Jumping the Shark

Finally... From InsideBayArea/TriValleyHerald:

Peace mom slips from public stage
Cindy Sheehan plans to return to presidents ranch for Thanksgiving
Peace mom Cindy Sheehan peered out a window 14 floors above the Civic Center on Friday and asked, Want to see my new car?

She pointed to a sky-blue Volkswagen Beetle convertible parked near City Hall. She explained she hasnt treated herself to much since her son, Casey, died in Iraq in April 2004, but shed always wanted such a car and recently decided it was time for a change.

Sheehans life has changed profoundly since Caseys death -- richer in grief, and in purpose -- and especially since her transformation into an anti-war icon with her August vigil near President Bushs Crawford, Texas ranch.

But after drawing the international spotlight at Camp Casey in Crawford, her name is fading from headlines.

In Crawford, her every word was beamed by a forest of satellite trucks to millions worldwide. On Friday, she and a state lawmaker were attended by TV cameras from one English and one Spanish station; one radio reporter; and one mainstream print reporter.

And more:

She who bursts upon the scene as new news very quickly departs the scene as old news, and for the same reasons, said Todd Gitlin, a 1960s activist whos now an author and Columbia University journalism and sociology professor. In August, in contrast to the news surroundings then, she was hot. In October, shes not.

Its not a judgment on her sincerity or efficacy, he said, but she doesn't -- and perhaps can't -- have the star status and historical staying power of some 1960s activists such as Mario Savio or Abbie Hoffman, Gitlin said.

There arent very many of those names that survived the 60s at all, he noted, and those that did were part of a society-wide, rebellious counterculture. Todays anti-war movement is simply that - theres no built-in generational audience today as there was 40 years ago. It may be the kind of movement we have now ... is also going to be more episodic, partly because of the way its organized - much more fluidly, more electronically than things were organized in the60s.

Larry Sabato, professor and director of the University of Virginias Center for Politics, said Sheehan was a summer of 05 phenomenon. This is a classic (media) mode of covering controversy - its the August doldrums, and a feeding frenzy develops and they usually last a month or two and are gone.

I do not doubt the original level of her personal tragedy -- she was an anti-war leftist and her own son volunteered to serve in Iraq. Casey was told that it would be dangerous and that he could possibly loose his life -- he was not a child when he signed up. Casey thought that the work that he was doing over there was so important that he volunteered for a second term of service. Unfortunately, he was killed during that second term. I do mourn his loss. As I said, I do not doubt Cindy's original tragedy but she came to discover that she really really liked the media spotlight and when she delivered ad-hoc speeches to the faithful (as opposed to "press conferences"), some amazing things popped out of her pie-hole. Her actions became so egregious that her husband divorced her and her other family issued a disclaimer saying that they were not responsible for her actions. One quick example was something I blogged about here from Mike King's Ramblings Journal:

Cindy Sheehan: "If I truly was a media whore"
 I'm like if I truly was a media whore do you think I would like maybe get myself fixed up a little bit before I went on?
--Cindy Sheehan

Buh-Bye  Also, the lack of punctuation,spacing and spelling in the Berkley-based "InsideBayArea" 'news' is their own doing. I did not have the heart to copy-edit it -- it was perfect on its own merits...