It would be an understatement to say that Cindy Sheehan, mother of a serviceman killed in Iraq, has gotten a lot of coverage in the past couple of weeks. The media, gathered in Crawford, Texas, at the site of President Bush's ranch, has devoted much of its time and energy to coverage of her "vigil," as she demands to meet with the President. The Associated Press has averaged almost 4 stories per day over the past 12 days on Sheehan and her mission. But, in addition to being a bereaved mother, Cindy Sheehan appears to also be a committed left-wing peace activist. One who has already met once with the President a year ago at Fort Lewis in Washington State. One who thinks that George Bush is a terrorist, that Israel should get out of Palestine, that we need to act now to prevent climate change and that the truth as to why we went to war, "the real answer...it was to make his buddies rich...it was about oil."
- She's a contributor to Michael Moore's website and the Daily Kos.
- She's called the US actions in the Middle East "spreading the cancer of imperialism."
- She is separated from her husband, Casey's father, who doesn't approve of what she's doing.
- She has written that "we have had hundreds of our children killed to gain control of the oil fields."
- She has accused the VP of the US of profiting from the US invasion of Iraq - "I know it was “worth it” to Dick Cheney who was the CEO of Halliburton."
- She has referred to the Bush administration as "the biggest terrorist outfit in the world."
- "You get America out of Iraq, you get Israel out of Palestine..."
- She has written to the chairman of Ford to demand that the company "take immediate action to reduce your fleet's greenhouse gas emissions to help prevent climate change."
But has any of that gotten covered? I decided to look at the AP releases for the past couple of weeks, since the President arrived in Texas. There have been 45 AP articles that mentioned Cindy Sheehan. 5 of them mentioned that she had already met with the President. None of them, not one, mentioned Michael Moore, her description of the US as promoting imperialism, her description of the President as running the "biggest terrorist outfit in the world," her belief that the war was for oil, her belief that Dick Cheney was profiteering, her demand that Isreal leave Palestine, her demand that Ford Motor Company act against "climate change," or anything else that might lead a sentient being to think that this is something more than a grieving mother. In other words, the AP is acting, not as a news organization, but as a public relations firm for Cindy Sheehan. (See here for a table of search terms and the AP article counts that they each return.) Lyflines - Lyford's other blog
