September 17, 2005
The Empress of Fifteen Minutes
The Deceased Gentleman, whose portrait appears to the left of this paragraph is Napoleon II. He isn't much as historical folk go, he didn't last very long as is noted in this from Wikipedia:
Three years after his birth in Paris, the First French Empire - to which he was heir - collapsed, and Napoleon Bonaparte abdicated the throne in favour of his infant son, who was taken by the empress to Chateau Blois in April 1814. In 1815, after his defeat at Waterloo, Napoleon again abdicated in favour of his son.For 16 days, Napoleon II was "Emperor" and the equivalent of todays "15 minutes of fame" as envisioned by Andy Warhol. So, who is the Empress of Today's "15 minutes?" Why none other than Empress Cindy Sheehan I. It is said that history repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce and Ms. Sheehan has descended into Farce with a capital "F."The Chamber of Representatives and Chamber of Peers recognised him as Emperor from the moment of his father's abdication (22 June 1815), but the entrance of the Allies into Paris (7 July) put an end to this short-lived regime. Despite his nominal reign, he is not normally referred to as "Napoleon II" except by Bonapartists who also call him the King of Rome. Nevertheless, the next Napoleon to come to the throne of France took the name Napoleon III in deference to him."
Woody, my blogging partner in crime, noted below:
When nuts from the left get vocal, their words alone are enough to make one just shake his head and walk away stunned."Oh, Woody, you ain't just whistling Dixie partner. But, her latest pronouncement that New Orleans is an "occupied city." is more than nuts, it's Farce, again with a capital "F." "...pull our troops out of occupied New Orleans and Iraq." My God Ms. Sheehan, have you gone completely and irrevocably nuts? Wait, that was a rhetorical question! It doesn't need answering, really, it doesn't. Please, don't feel the need to put up another Huffington Post, I mean, it is bad enough that you put this one up, another may well cause massive cardiac arrests across the nation.
But Sheehan as Farce isn't limited to pronouncements on New Orleans, take a look at some of these quotes from the Empress of 15 minutes:
I look back on it, and I am very, very, very grateful he did not meet with me, because we have sparked and galvanized the peace movement," Sheehan told The Associated Press. "If he'd met with me, then I would have gone home, and it would have ended there."you will find this and other quotes at WILLisms.com here but more importantly is this graph showing the rise, and fall, of Cindy Sheehan. Note where I've circled two spots, the first when she started to become the MSM story, the second when she began her meteoric fall from the spotlight. The more she fell, the more bizzare her comments.
Maureen Dowd, that paragon of punditry, 99 and 97/100ths percent pure (bull), fatuously said of Cindy Sheehan that because she lost her son in war, she had "absolute moral authority." Now, even Dowd ought to be able to figure out that all the other mothers who are proud of their sons and daughter's sacrifice even as they grieve their loss far out number the Sheehan's and so the moral authority ought to "tilt away" from Sheehan. And so it does.
Sheehan's writing in The Huffington Post is a miasma of pseudo-intellectualism with really little to say, and nothing to contribute. A few of the comments at the post are equally execrable:
Another well put post Cindy. We finally got another radio station here in California, in the central valley that is normally sickening with Limbaugh crap shows and Hanity types etc. Its a bit far left, but its sure nice to hear another view after 15 plus years of the same old same old conservative garbage, and whacky Christian right mularkey [sic]. Just wanted to see, keep plugging away. You need to consider running for political office one day. You have what it takes no doubt, and you represent a HUGE amount of people and they way they think. Everything is not right or left in the country. There are millions like you and I who can think clearly without touting party lines.but others justifiably take her to task:
As a New Orleanian who was THERE with my family during the storm and fled the town with a loaded weapon the following evening because of the looting that we SAW with our own eyes, I cannot possibly fathom how you could say or think such lunacies. HOW DARE YOU! I hope you read these comments, and I hope you apologize for thinking you know about a situation that you never even saw. My family was there. We saw. We now know fear for our lives, and the lives of those around us.The First Time As Tragedy, The Second Time As Farce.Thank GOD for the national guard presence. They have brought stability to the city, and they are not shooting anyone who is not a threat to somebody's life. Soldiers are not robots. I was back in the city last Thursday and spoke with some of them. They don't want to shoot anybody. Thankfully, nobody I spoke to had to do so.
But until you wade in water up to your waist after dark with a loaded weapon and a flashlight for defense, drive a car through water over its bumper and over limbs that should pop your tires just to get out of a situation where you think somebody is going to kill you, don't you DARE tell me that you can understand the dynamic of what occurred in New Orleans following Katrina. Kindly leave our region and leave us alone.
