Police Botch Sheehan Arrest

Sheehan was to be released on her own recognizance. Damn!! Too bad they can't hold on to her.

Cindy Sheehan, the mother of a fallen soldier in Iraq who reinvigorated the anti-war movement, was arrested and removed from the House gallery Tuesday night just before President Bush's State of the Union address, a police spokeswoman said.

Sheehan, who had been invited to attend the speech by Rep. Lynn Woolsey, D-Calif., was charged with demonstrating in the Capitol building, a misdemeanor, said Capitol Police Sgt. Kimberly Schneider. Sheehan was taken in handcuffs to police headquarters a few blocks away and her case was processed as Bush spoke.

Schneider said Sheehan had worn a T-shirt with an anti-war slogan to the speech and covered it up until she took her seat. Police warned her that such displays were not allowed, but she did not respond, the spokeswoman said.

Police handcuffed Sheehan and removed her from the gallery before Bush arrived. Sheehan was to be released on her own recognizance, Schneider said.

"I'm proud that Cindy's my guest tonight," Woolsey said in an interview before the speech. "She has made a difference in the debate to bring our troops home from Iraq."

Woolsey offered Sheehan a ticket to the speech _ Gallery 5, seat 7, row A _ earlier Tuesday while Sheehan was attending an "alternative state of the union" press conference by CODEPINK, a group pushing for an end to the Iraq war.

Comments

[CARRY NATION]

"Woolsey offered Sheehan a ticket to the speech _ Gallery 5, seat 7, row A _ earlier Tuesday..."

This woman is my rep. and I think I speak for everyone in California (well maybe only the people in my house ) when I offer my deepest most sincere apologies.

[Raisinbran]

That women and ayone that associates with her is an idiot. She needs to move on.
I do not see other parents of fallen solldiers acting like she does.
Disgusting!

[Nam Marine]

The war protests of the 60's started with the persons of strong convictions like Ms. Sheehan. Her support is much deeper than the administration can ever imagine...This time, the National Guard is deployed and won't be available to shoot and kill student protesters..

[Phoenix]

Nam Marine,

Methinks thou doth protest too much. No one minds protesting. It is the American way, after all. It just becomes a travesty of purpose when an idiot protests to the extent Sheehan has done. She is a moron, and that deep support you speak of is a mix of equal morons.

[Steel]

Nam Marine ...

I too was in 'Nam'.

Where were you stationed?

[Abe]

You guys are fu*cking idiots. It was a t-shirt for Christ sake. Sure she's made some stupid comments but jeez what's so scary about a t-shirt? I bet if it said " yeah for war", she wouldn't have been arrested. I thought this was America but I guess it isn't. So much for the right to free speech. Maybe you all should move "to some country where they make no pretense of loving liberty- to Russia, for instance where depotism can be taken pure, and without the base alloy of hypocracy."
If either of you are veterans, what were you fighting for? Obviously not the right to speak your mind freely without being arrested. Oh I know, you were fighting for the right to agree with you, right? A person can speak their mind as long as it agrees with you. God help us.

[kim]

Representative Lynn Woolsey (D-CA 6th)

7th-term Democrat from California.

Key Votes

Name of Legislation voted
Passed Deficit Reduction Omnibus Reconciliation Act of 2005 12/19/2005 N
Passed Defense Appropriations Act, FY2006 12/19/2005 N
Passed Stem Cell Therapeutic and Research Act 12/17/2005 Y
Passed Border Protection, Antiterrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act 12/16/2005 N
Passed Pension Protection Act 12/15/2005 N
Passed Labor/HHS/Education Appropriations Act, FY2006 12/14/2005 N
Passed USA PATRIOT and Terrorism Prevention Reauthorization Act 12/14/2005 N

[moldy]

Methinks thou doth protest too much. No one minds protesting. It is the American way, after all. It just becomes a travesty of purpose when an idiot protests to the extent Sheehan has done. She is a moron, and that deep support you speak of is a mix of equal morons.

Posted by: Phoenix | Tuesday, January 31, 2006 at 11:47 PM

Phoenix - I don't understand. Are you saying its ok to protest, just don't protest a lot?

[raindrops]

All political displays are banned? Yeah, right. If her shirt had said something Pro-Bush, no one would have moved her out. Just because you don't agree with her that doesn't make her stupid or a moron. It makes her opinion different from yours, but she still has a right to it and a right to express it in the "land of the free." Or are those just empty words? People wave the flag and talk about freedom until someone pisses them off then they want to shut the person up. So it's freedom for you, but not for me if I don't agree with you.

