Cindy Sheehan Makes It On Ballot To Challenge Nancy Pelosi!

After weeks of collecting signatures from constituents in San Francisco's 8th Congressional District, Independent candidate Cindy Sheehan has made it onto the November ballot to oppose Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, for Pelosi's heretofore secure Congressional seat. As Sheehan told me exclusively this afternoon:

"I think this is the happiest that I have been since before Casey was killed (except when my grandson was born). Getting on the ballot as an independent in California is so difficult, but with the help of many of our friends who are committed to peace, accountability, economic equality and environmental sustainability, we have done it! The voice of the people will be on the ballot in San Francisco in November."

Sheehan, the s/heroic "Peace Mom," whose 24 year old soldier son, Casey, was killed in Iraq on April 4, 2004, inspired the creation of an entire peace community outside of George W. Bush's Crawford Texas ranch in August of 2005, when she followed Bush to Crawford to ask him, "for what noble cause did my son die?" George W. Bush's refusal to answer Sheehan spurred Sheehan on to become an outspoken and integral member of the anti-war movement. She gained national and international fame as a leader in the effort to end the Iraq War and to impeach those who illegally began it - as mandated by the Constitution. For the past few years, and more so since the 2006 election, Sheehan has been a pivotal part of the growing number of Americans frustrated by Congress' failure to hold the Bush administration accountable for its crimes.

After the 2006 election, in which Democrats won majorities in both the Senate and the House, Americans' disgust for Congress reached a fever pitch when the new Democratic Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, instantly took impeachment off the table - thereby ensuring George W. Bush and Dick Cheney the job security to complete their second term and commit further offenses with impunity.

Sheehan's anger toward Pelosi was palpable. While other valiant patriots expressed their ire for Pelosi in emails, faxes, opeds, and camp-outs at her San Francisco home and Congressional office, Sheehan took it a step further and decided to challenge the wealthy Pelosi for her powerful seat in Congress - clearly no easy task. After an uphill battle against institutional rules and regulations designed to quash third party candidates, Sheehan showed her mettle and prevailed. As of today, after a s/heroic effort to gather the thousands of signatures needed to qualify for the November election, Cindy Sheehan became just the sixth person in the history of California to get on the ballot as a "Decline To State" candidate. According to Sheehan,

"I am even more convinced now than I was a year ago that the people of San Francisco are ready to lead the way to step outside of the dated two-party system and elect someone who truly represents San Francisco values, not party loyalties and criminal activities."

Now comes the true test for the progressive movement. Will progressives who vehemently oppose Nancy Pelosi's failed Congressional leadership come forward to help Cindy Sheehan
challenge Pelosi for her seat in San Francisco's 8th Congressional District? I know I will.

Nancy Pelosi represents all that is wrong with American government. As long as we have s/heroes like Sheehan who are willing to reclaim our democracy, I'll do my part to help.

Will YOU??

Go to: http://www.cindyforcongress.org/ and sign on.

crossposted on opednews.com

Follow Linda Milazzo on Twitter: www.twitter.com/LindaMilazzo

Comments

[Swerinjer]

I think Nancy is doing a great job in congress. You hate her now for not impeaching, but you'll thank her later. She did the smart thing by holding back and letting Bush drag down ALL the repugnicans with him.

The impeachment effort would have blown up in our faces-the Bush crime family would have gone nuclear with the justice department and the supremes in their corner, and more importantly the media would have completely framed the repugs as victims.

Even worse the Dems would not have had support from the public. Everyone is too afraid of the police state to put their bodies on the street. As a long time activist I have seen the street protesters getting more and more timid every year. They don't know how to act like an angry mob. At long last even I quit because I couldn't bear the submissiveness to the police, the tolerance of the counter-protesters, the timid chants, and the fear.

[flanardiente]

I think Pelosi's problem is that she was brought up politically in the Reagan-Bush era, when Democrats were climbing all over each other to sound like kinder, gentler Republicans just to get elected. I believe these Republican-lites have outlived their time and they need to be replaced, and who better than Pelosi? If impeachment had been ON the table, maybe we wouldn't now be preparing to go to war with Iran. I didn't even have to succeed--the very act of impeachment would signal these moral cowards that their long free ride was over. Without accountability, how are we any different from China or Russia? (And, a final note, Ms Milazzo, and please don't take this the wrong way, but t/s/he constant "s/he" gets old really fast, especially when the "he" in "heroics" has nothing to do with gender. If it's so important, why not just call Cindy a HERo?)

