Why was Crawford a story last year and not today?

[Keseys Ghost]

I have my own opinions, but I'd like to hear yours.

Nothing has changed. Kids are still dying in an immoral and unwise war. The multinationals are getting richer than ever from the carnage. Sheehan is camped out near the ranch ready to talk to Bush who has yet to answer the simple question, "For what noble cause?"

Nothing has changed but the perception.

Why?

And how can the intensity of the Summer of '05 be reestablished?

Discuss among yourselves....

[lostnotforgotten]

1. If The Media Ignore It, It Didn't Happen

eom

[grannylib]

2. 'Cause Chimpy the Unelected Imbecile graciously decided to go on

vacation for 'only' ten days or so, not the month he usually takes (lazy fucker).
And, I would venture, his being in Crawford might call more attention to Camp Casey, and we can't have THAT now, can we???
I have no doubt that the corpo-whore media will be fully cooperative.

[tuvor]

3. The Isaeli/Hezbollah war and airport security have taken over everything.

How much, for example, have we heard about the Iraq war in the past few weeks?

[babylonsister]

4. Because the current distractions - alleged liquid bombs,

Israel/Lebanon conflict -are usurping this story. I guess it doesn't much matter we still have Americans dying in Iraq, Iraqis dying in Iraq, Iraq is falling apart and in the midst of a civil war. The marching orders are in place, and the media whores are abiding by them.

[leftofthedial]

5. I would say "been there, done that"

but that doesn't seem to apply to shark attacks or missing blonde girls.

[Keseys Ghost]

6. Exactly!

That's what's bugging me....

Hmmmm....

But, honestly, are WE as behind the action as we were a year ago?

I mean, we're not there, are we?

We're not really even talking about it....

My recollection is that the buzz of last summer started at DU, Daily Kos, and Political Switchboard. It was a net thing.

What's missing this summer?

[tinfoilinfor2005]

7. You're correct, it is the perception.

I think Rove was able to successfully swiftboat Cindy. The word went out to the msm mouthpieces starting with Fox and bouncing to MSNBC and CNN, etc. that Cindy was more interested in self publicity than the death toll in the war. They pounded that theme for months. Plenty of DUers were lining up behind the msm too; they can send a pretty loud hypnotic drumbeat when they all get together.

[EFerrari]

8. People are all terrored out.

Every day is hard enough.

:(

[Keseys Ghost]

9. Actually, I feel better this year than last

When Crawford began, W was riding high...Delay was in office...so was Scooter...Happy Jack hadn't yet begun his snitch fest...I didn't know who Lamont was....

Things are better now....

I guess I'm just trying to gin up the machine and throw a little enthusiasm out toward Sheehan, et al.

[EFerrari]

18. Sure -- but all of us aren't on the same time line. We're

here, there and 'tween.

:hug: to our favorite slick lawyers.

[Keseys Ghost]

21. Back at 'ya

[Freedom_Aflaim]

10. Many reasons, 2 come to mind

The major reason is that the media is trying to bury it.

A minor reason, an excuse really is that because its not taking place on the presidents property/street side.

Frankly, just because its NOT taking place on *'s doorstep is just an excuse that the media is using.

[Keseys Ghost]

13. Good point about the ditch...

When we were there, we never went to "Camp Casey 2". There was something so much more righteous about sleeping in a ditch and pissing off the local power elite.

[Gman]

11. New-wise, it's a like a movie sequel

the first one is always better than the sequel.

Plus, I think Sheehan has vastly overplayed her hand. Last year she was this simple mother that wanted an answer to one question. This year, she returns to Crawford after having met with Iraqi cabinet ministers. She's no longer the woman in the house next door that lost her son. She's another political activist.

I'm not saying this makes Sheehan unnewsworthy. I'm just trying to say why she's not getting the media attention she got last year.

[Keseys Ghost]

15. Another good point...that she over reached...

But, the message remains unchanged despite the messenger's evolution as a public person.

And, she's not the only one out there. Never was.

[ComerPerro]

12. Cause poor Smirky had to shorten his vacation

[Dinger]

14. Good Question - * Talked To Parents Who've Lost Children In Graan Bay . .

last week, but the stupid fuck is too CHICKENSHIT to face Cindy. Why, oh why is he so GODDAMNED AFRIAD to meet with Cindy??? Anybody know?

[Keseys Ghost]

17. I think it goes back to the original question...

"For what noble cause?"

[Dinger]

16. Oh Yeah, K & R! EXCELLENT QUESTION! (nt)

[KoKo]

19. With no Mainstream Media Echo Chamber...it dies. And, keeping things

alive on the net is the only way to keep any interest at all. But even we out here are caught acting the same as M$M with our attention spans constantly distracted by the Bush CHAOS!

Look at the Abramoff/Cunningham/MZM/GAMBLING with ties into Congress. All the stuff that Josh Marshall's group has dug up...and where is it? Slogging through the Bush courts...look at PlameGate...we are all hyped up and there's one indictment and lots of pain and sorry afterwards with folks who hoped for more.

The Bushies/Repugs and Think Thanks move the news along with Fox, Coulter and Limbaugh. MSNBC/CNN are nothing but Tabloids pumping the chaos of the moment with some blood and gore and infortainment news thrown in.

The only news I've heard about Cindy Sheehan was a one sentence blurb on CNN that she'd been taken to the hospital. I read more about her on DU than anything in print media or the cable shows.

We don't have an opposition party that helps us keep news alive. We don't have anything but ourselves passing along the TRUTH. But...it's getting out there and it's slowly making a difference in the "undergroud" that will eventually work it's way up.

