But, in the new media, we can read this excellent analysis by Jeff Goldstein.
In the 'old' media, the press could deftly edit Cindy Sheehan's speech to highlight a few coherent statements (a real editing challenge, when dealing with Cindy).
In the 'new' media, we can hear and see Cindy's unedited remarks (posted by The Political Teen). Here are some excerpts from her brief remarks at the rally.
"We have to do our jobs as Americans. … We’ll be the checks and balances on this out of control criminal government. This government that condones torture."
This out of control criminal government that condones torture? Trust me, Cindy, if this government were criminal and out of control, you would not be parading around the square, criticizing them at the top of your lungs. If I'm not mistaken, I'm sure the protest organizers had to get a 'parade' permit from the 'criminal out of control government' to allow them to hold their protest. Criminal out of control governments do not allow people to hold protest rallies criticizing them and their policies. They torture and kill those people to shut them up and to intimidate anyone else from following suit.
And, since her son was a volunteer (a fact that no one seems to want to remind her), then I guess he was part of the criminal out of control government who condones torture. Is she saying that her son was a criminal? Out of control? A torturer?
She goes on...(you really need to watch the video, so you can hear her tone of voice here. She makes the Howard Dean screech speech sound like a symphony. Since I couldn't find a transcript, I had to play it over and over to capture her exact remarks. Gives a new meaning to the word 'torture'.)
"We don’t torture, we’re human beings. We don’t torture other human beings. We have to reclaim our humanity."
If someone can explain to me what she is talking about, I would appreciate it. "We don't torture, we're human beings?" Who is she suggesting DOES torture? Aliens?
"We have to show the world that Americans don’t torture and its not okay for anybody to torture another human being."
Yes, well, Cindy, I think that is exactly one of the things we showed the world by removing Saddam Hussein, one of the world's most evil dictators. Saddam, his sons and his followers institutionalized torture to keep his people under his control. Saddam led a criminal, out of control government (just in case you needed one for comparison to OUR criminal, out of control government). How did we show the world that we don't torture and its not okay for anybody to torture? We removed him. He is in jail and his sons are dead.
That lesson was not lost on Moammar Qaddafi, who suddenly became very anxious to cooperate with Bush and Blair. Note that he did not make his overtures to the U.N.
But, Cindy, please tell us, what are Americans to do in the face of criminal out of control goverments who kill, torture and abuse their citizens?
"Americans don’t invade countries and occupy other countries pre-emptively that are no threat to our country. And it's not okay for other countries to do that, either."
Actually, this time I agree with Cindy. We DON'T invade countries that are no threat to our country. That's why we are in Iraq and are not in, say, Cuba.
According to Cindy, we don't torture and we don't condone torture, but we sure as heck are not going to do anything about it when another country does so (unless it is a country like, say, Israel). I know! We'll send Cindy Sheehan over there to tell them that it's not okay for them to do it EITHER. That'll stop 'em in their tracks.
The very best part about the 'new 'media is that it preserves the testimony of people like Cindy Sheehan. We can hear her words from her own lips and evaluate her credibility for ourselves, not from some glamorized, edited version from the media.
UPDATE: I can't believe it. Thank you to Katherine M. Skiba of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel for proving my point. After finishing this original post, I picked up the Sunday Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and read the Katherine Skiba piece on the Anti-War rally. I could not have manufactured a better illustration of my point. Let me share with you what Ms. Skiba decided to report about Cindy's speech:
NOTE: IF YOU HAVEN'T WATCHED THE VIDEO YET, STOP AND DO IT NOW BEFORE YOU READ ON....see if you are as struck as I was about the 'tone' depicted by Skiba's article vs. the reality of the video.
"Cindy Sheehan, whose son Casey, was killed in Iraq last year, was the event's leading lady. Her vigil at President Bush's ranch may be over, but her celebrity in Washington seemed only to grow."
Gosh, Katherine, could you gush just a little bit more? I don't think we all got it.
"'We're not going home till every last one of our troops are home,' the California woman told an exultant crowd Saturday, the first of three days of planned protests.
'We mean business, George Bush,' she said. 'We're going to Congress and we're going to ask them "How many more of other people's children are you willing to sacrifice?'"
So...did Cindy say this? Yes. But, as you can see for yourself, she also said a lot of other things, none of which Katherine thought worth reporting. I wonder why not? Perhaps because that didn't support her view of Cindy as the event's 'leading lady'.
I swear, Cindy Sheehan could advocate eating small children for breakfast, but those who rely on the old media would never know.
Katherine does not limit her glowing prose to Cindy. She describes the crowd as...
"...a colorful sea of humanity: college students and lawyers, nuns and veterans, federal workers and farm wives."
To see what today's college students, lawyers, nuns, veterans, federal workers and farm wives look like, check out the photoblogs from Michelle Malkin and Mudville Gazette
Hmmmm, do you think the protester carrying the "Convict and Castrate Cheney" sign is a nun or a farm wife? The guy with the "F*** the War" t-shirt a veteran...or a federal worker (probably not a nun, but in today's world....who knows???)?
This is one more example of why people are turning to the blogosphere for their news. (And it's free!)
UPDATE 2: Just found this link to the MJS article. Check it out for yourself.
The new slogan for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.... "We report. We decide."
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