[Swerinjer]

um nah. Every time I've seen her on CSPAN and CNN she was ferocious and on point. i think you're starting to believe the haters who are pissed off about her not impeaching and the repug media thats convincing you the dems are whats wrong with congress.

[sssteverrr]

I can't vote for her but I can support her. She got 200.00 bucks from me today. She is a true American hero. Kick the pros out their killing my country.

[Swerinjer]

sheehans got nothing coming from me cuz Nancy is doing a great job. With a dem administration she's going to be a hero. youll see.

[wndrwrthg]

let the election of Mrs. Sheehan be a shot across the bows of the democratic party. The old guard needs to be turned out and replaced with those who will do the will of the people and not be lackeys of the corporate elite.

[Donnat]

I'm happy for her, as I b elieve she is sincere in her cause, but who would that put in Nancy's place as House Majority Leader if she were to defeat Pelosi?

[AC500]

I sincerely hope that Nancy Pelosi is kicked out by the people. She turned out to be a disaster ... not fulfilling the people's mandate to end the war. She and all the other dinosaurs in the House and the Senate have got to go. Limited 8 year terms should be imposed on the people's representatives for length of service instead of allowing them to become career politicians which we've seen and experienced just corrupts them and the entire system. John Edwards is not alone in becoming egocentric and narcissistic and self-absorbed by the power handed to him by the people. We KNOW this happens to many politicians ... that they are not able to handle power and remain balanced. New blood is needed. No more career politicians. A "change" President will not get anything done with the same OLD members of the House and Senate.

[Swerinjer]

stop with the overstatement already. Nancy did a GOOD job with a bare majority. And she was smart to not impeach. She let Bush drag down the party with him. you'll be singin a different tune by next year.

[TRIATHLON]

HOW COULD YOU NOT VOTE NON-PARTISAN INDEPENDENT?

The Only two San Francisco residents who will vote for certain (D-CA) US Representative Speaker of The House Nancy Pelosi will be Nancy Pelosi and Mr. Sandy Clark of Tommy Christopher fame. A vote for a Non-Partis­an-Indepen­dent is a vote against the Military Industrial Complex Party and its two factions the Democratic Left and Republican Right, with their support of the Imperial Presidency, of unlimited power and non- accountablitiy to the PEOPLE. Two City State Government can't be allowed to speak for (350M) People. The (NYC & NYSE& DC) don't represent the country, they represent the Military Industrial Complex, Wall St., does not represent Main St., K-Street shouldn't own The Beltway! New York City can't be Propaganda Central USA. VOTE NON-PARTIS­AN-INDEPEN­DENT!

[dfletcher]

Go Cindy!

Nancy has been sending unsolicited emails, aka apam, to the people who signed the democrats.com impeachment petition. People who explicitly DON'T support Nancy Pelosi are receiving emails from her, with no US address attached to them, an email address you can't respond to, and no way to opt-out. Nancy fails again!

[itmaybetoolate]

Nancy Pelosi is directly responsible for the failure to impeach bush and cheney. She acted in direct opposition to the Constitution when she took impeachment "off the table." She had no right to do that. She does not deserve her position of power, nor does she deserve to serve in the senate. True progressives will support Ms. Sheehan's struggle to unseat her.

[Swerinjer]

The political reality is that impeachment wouldn't have worked.

[itmaybetoolate]

What does that mean? It would not have worked? If you vote articles of impeachment (which the house could have done numberwise), that becomes part of the record. bush would forever be known as an impeached president. Of course, conviction is another matter, but bush could have been compelled to testify under oath about his crimes. Would he have complied with the order to testify? If not, folks would have begun to wonder what he had to hide. It would have worked. If someone commits a crime, they should be held responsible. Otherwise, what is the point of our Constitution, laws, etc.?