I think of all the Suffragettes who protested and fasted and stood on street corners passing out literature to people who ignored them over Womens Right to Vote. They didn't have the media on their side but they just kept going, getting arrested and gaining more and more converts. Women eventually did get the Right to Vote!

I feel like Cindy has been ignored...but I know that she made a huge difference and met her when she came to NC last year. Those of us who were there are still trying to keep the message going and working for a change. It would help so much if we had supportive media and it would be great if Keith Olberman or Jon Stewart would cover Cyndi. If Amy Gooman and Diane Rheem (NPR) would interview her. I wonder if they will?

[Keseys Ghost]

20. I think we need to DU this new action in Crawford

Let the BUZZ begin here!

[Hardrada]

29. All good points!

[mnhtnbb]

22. The media has a short attention span. Last year's story isn't news.

[LWolf]

23. There are other events

that distract the general public from what's going on in Iraq:

Terror plots
Israel
Lamont/Lieberman
Mel Gibson
the 9/11 movie


Who remembers that we're still engaged in Iraq?

[Keseys Ghost]

24. For what it's worth, here are my thoughts:

I believe, and have seen that, timing is 90% of life. The 2005 action in Crawford produced the perfect storm. No one person controlled the karma; it just kind of fell together naturally. It was spontaneous combustion. You can't force that kind of thing. You can only be receptive to it.

So, why not at least try to recreate it anyway?

I am reminded of an episode on Seinfeld wherein George began to manage his life by always attemting to leave any given situation on a "high note". That, I believe, is an valid philosophy lost on many in the movement who hope to recreate something which cannot be duplicated. When we left Crawford last September, we had hit a high note for sure.

I rode on the bus with Cindy Sheehan and about 8 other people when she pulled out of Camp Casey at the end of the action. A young Canadian journalist stuck her camera in my face as we rode through the middle of Crawford and asked me what I was thinking. I replied, "We won".

That victory, I believe, is somewhat diluted by the current action. IMHO, the whole Crawford thing has lost its edge. What's going on there now is anything but spontaneous, unlike last year which was nothing but. They're not squatting in the ditch holding the road to the president's ranch. They're not breaking new ground in the art of resistance. The sequel is rarely as good as the original. This action is no exception to that rule of thumb.

When our family went back to Crawford over the Easter holidays last April, we saw it as a reunion more than a protest. A chance to achieve some level of closure we failed to secure upon our prior departure due to Katrina. And that's what it was, a reunion. At least for us.

We won't be going to Crawford this summer.

But, that does not mean that we don't fully support the message they are promoting there. We do. As do many more now than a year ago. I don't entirely buy into theories of an all powerful media. When the moment is right and all things are properly in line, the people rise up. Grass roots. Pure power. The media can't manipulate that kind of gig; the kind of gig we had last summer.

In the meantime, some of us continue to seek out new strategies to carry the message further while lending support to the cause in all of its forms.

Onward!

[EFerrari]

26. When the NYT Public Editor feels compelled to explain that his

paper did try to influence the election, you know THEY know they have a problem. They're not all powerful and they are struggling to survive.

Movements grow in fits and starts, like babies. Ever go to the crib in the morning and think, damn, you grew last night!

There isn't the tension this year that there was last year. That's all right. None of the core supporters are going anywhere. Something new is developing, we just don't know what it is yet. Change Zen. :)

[earth mom]

25. Make NO Mistake-The media has thoroughly trashed Cindy...

and some people around here have bought into it. Just like they bought the fake terror crap that happened earlier this week. The media has poisoned peoples perception of Cindy just as they've done with everyone else they don't like-it's no different than what they did to Clinton and Castro and Chavez and Moore.

I don't have cable so I don't get CNN or MSNBC or FAUX (thank gawd) and so I'm not listening to those idiotic pompous assholes hammer away all day about how they can't stand her and whatever other b.s. they spew about her. I also rarely if ever watch the morning news shows because they are pure crap too. However, the corporate media whores know that if they advertise what Cindy is doing again this year, they just might see bus loads of people showing up and causing some major traffic jams in Crawford! Chimpy wouldn't like that, now would he?

Since I don't listen to those assholes, I feel the EXACT same way about Cindy as I did a year ago. She's one of my heroes. Cindy has walked through fire for this country and it infuriates me that she does not get the respect or props she is due anymore. I think the dems who have left Cindy in the dust should really be ashamed of themselves. Because she is doing the dirty thankless work that none of us want to do. Cindy has risked everything to stand there in that blazing Texas sun to challenge Bush and instead of support she gets threads like this complaining why Camp Casey is just not as "edgy" or "fresh" or "new" as it was last year. Sorry, but I think that is just the absolute wrong way of looking at it because people are DEAD. Cindys son is DEAD. The pain of that loss will always be there for her as well as all the other families and that pain is just as strong this summer as it was last summer and on the day he died. That pain is what drives Cindy to face the man who doesn't care if U.S. Soldiers die in Iraq! If Cindy doesn't confront Bush like this head on-WHO IN THE HELL IS GONNA DO IT?! Hmm? Because I don't see anyone else even trying one tenth of a percent as hard as Cindy is to expose Bush for the evil bastard he is!

[Ghost in the Machine]

27. Because there's no hurricane raging in the Gulf. They *had* to show

the Chimp alot last year while he was "down on the ranch", and show that he was working hard on his vacation, along with dealing with all the distractions that Camp Casey caused him, so we could all see how distracted he was and we could believe that he knew nothing about Katrina and New Orleans.


That's just my guess. I could be wrong...

[eridani]

28. It was new last year

This year it isn't.