The country’s best-known anti-war activist, Cindy Sheehan, made her first trip to the Madison area Saturday, headlining the sixth annual Fighting Bob Festival in Baraboo, and calling for the impeachment of President George W. Bush.

The “Peace Mom,” whose soldier son Casey, 24, was killed just five days after arriving in Iraq in 2004, resigned May 29 as an anti-war activist.

Her retirement lasted just five weeks. On July 2, she un-retired after hearing that President Bush had commuted the prison sentence of Scooter Libby. She announced later that month that she will run against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in the 2008 congressional election because the speaker won’t pursue impeaching Bush.

“I’ve got to make sure these war criminals, these criminals against international law, against our Constitution, against everything it means to be human, I have to make sure they are impeached for what they’ve done,” she told the largest crowd of the day to huge, sustained applause.

More at Madison.com

Some cheer this news. Others pooh-pooh it. Me? I’m just glad that everyday, non-rich folk like Cindy are still able to participate in American politics. It’ll be an uphill battle for her and I wish her luck (regardless of how I feel about Pelosi).

Go, Cindy!

Sheehan announces House candidacy

Cindy Sheehan speaks during a news conference Thursday, Aug. 9, 2007, in San Francisco.

SAN FRANCISCO - A tearful Cindy Sheehan cited her son, killed in Iraq, as her inspiration as she announced her candidacy Thursday for the U.S. House against Rep. Nancy Pelosi.

Sheehan last month said she intended to run against Pelosi, the House speaker, if the San Francisco congresswoman didn’t move to impeach President Bush by July 23.

Sheehan said Thursday that Pelosi had “protected the status quo” of the corporate elite and had lost touch with people in her district, most of whom, she asserted, want American troops out of Iraq.

Nadeam Elshami, a spokesman for Pelosi, would not comment on Sheehan’s candidacy but said the speaker has always opposed the war in Iraq and has focused on bringing troops home “safely and soon.”

After her 24-year-old son, Casey, was killed in Iraq in 2004, Sheehan gained international attention by setting up camp outside the president’s Texas ranch and demanding to meet with him.

On Thursday, Sheehan said her son inspired her to run against Pelosi, who has represented San Francisco in Congress since 1987.

“The country is ripe for a change,” said Sheehan, who spoke at a podium with her son’s photograph attached to it. “It’s going to start right here and right now.”

Sheehan said she would run as an independent on a platform of universal health care, making college affordable and improving ethics in the legislative and executive branches. She did not offer specifics.

The money being spent on the Iraq war should be used to help the country’s shrinking middle class, she said.

SUDHIN THANAWALA, Associated Press Writer

Source: Yahoo! News

This clip is from last week, I believe.

H/T Joe for this post!

Watch Chris Matthews throw several questions at Cindy Sheehan and she handled them all very very well. At the end of the video Chris does a “I like your passion but but but” and then Cindy handles that dismissal by Chris Matthews very well. I don-t see how anyone could watch this video and not come away with thinking that Chris had an anti-Cindy Sheehan agenda to present and he failed to present that because Cindy had solid answers to everything he said.

Cindy wrote an article, “It’s Up to Us”, at Buzzflash regarding her meeting with John Conyers today.

By Thomas Ferraro

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Calling for the impeachment of U.S. President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, Cindy Sheehan and 45 fellow Iraq war protesters were arrested on Monday after they refused to leave a U.S. lawmaker’s office and adjoining hallway, authorities said.

Before police escorted her away, Sheehan, who emerged as a leading peace activist after her son Casey was killed in Iraq in 2004, announced what she had earlier suggested — that she would be a candidate for Congress next year.

Sheehan said she would challenge House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat. Pelosi has refused calls to start impeachment of Bush and Cheney for what critics charge was misleading the United States into war.

The new Democratic-led Congress has been hit with approval ratings of less than 25 percent largely because of its failure to deliver on a campaign vow to withdraw troops from Iraq.

Sheehan and fellow protesters were led away in plastic handcuffs after they refused to heed repeated calls by Capitol Police to depart the office of Democratic Rep. John Conyers of Michigan, and a hallway outside his office.

“What do we want? Impeachment. When do we want it? Now,” Sheehan and others chanted while seated on the floor of Conyers’ office following her private meeting with him.

A spokeswoman for Capitol Police said the 46 protesters were being charged with disorderly conduct, a misdemeanor, and were likely to be released within hours after processing.

read more HERE

by Cindy Sheehan

Since I announced my challenge to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi a few days ago, I have been very thrilled that issues such as impeachment and the inherent corruption of the “two” party system have been brought to the forefront of public discourse. Every interview I have done has given me the opportunity to throw the impeachment issue out there. The democratic blogosphere has predictably lined up against me and must be very frightened because they are repeating the scandalous lies of the right. Wow, the right and left are finding common ground over slandering me. I must be a uniter.

I received an e-mail from David Swanson from AfterDowningStreet.org yesterday saying that ADS was in trouble because the blogs were trashing us for targeting John Conyers and Nancy Pelosi. My question for these bloggers is whom should we target? Should we go after House Minority Leader John Boehner? Repugs are literally like rats jumping off the sinking ship of state and they are distancing themselves from George and Dick faster than the Democrats. With the mood of the country, we know this is not a moral position but a politically expedient one. Why can’t we urge the Democrats to take a moral position? Because they have been elected with a (D) they become one of the Untouchables?

Instead of trashing David Swanson and me for wanting our leadership to do their jobs, why can’t the left join with us and be concerned with the people who are being killed, maimed, and displaced on a daily basis and not worry about Dems being held to the same standards we hold the Repugs? David has a baby boy named Wesley that deserves a better future. There are millions of children in Iraq that deserve a better future. Over 600 American troops have been killed since the Dems took over the power structure in DC and did nothing to stop George’s murderous surge. We targeted the Repugs when they were in power. Now the Dems are in power so they are the ones that we have to focus on. It is not a difficult concept.

There must be an underlying shady reason that Speaker Pelosi took impeachment off the table. Her office stated the other day that she will not put the issue back on the table because she is focused on “ending the war.” The statement would be laughable if it weren’t for the fact that she is using a neo-con strategy of saying the exact opposite of what is true. Ms. Pelosi would not allow Rep. Barbara Lee’s bill that truly supported the troops by fixing a quick timeline for their withdrawal to be brought to the floor and instead used her power to whip her caucus into approving a “non-binding” resolution that by its very name is meaningless and useless. The Dems can accomplish much if they put their muscle behind it and the Dems could impeach BushCo and end the war if that was truly their focus. Actions speak louder than words and one cannot say that she is focused on ending the war with her mouth while she is signing a $100 BILLION check to keep the war going with her signing hand.

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