[terragazelle60]

The Democrates tried every way they could to get us out of Iraq. The House which Nancy Pelosi is the leader of passed their bills..it was the senate that has different rules that stopped them. In the Senate the Republicans have filibustered 94 times This year. We have blue dogs that would not vote to end the war...and don't forget Liberman. With only one vote majority we needed all the votes we could get. All you nay sayers how many have a rep that is a blue dog? or have a rep that is not voteing as you want? Have you contacted them? Too many like to &itch and sit on their thumbs instead of doing something, anything.
I think the saddest thing is that you all think that getting rid of Nancy will do the trick...so tell me how is a very Jr. member of the house going to do anything? How is Cindy Sheehan going to have even a decent committee to work on? She will have no power at all. She certainly will not be Speaker. Who will get Speaker...­the person with power, maybe Denny Hoyer, maybe John Murtha...b­ut it won't be Cindy Sheehan, and it would be stupid for any San Fransican to vote themselves out of the power they have now.

Give the House and Senate the Democratic super majority and stand back...

[FogBelter]

The Blue Dog observation is dead on ... they are the albatross that prevents the Democrats from moving the nation forward. It's a very real case of Democrats dealing with the plank in their own eye before worrying about the spec of sawdust in anothers',

The mess we are in is far more complicated than just Nancy Pelosi ... and I have my issues with her as well, beyond the complaint she didn't single handedly impeach Bush and Cheney.

[SEQUOIABISON]

Bravo, it is nice that somebody gets that we just do not have the votes to either impeach or end the war.

Why not go after a republican seat the real culprits in our government.

I am sure the voters of San Fransisco will not be dumb enough to blame Nancy for our problems, she is a brave smart politician and I agree with all her decisions so far.

We cannot follow the republican method of governing, when one branch becomes dominant impeach the other branch. Great way to run a country. When Bush/Cheney leave office turn them over to the Hague for crimes against humanity.

[sssteverrr]

I may be wrong but I think the Republicans have only threaetened to philibuster. Our Democrats have never forced them to stand up and do so.

[loper2008]

Cindy Sheehan doesn't believe in taxation and thinks we should eliminate the Federal Reserve. She was right to speak out against the war but she has a lot of other wacky beliefs. I'd stick with Pelosi, who has the hardest job in Washington right now. Pelosi voted against the war and is a progressive. She just needs more backup from her own party.

[captainjudy]

She shouldn't have taken impeachment off the table. She has to go.

[Swerinjer]

well she has the media against her. and its working. even progressives are lining up to denounce her. I support her 100%. She did a GOOD JOB. Not impeaching was the smart thing to do. It would have failed and the media would have made Bush sympathetic. Worse, it would have vindicated Bush. Wake up people.

[rayr1763]

I wish I lived in san fran 8th just so I could vote for her. You go Cindy!

[SEQUOIABISON]

Nancy is not the problem she never voted for this war and tried many times to stop it but was rebuffed in the senate by the warmonger party led my Mitch McConnell and his band of evil elves.

Lets not lose track of the real villains in our government the republicans.

By going after the good cop who tried to stop the criminals and neglecting the actual criminal is tantamount to insanity.

Cindy Sheehan should have discouraged her son from joining the military, if she was an intelligent mother, she should stop blaming others for her terrible mistake, it was not Nancy who falsely sent her son to war it was Bush/Cheney.

[BCubedReg]

Pelosi should be removed, not for her voting against the Iraq war, but for her inaction to hold this administration accountable for the Iraq war. There should be a vote every day on the congress floor to pull the troops out and to hold impeachment porceedings against the president.

Her's is a postion of power and responsibility. She is "responsible" to the people to ensure we have 3 coequal branches of government and as of yet, she has allowed the congress to be weak and ineffectual in challenging the president.

[Retrofuturistic]

Yes, you are absolutely right. The fact that there isn't a vote EVERY DAY, from people who swore to uphold the Constitution, to pull the troops and hold impeachment proceedings is unbelievable.

Pelosi's descendants will be doomed to say that their ancestor is the person who didn't impeach Bush and Cheney.

[captainjudy]

She is the problem, she's the leader, she should have impeached these criminals.

