August 10, 2007

Thanks, Cindy

Nancy Pelosi has a challenger for her seat in Congress. Using a picture of her son on the podium, Cindy Sheehan announced her candidacy for Congress yesterday in San Francisco:

Antiwar activist Cindy Sheehan, who gained international fame by camping outside President Bush's Texas ranch to protest the war in Iraq, announced Thursday that she would challenge House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for her seat in Congress.

"The country is ripe for a change," said Sheehan, citing her son's death in Iraq in 2004 as inspiration for her long-shot bid to unseat the first female speaker in history. ...

Sheehan admitted she has no funds for a campaign, but planned to immediately get started raising money. Without giving further specifics, Sheehan said she wouldn't accept money from corporations and would run on a platform of universal health care. Sheehan said she also wants to make college affordable and improve ethics in the legislative and executive branches.

Strange events occur in politics, but it seems highly unlikely that Sheehan will prove to be anything more than a gadfly to Pelosi in the 2008 race. Even with the support of Daniel Ellsberg, who accompanied Sheehan yesterday, San Francisco voters are not likely to toss away Pelosi's powerful leadership position to support someone who plays kissy-face with Hugo Chavez. Frisco has its nuts, but they're not that crazy.

On the off chance that they are, though, the Democrats will have to spend a little more money in the Bay area to protect Pelosi. That certainly helps Republicans in other parts of California. Sheehan may wind up assisting the GOP in some small way to push harder in the few contestable Congressional districts in the Golden State, a rather ironic twist on Sheehan's effort.

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» Cindy Sheehan officially announces candidacy for Nancy Pelosi’s Congressional seat from Sister Toldjah
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     Just when I thought that the disgusting attention whore, Cindy Sheehan, was finally going to take an exit stage left and leave our lives forever, she shows up again to recapture the spotlight. It’s no secret that Nancy Pelosi is wildly p... [Read More]

Comments (25)

Posted by Bill | August 10, 2007 8:10 AM

"Not that crazy!" Are you sure! Or are they just crazy enough to open a crack for someone else to slip in?

Posted by Anthony (Los Angeles) | August 10, 2007 8:12 AM

Frisco has its nuts, but they're not that crazy.

You've been away too long, Ed. Take a look at the fruitcakes they elected to the Board of Supervisors there: they might just be crazy enough to do this, too.

Posted by John (Dublin CA) | August 10, 2007 8:18 AM

Not "that" crazy? Ed, I live in the belly of the beast, they are "that" crazy. Pelosi should be worried. This is a city that gives bums $400 a month just for the hell of it. Have you tried to walk through Union Square lately?

Posted by TomB | August 10, 2007 8:21 AM

It is really sad to see this poor, sick, mourning woman with all her "International fame" being used like that by the media.

Posted by richard mcenroe | August 10, 2007 8:59 AM

Please. As long as Pelosi returns to her district every year to march in the Gay Pride parade with the founder of NAMBLA, she ain;t NEVER gonna lose that seat.

Posted by Monkei | August 10, 2007 9:15 AM

Gay's can't have pride?

Posted by docjim505 | August 10, 2007 9:20 AM

Using a picture of her son on the podium, Cindy Sheehan announced her candidacy for Congress yesterday in San Francisco...

This is starting to become almost ghoulish.

Posted by Steve Skubinna | August 10, 2007 9:41 AM

docjim505, it's been ghoulish for a long while. The photo of Casey is small potatoes next to the Blessed Madonna of the Ditch's Vanity Fair photo spread.

Posted by Scott | August 10, 2007 9:44 AM

I work in SF (but don't live there). Pelosi has nothing to worry about. She wins with 85% of the vote every time she runs.

Yes, the Board of Supervisors here is composed of a few nice folks and several certifiable pyschotics. It funcions as the city council here as SF is both a city and a county.

But the REAL power here is the Democratic Party establishment and the millions of dollars it pumps into the state and federal parties. Pelosi got her job 20 years ago because she was the biggest fundraiser in town. She knows who to hit up for money and how much they can give.

But you are correct when you say that this will take money away from other races. Losing a seat or two in CA is not a problem, but losing the speaker's seat is unacceptable.

SF is basically a great town, with nice people, good food, and a beautiful setting. But it's run, locally, by leftoids who have no vision of anything except what they read on Indymedia.

Posted by hermie | August 10, 2007 9:57 AM

You mean that George Soros won't finance Sheehan's campaign, after she did all that work for him with MoveOn, Code Pink, etc?

Well, THAT's gratitude for ya!