[Ken]

She's a moron for cavorting with oppressive South American idiots.Maybe her t-shirt will find it's way to E-Bay.........the proceeds being used to pay for the fines and travel expenses not being covered by such groups as MoveOn.org.

[Phoenix]

Moldy,

If you read what I said, you will see I do not disagree with protests: "It's the American way, after all." What a protestor does not want to do is let the caricature of their protest usurp that which they are protesting about. This is what has happened to Ms. Sheehan. She has embarrassed herself tremendously, and as result, she is a laughingstock - even to those who originally supported her.

Raindrops,

I might agree with Ms. Sheehan. I might not. I certainly have no problem with her protests. In fact, I like them because she is helping those she is protesting against. Because I have discernment in graceful human behavior, I can make the statement that his woman is an idiot, a moron, a fool. She is all those things. Whether or not I agree or disagree with her stance has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that she has lost her marbles. This 'argument' that this is the land of the free and we have freedom of speech is not only tiresome, but it is the feeble's last hurrah in an empty debate. Having freedom of speech no more makes a wise man than a fool.

[tysgram]

Freedom of speech as long as you agree with Bush!

[lola]

all i need to know about lynn woolsey

http://www.townhall.com/opinion/columns/michellemalkin/2004/02/18/10789.html

[lola]

all i need to know about lynn woolsey

http://www.townhall.com/opinion/columns/michellemalkin/2004/02/18/10789.html

[dnichols]

Cindy Sheehan's side- warning, this read reqires a box of tissues.

http://www.buzzflash.com/contributors/06/02/con06043.html

[Phoenix]

What are the Kleenexes for? This woman does not have it together. She contradicts herself in this maudlin missive of last night's adventure in trying to trash a State of the Union speech. She makes a big deal out of just having the t-shirt on and not being aware of any rules about political statements at such august assemblies and then, a few paragraphs later, blathers on about how she planned to wear the t-shirt knowing the press knew she was there and would be turning their cameras on her and how she planned to flash her t-shirt.

Oh cry me a river. boo fucking hoo.

[Emerson]

It wasn't the t-shirt that got her arrested it was the banner she unfurled, and she knew the rules and knew it would get her kicked out! This is a stunt, not a matter of free speech and she knows it. The more sympathy she can gain the better for her. We're all saddened by the loss of each and every one of the soldiers who have died and we're all for free speech, but she is just a psycho lookin' to get on tv on the basis of her son's memory. All which makes me sick and want to punch her. Besides she's not even remotely pleasant to look at which makes it all the worse! Plus, that unnending whiney ass voice. What exactly IS she going back to when the soldiers do come home? Her family won't be there because I'm sure they won't be there since she has desserted them.

[Emerson]

Oops! Re-do- I'm sure her family won't be there when she's done since she desserted them long ago. (The ones that are alive at least)

[mrskrass]

Oops! Re-do- I'm sure her family won't be there when she's done since she desserted them long ago. (The ones that are alive at least)

Posted by: Emerson | Wednesday, February 01, 2006 at 09:00 PM

Yes, Emerson, but she's fighting for the one that isn't alive....

How are your kids today? Alive and well? Lucky you!

[Duchess of Austin]

'Scuse me folks....time for a little truth telling here. First off, women were ejected on BOTH sides of the aisle. There was a republican wife ejected also for wearing a pro-war shirt. ANY shirts bearing slogans are considered protesters, and therefore both were ejected. For those of you who don't know, the rules of conduct and dress come with the ticket, so she can't claim she didn't know the dress code. She definitely had something up her sleeve besides her arm...

Secondly, CS has lost her credibility completely. If she hadn't lost it after that disgusting display of Camp Casey, she has certainly lost it after that picture of her clasping Hugo Chavez to her bosom was published on the internet.

She never had a banner. It was strictly the shirt, and I think, who she is, and I honestly don't think she would have respected the rules and just watched the speech quietly. Her intent was to spark a disturbance DURING the speech, and her plans were dashed when she got caught wearing a t-shirt with a slogan on it. I'm crushed....

This is just one example of how partisan and nasty our politics have become. What ever happened to disagreeing with someone's politics without descending into personal insults and defamation of character?? I can understand CS's grief and sense of loss, and even respect it, but when she starts embracing Communists and spouts anti-American rhetoric, that's where the line of civility is drawn.

She has become a walking cartoon, doing nothing for her handlers but making them look stupid for employing her as a mouthpiece. She's outlived her usefullness....I can see her 15 minutes of fame are up, and I bet she disappears into the obscurity she so richly deserves by the mid term elections.