[shengirl]

I too have been terribly disappointed with Pelosi-- she is all talk and no action and lacks the fire in the belly needed to confront the Bush Dynasty. But Cindy Sheehan? I see her as a tragic figure. She lost her son, which was the first tragedy. Then she let her pain and loss blind her to the way others were, and still are, using her for their own agendas. Visiting Chavez in Venezuela? C'mon, who needs that? Declaring that she was quitting, she'd had enough...e­xcept that she seemingly couldn't stay out of the limelight that long. Back she came. She's turned the loss of her son into an endless loop of what? She's against the war, so are most of us. When the war ends, what will her platform be? A photo op with Chavez again? She's a media figure.

[metamars]

Others "still are using her for their own agendas?" Really? And what would that be? It's almost inevitable that some Republicans would send her money. Does Cindy Sheehan deserve to be trivialized on their account?

Why are you describing her very positive action - trying to unseat a gatekeeper for US militarism and unaccountability - as merely an "endless loop" of something? Apparently, you're implying that that something is nothing more than a sop for her emotional loss, and she has no judgement worthy of being respected either to properly channel her anti-war effort, nor to pursue any other positive agenda.

Hogwash. Many 'activists' do nothing more than channel their frustrations into posting in forums and blogs, and beg recalcitrant legislators to listen to them. Cindy Sheehan was bright enough to realize that she'd been had, and that to make a real difference, deadwood like Pelosi have to go. If we had more Cindy Sheehans, ready and willing ("able" remains to be seen :-) ) to take out execrable incumbents like Nancy Pelosi, we'd be far, far closer to a responsive government than we are right now.

If you are seriously interested in her platform, you can check her web site. From http://www.cindyforcongress.org/article.php?list=type&type=13 , she supports

Repealing All "Free Trade" Agreements
Single-Payer Healthcare and Affordable Housing
Immigrant Workers' Rights
Free, Quality Education
Job Creation
Regulating Media
Stopping Deregulation and Privatization
National Energy System, Mass Transit
Civil Rights and Privacy Protection

[metamars]

I wish Cindy Sheehan all the best, and sincerely hope that she holds herself up as a role model for changing politics in America. While I believe that, in most districts, it is better to run as a reformer within either the Democratic or Republican party, the important thing is target bad legislators for replacement. God knows we need regime change, right here at home.

I have emailed her campaign and asked her to simultaneously push the Progressive Democrats of America pdamerica.orgg), along with her own candidacy. Unfortunately, Dennis Kucinich blew his chance to do so when he was getting millions of dollars worth of free advertising as a Presidential candidate. ( Kucinich is not a formal member, AFAIK, but obviously fits right in with the PDA.) Candidates seem to universally develop tunnel vision during their campaign, probably because they obsess about distinguishing themselves from their opponents. I have no doubt that her judgment is good enough to realize that we need LOTS more positive and progressive people in Congress, and she cannot accomplish much just by herself. I will be watching her campaign to see if she develops in this "follow my example, whether within the confines of the Democratic Party, or not" direction. Even if she doesn't, I still trust her judgment far, far more than I trust Pelosi's. Pelosi has proven herself to be a failure as a defender of the US Constitution, not to mention the principle of co-equal branches of government.

[captainjudy]

Cindy Sheehan is made of soul and courage; just the kind of rep needed in Washington. Thank God for Cindy.

[dreffein]

This is great news. I live near LA but already sent Cindy $$. Nancy has been a total embarrassment as Speaker. She has rolled on every major issue and seems to surround herself with suck up lapdogs. She has done nothing to promote women in Congress - rather goes out of her way to hold them back (Jane Harman great example).

I hope San Fran lives up to its reputation and elects a true liberal and progressive. Yay!

[Querent]

Nancy Pelosi did a bad thing in not going after the Bush administration in any aggressive way. But she's pretty far down the list of people involved with the Bush administration in one way or another who did something bad. I would like to see Ms. Pelosi suffer the consequences of her moral cowardice and parliametary incompetence, but there are a whole city full of Republicans who ought to be punished first.

[jfor]

Nancy Pelosi has what all those republicans don't. which is the power to uphold the constitution and impeach Bush and Cheney. She is the one to be held accountable and responsible, do not let some warped sense of partisan loyalty blind you to the real failure.

[WorkingClass]

Right on. George Bush is above the law because Nancy says so.