Posted by patrick neid | August 10, 2007 10:34 AM

as a resident of SF for nearly thirty years nancy pelsoi has absolutely nothing to worry about. In fact nancy and barbara boxer will retire or die in office like a lot of politicos before them from this area.

cindy sheehan, if we were truly humane, would be institutionalized so that she could properly go through the mourning period for her son. She went around the bend a long time ago and various folks are only too happy to take advantage of her. Running against pelosi is her latest act of narcissistic disillusionment. With a long rest at a sanatorium, committed there by her family, she could get some help. Otherwise, at some point, this is all going to end badly.

Posted by Tom Hilton | August 10, 2007 11:09 AM

As a San Francisco resident, I can assure you Pelosi won't have to spend a dime to guarantee her seat; I'd be extremely surprised if Sheehan got more than 25%. You see, we're city folk, and there's no way we'd vote for some suburbanite carpetbagger from Vacaville (that's butchered Spanish for 'cow town').

Posted by FedUp | August 10, 2007 12:06 PM

Just another act in the farce - "Send in the clowns"!

I agree, SanFran Nan doesn't have to worry, but the annoyance factor will be interesting to watch!

Posted by Elissa Altman | August 10, 2007 1:18 PM

As we say where my people come from, Oy vey.

Posted by spree | August 10, 2007 2:20 PM

San Francisco voters are not likely to toss away Pelosi's powerful leadership position to support someone who plays kissy-face with Hugo Chavez. Frisco has its nuts, but they're not that crazy.

Why not? Nancy Pelosi played kissie face with al-Assad not too long ago.

Posted by Christoph | August 10, 2007 3:11 PM

Pelosi won't have to spend a dime. She's got the seat locked up and then some. If anything, it will make her look more reasonable by comparison.

That's it.

Posted by Del Dolemonte | August 10, 2007 4:15 PM

Pelosi is in the same position as several of her (D) colleagues in Congress. She could do absolutely nothing and the brain-dead constituents of hers would keep electing her. It's worked in every hard-left place it's been tried, as the two Senate jokes from Taxachusetts prove. And what about Dim John Dingell? He's been in Congress since Eisenhower was President.

Do any Repubs come close in terms of longevity?

Posted by jr565 | August 10, 2007 5:10 PM

but what about cindy's absolute moral authority? Surely that will garner her some votes.
Pelosi can't defund the war, and even worse doesn't have the cred that Cindy brings to the table. She may have some moral authority, but its certainly not absolute like Cindy's.

Go Cindy! Yay!

Posted by Ray | August 10, 2007 6:38 PM

"but what about cindy's absolute moral authority?"

What "absolute moral authority" can Cindy claim? She had a son die in a war, is that her authority? That would garner her sympathy, not moral authority. Sympathy may get her a few votes, but not many. She'd have a lot more authority, moral or otherwise, if she had fought in Iraq and was injured. Then, at least she would have a little experience in military matters on which to base her campaign.

Face it, Cindy doesn't have any chance at all of getting elected. I don't think that's her real agenda anyways, she loves the limelight and is trying to stay in it as long as possible by any means she can.

Posted by Matt | August 10, 2007 7:25 PM

So where can I make a donation to Cindy's campaign coffer? I say all Republicans (like me) should pitch in to help her get elected.

We'll never get one of our guys elected there, so we may as well ensure that things remain entertaining in SF.

Seems like putting Cindy in office might be the best thing for Republicans - I say bring on the craziest Dems ... Always makes our job easier.

Posted by Joshua | August 10, 2007 8:09 PM

Matt, you stole my thunder. Going through this thread, I was just about to wonder aloud whether the GOP might not invest in campaign ads for Sheehan, a la the infamous GOP-financed ad for Ralph Nader in 2000.

Posted by jr565 | August 10, 2007 8:45 PM

Sorry Ray I was just channeling Maureen Dowd, who suggested that Cindy had absolute moral authority therefore we had to listen to her vis a vis the Iraq war. I guess the point is you shouldn't channel Maureen Dowd.

Anyway, for me its a win win. Having two moonbats duke it out and attack one another and divide the libs against one another is just like thanksgiving dinner.

Posted by jaeger51 | August 10, 2007 8:56 PM

Is there any way they can perhaps be encouraged to eliminate each other? Some sort of cage match or something? That would be wonderful....sigh.......

Posted by MarkJ | August 10, 2007 10:54 PM

Judging from the above comments about Nancy Pelosi's congressional seat, I'm of the mind that elections to the USSR Supreme Soviet, or the National Socialist Reichstag were a more competitive....

Posted by brooklyn | August 11, 2007 10:55 PM

This could be interesting...

Pelosi gets a well deserved pain in the neck.

Much fun...

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