next Wednesday (and there are details below, including our
speakers list, in case you can) … but there is still a way you can
make your voice heard.

At the event DFAers will be hand-delivering letters from ordinary
Democrats (like you!) to Tim Mapes, Chief of Staff to Michael Madigan,
Chair of the Democratic Party of Illinois (DPI). ?This is your chance
express your *positive* vision of what the DPI could and should be,
and put it directly into the hands of the people who run one of the
largest state Dem organizations in the country.

Are there issues or candidates you’d like to see supported? ?Ways they
could work with your local grassroots group, improve their website,
improve their image? ?Let them know! ?Don’t even know what a state
Democratic Party can do? ?Here’s what they are doing in
other states:

http://www.democracyforillinois.org/node/1869

So take advantage of this opportunity to make your voice heard — write a
letter. ?Email it no later than next Tuesday, August 16th to
dfi.letters@gmail.com. ?We will be printing out hard copies that night
and carrying them down with us to the rally.

Interested in taking a one-day road trip down to Springfield to join
in the rally? ? DFAers and other grassroots groups from around the
state will be converging on the Dem Party’s Governor’s Day Rally at
the Illinois State Fair next Wednesday, August 17th. ?DFAers will meet
prior to the rally at the Commodities Pavilion at 11:00 a.m. for our
DFA pre-rally meeting, with speakers including:

– Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn
– State Rep. John Fritchey, 11th District
– Joe Moore, DNC Member and 49th Ward Alderman
– Dr. David Gill, candidate for 15th Congressional District

And two of the six candidates DFAers in Illinois elected to local
office in 2005:

– Lali Watt, Evanston DFA meetup host and recently elected Wilmette
Village Trustee
– Holly Johnson, Rockford DFA meetup host and recently elected Byron
Park District Commisioner

After our meeting we will head to the the rally — a big event that
will include pretty much every important Dem in the state of Illinois.
And of course there will be plenty of pre and post rally socializing,
plus a chance to enjoy the state fair.

You can get all the travel details here:

http://www.democracyforillinois.org/statefair

Peace,
Sandra

Pat Quinn is a Great Guy

ArchPundit August 12, 2005 1 Comment

I know I criticize him more than probably even the Governor in comparison to their relative positions, but as a human being, Pat means incredibly well and has been attending the funerals of Illinois soldiers without any attention. I’d let that continue, but some cynics over at Capitol Fax’s blog are making an issue of it and it just isn’t right–Quinn has always been a strong advocate of service people and has done it without a lot of press–perhaps one of the few areas where that’s true, but regardless, it’s absolutely commendable.

So to those cynics, I’d prefer to not even mention the whole thing, but bugger the hell off.

And Don’t Blame the “Right” For Phelps

ArchPundit August 11, 2005 3 Comments

Phelps is on the ‘right’ perhaps, but he isn’t of them. In fact, one of the closest political allies Phelps used to have (before completely going bonkers) was Al Gore. Gore long ago disassociated himself frmo the Phelps, but it isn’t fair to attack the right for this assclown. Alan Simpson, former Republican from Wyoming, has been of Phelps’ harshest critics especially since the Mathew Sheppard funeral.