Vigils in the Heartland

MoveOn wants to thank the hordes that came out last night to support Cindy Sheehan.

On Wednesday, August 17, tens of thousands of supporters gathered at 1,625 vigils to acknowledge the sacrifices made by Cindy Sheehan, her son, Casey and the more than 1,800 brave American men and women who have given their lives in Iraq—and their moms and families. Here are just a few photos from the Washington, D.C. vigil. Many other photos will be posted shortly. Thank you for participating.

Among the THRONGS showing their support for Sheehan were individuals from America's Heartland.

Racine's Journal Times ran a front page story detailing the vigil that took place in the southeastern Wisconsin city of 81,855 people.

From the Journal Times:

Mothers and others marched here Wednesday night in support of one bereaved woman who vows to continue protesting near President Bush's Texas ranch until he talks to her about why her son died in the war.

...Sheehan's efforts at the ground near the ranch that's been called "Camp Casey" have gained international attention. They have also fueled anti-war demonstrators across the United States.

"People are just sick of the killing," said Janet LeSuer, who marched on the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Plaza on State Street in Racine with 16 others for an hour Wednesday night.

The Racine newspaper gave front-page coverage to a gathering of sixteen people!

SIXTEEN!!!

A Cindy vigil also took place in Madison, a liberal hotbed.

Last fall, 80,000 gathered at the Wisconsin Capitol for a John Kerry campaign rally. Bruce Springsteen’s appearance probably had a lot to do with the large numbers attending. Furthermore, that rally coincided with the Wisconsin’s public school teachers’ union convention. All union members were encouraged to attend, which helped to inflate the crowd even more. Still, even taking those factors into account, there is no question that Madison can easily gather together a large group of Leftists at a moment’s notice

It’s not surprising that protesters came out for Cindy Sheehan on Wednesday.

According to the Madison-based Wisconsin State Journal:

About 400 people gathered on the steps of the Capitol on Wednesday night holding signs with messages like "America Stands with Cindy" to support Sheehan's demand for a justification of, and end to, the Iraq conflict that killed her 24-year- old son, Army Spc. Casey Sheehan.

"We stand tonight suggesting that these brave soldiers do not have to make the ultimate sacrifice for a pack of lies," Tammy Markee of Madison told the crowd. "What noble cause have over 1,800 men and women lost their lives for?"

Markee organized the event through MoveOn.org to coincide with about 1,400 other vigils scheduled to take place at the same time around the country, including one in Olin Park and another in Mount Horeb.

Another Madison paper, the Capital Times, reports some different numbers, saying that 400 anti-war protesters gathered at “Olin Park for a spirited candlelight vigil, part of a nationwide network of a reported 1,700 vigils held across the country in a coordinated show of support for Cindy Sheehan.”

According to the Capital Times, the vigil at the Capitol drew another 400 or so people, while the one in Mount Horeb brought out about 100 people.

Not exactly a groundswell. Those numbers are meager compared to what Madison, home to thousands of aging anti-Vietnam War activists, usually delivers.

Even across the street [from Olin Park], at the VFW hall on Lakeside Street, there was little support for Bush or his war.

"He's the dumbest president we've ever had," said Randy Kneebone, who served in the military during the Vietnam War.

Jon Pevehouse, a professor of political science at UW-Madison, said the Sheehan protest has provided a focal point for the anti-war movement.

"It's renewed their vigor a bit," he said. "The media is all of a sudden paying attention."

All of a sudden???

The lib media were against the Iraq war before it began! They've been doing their best to sour the American public on the war.

Abu Ghraib! Gitmo! Gulag!

Notice the Capital Times says "support for Bush or his war” was hard to find. See any bias there? If you don’t, you’re blind.

Believe it or not, even in Madison, there are many Bush supporters. Not everyone there is a radical Leftist.

There was also a vigil in Milwaukee attended by “hundreds” according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

What does “hundreds” mean? Who knows? I suspect if it were more than two hundred, technically "hundreds," the newspaper would have been less vague and jumped at the chance to report a higher, more impressive number.

The bottom line:

In Blue State Wisconsin, very, very few people joined in the protests last night.

Nonetheless, in spite of the small numbers of people involved, the protests received lots of attention from the anti-Bush media—just like in Crawford!