Eric the Red

I have posted clips of individual speakers at the Sheehan rally at the Memorial Chapel on Campus here at UMCP. I will try to refrain from commentary, leaving it up to the reader to review the clips and make up his or her own mind. I will post the complete hour-plus of audio I have. Please be aware, that each clip is approximately 4M in size.

The Cindy Sheehan rally at the University of Maryland, College Park was sponsored by the Democaracy Collaborative, College Democrats at UMD, Global Communities, UM Votes and the Peace Forum. Sheehan visited the University at the behest of left wing activist and 2006 Maryland Senate hopeful Kevin Zeese. The emcee of the event was UMCP Lionel Bauman Professor of Political Economy Gar Alperovitz. A list of Mr. Alperovitzs publishing can be found on his website.

The first speaker at the event was Anwar Sadat Professor for Peace and Development Shibley Telhami. Mr. Telhami is a modern day Neville Chamberlain, who seems to see two things: the world as-is, and what the world could be. He either fails to see the immense chasm seperating the two, or believes that it can be bridged with words all the time. Well Mr. Telhami, appeasement politics have no credibility in any age, let alone one ruled by cultural rifts that drive people to kill. Near the end of the event, he spoke to OF Jay and stated that the liberation that occured in Afghanistan post-9/11 could have occurred by strictly diplomatic means, making the war there unnecessary. As if a nearly prehistoric religious government will give women western-style rights through democratic means…….Perhaps he, like I’m sure the rest of the hippie brookings morons, fails to remember Col. Qaddaffis declaration that he would do whatever the Americans want, because of what he saw in Iraq. Yes, Mr. Telhami, a stalemated peace a-la-Korea is EXACTLY what we need here….

Mr. Telhami is seated in the middle. Mr. Alperovitz is seated to his left. Ms. Sheehan is speaking. To listen to Mr. Telhamis address, see the Telhami audio file.

The second speaker made me think that this whole thing was just a political campaign ad and recruitment drive. Mr Zeese, who was a spokesman for the Nader campaign in 2004, balsted Republicans and Democrats alike, over everything from an “unjust” economy to the failures of the government in New Orleans and their handling of the situation in Iraq. In a typical leftist fashion, Mr. Zeese fails to point out any solutions to all of these things, besides electing him so he can build a coalition. While he spoke, his minions circulated sign-up sheets thoughout the crowd so they could recruit volunteers.

To listen to Mr. Zeeses address, see the Zeese audio file.

Finally, Ms. Sheehan spoke. She commented on Casey as he was as a child and on his military service. She remarked how he enlisted, was discharged after fulfilling his duty, re-enlisted and was later killed needlessly. Interestingly, Ms. Sheehan stated that her son did not wish to return to Iraq. Why, I wonder, did he re-enlist to begin with? No matter. I had wanted to ask Ms. Sheehan what motivated her to begin her “national tour” to Washington, but she did not take questions.

To listen to Ms. Sheehans speech, see the Sheehan audio file.

My two cents: this event was organized for the political benefit of Mr. Zeese and his left wing agenda. His firebrand political rant-n-recruit efforts makes Ms. Sheehan look like some sort of wind-nut. It is obvious that Ms. Sheehan does no honor to the memory of her son by attacking something he obviously believed in. Her efforts do no honor to her son and even less to all the other men and women who lost their lives in Iraq. Casey served his country, and decided to do so again on his own free will. While it is very regrettable that he was killed, Ms. Sheehan’s message is obscured by the fact that she stands alone in her opinion. Otherwise, there would be over a thousand gold star moms due to the war in Iraq.

And now a message to Ms Sheehan: after attacking the beliefs of your son, and losing the rest of your family for the sake of being a tool for the far-fringe-left, what now?

You may download audio of the entire event here:
MP3 format, approx. 18 M
WMA format, approx. 19 M
Higher quality MP3, approx. 40 M