Cindy has had her 15 minutes, and more, she has devolved from a grieving mother to a clown spouting nonsense after nonsense after nonsense. So put a sock in it Cindy, end the Farce.
Update: Saturday linkfests for some great reading in addition to the above: The Political Teen, Stop The ACLU, Cao's Blog, My Vast Right Wing Conspiracy, Euphoric Reality, Basil's Blog, Wizbang, and the Mudville Gazette
Posted by GM Roper at September 17, 2005 12:49 PM | TrackBackGM, that was an interesting historical reference to Napolean II.
I posted comments just a short while ago to Woody's story on the same topic, but this writer (commenting on Cindy's posting in the Huffington Post) highlights the consequences of letting yourself be so consumed by your own anger and hatred that you fail to look up and see the good that others are doing around you. Excerpts follow:
In search of a hotel room around Jackson? There aren’t many rooms to be found around here, I’m afraid. We’ve had a little hurricane problem in this state too…Cindy, while you’re here, you might just take off your blinders and look around you. It’s quite hard to see the good things going on around you when your vision is clouded by negativity, misplaced blame and conspiracy theories.
Many evacuees in this state are living with people who have opened up their homes to complete strangers. Churches are feeding and clothing families and helping them to find the next step in picking up the pieces. Children are having bake sales to donate to relief efforts. A baby shower is scheduled for all pregnant moms who have been displaced because of this disaster. Thousands of temporary homes are being gathered and distributed to the homeless. Evacuees are getting checks, counseling, medical care and their children are being educated in our schools.
This generosity crosses racial, religious and political lines. The government that you despise is hard at work here, but it’s only a part of what’s going on. It’s about humanity here….picking up the pieces, starting over and healing. It’s a healthy concept, Cindy.
Posted by: SanityIsPriceless on September 17, 2005 at 03:09am
This is a lesson we all need to remember about the dangers of preoccupation with self.
Posted by civil truth at September 17, 2005 06:40 PM
Amen CT, Amen!
Posted by GM Roper at September 17, 2005 06:44 PM
First they want us to stop helping other people... Now they want us to stop helping ourselves. Interesting concept, eh?
Posted by Politics of a Patriot at September 17, 2005 10:59 PM
I like Will's comment from a few weeks ago: "It's been 16 minutes Cindy..."
Notice how even some of the left like Kos are tip toeing away from her, hoping that the rest of us forget how they used to think she was such a hero.
After that anti-war protest next week (where she'll be a featured speaker and not the headliner) the only place you'll see her will be C-Span...after midnight.
Posted by Rick Moran at September 18, 2005 12:04 AM
>The more she fell, the more bizzare her comments.not deleted the comment for two reasons: 1) I like jousting with those incapable of honest discourse and 2) Folks like this "Jurassicpork" fellow are good examples of how the left has descended into mindless blather in their pathetic attempts to skewer the body politic.
GM
Posted by jurassicpork at October 8, 2005 07:51 PM
The stupidity of comparing a war for our very existence to a Charles Bronson movie is mind-boggling, not to mention humorous if it weren't so serious.
They can't even combine their comments with a reasoned argument, they just come back with vicious hatred and foul diatribes.
Since they debate sensibly, this is what we're left with when a leftist leaves comments--of course, this is the very reason that Cindy is disappearing into a memory hole...International ANSWER is a front group for the World Workers Party, and is one of the organizations that supports her...Code Pink is a bunch of Marxists who gave $600,000 to the terrorists in Fallujah, and every single appearance I've seen Cindy make there are representatives of Code Pink present (sometimes they're the ones who are serving as her chauffeurs!)!
At any rate, great post, GM, although comparing Cindy Sheehan to Napoleon really gives her way too much credit. She's an extreme leftist who was given a huge PR boost by Howard Dean's PR people and Fenton Communications, not to mention a big leg up by the media because they didn't have the nerve to expose exactly who these people were.
100,000 loonies from the democrats' kook base appeared in Washington and made fools of themselves with signs like F**** Capitalism!
Posted by Cao at October 9, 2005 05:38 AM
Hey Jurassic Pork,
You fail to realize that 100,000 people is only 0.04% of the national population. The University of Michigan plays its home football games in front of that many people.
So save your weak and faulty argument for the tavern, where the drunken regulars will believe you.
Posted by LASunsett at October 9, 2005 02:39 PM
