An Open Letter to Cindy Sheehan

Cindy Sheehan, I love you. I can only imagine the pain of the loss you have suffered in the name of this war started by this false president. While I can only imagine the pain you feel, I have to tell you that I hope that the loss you have suffered might, in some small way, reduce the chances that I will ever feel a similar pain. It may be that the death of your beloved son is one of the things that will help keep my own children safe and out of harm’s way. Maybe if people realize that the death of your son is our collective responsibility as Americans, they will be less likely to send off my own kids to war.

And I am grateful that you gave the anti-war effort something around which it could coalesce. If it hadn’t been for you trying to get an audience with the President to have him explain to you why your loss was necessary, it may well be that the anti-war effort would only now be in its infancy instead of the far more advanced wave it has become. You did the Lord’s work that summer.
And don’t think that I have anything against impeaching George W. Bush. I am truly in favor of drafting articles of impeachment and I will do so now if I am asked.

But Cindy, and I say this with as much love and affection as I can muster for someone I have never met, you have to stop. You have to be quiet. You have to go away. You are on the verge of marginalizing yourself and the sacrifices you have made. You have gone from a poster child for ending this stupid war of terror to giving the appearance of being truly unhinged. Not that anyone would blame you if you did become unhinged but I don’t know if you want to display it quite so publicly.

First you sign off from public life with so many admonitions about America not being the country you wanted it to be. This is after you were seen partying with true America-haters like Hugo Chavez. I get it: You wanted to embarrass the president and you thought that hangin’ with Hugo might do the trick. And I understand wanting to leave public life as you must have been exhausted. I didn’t even mind when you admonished America, and by extension me, my wife and lots of people I care about, for not being what you want us to be.

But after all of that you have decided to threaten Nancy Pelosi with an insurgent (word used intentionally) candidacy. You will run for Nancy Pelosi’s seat in Congress if the Speaker doesn’t introduce articles of impeachment against President Bush within the next two weeks.

Now, I will be the first to admit that this Congress has been something of a disappointment to liberals like me. They haven’t shown nearly enough spine or been willing to go toe-to-toe with this very unpopular president and have been too scared of the White House saying that they don’t support the troops. But do you really think Nancy Pelosi is the ENEMY here?! Really? Why aren’t you running against a Republican? Nancy Pelosi hasn’t done everything correctly and she has been selected to play Den Mother to a fractious Cub Scout troop of congressmen, but I do believe she is doing the best she can. And you are threatening her? If anything, you might be actually HELPING her at this point given how loony you have been acting the past several months. She might use your candidacy to prove that she isn’t the crazy-eyed fire-breathing liberal everyone says.

You candidacy reminds me of Ralph Nader. Think about that. If Ralph Nader hadn’t run for President in 2000, Al Gore almost certainly would have been President. I know that is uncertain, but I believe it as do a lot of people a lot smarter than me. If Nader doesn’t run and Gore is President, we don’t get into this disastrous war. If we don’t get in this war, your son doesn’t get sent to Iraq.

If I sound mean, I apologize. But I am tired of the left eating itself. You are on the left. Way left and on the fringe, but you are on the left, and you are trying to hurt people who are on your side, Cindy. And hurting Nancy Pelosi does not help anyone. Your candidacy has about as much chance of succeeding as did Ralph Nader’s in 2000. And Ralph Nader destroyed his own brilliant legacy because of his pigheadedness and he the fact that he helped get Dubya selected President. Everything is related, Cindy, and while I don’t think that Nader meant for his actions to cause the harm they did, he is also on he hook for this tragedy in Iraq.

What unintended consequences will you create when you run for Congress against Nancy Pelosi? Think about it and then back out of the race. Do it in the memory of your son.

Affectionately,
Spike