The Washington Post
Brian Faler
August 11, 2005

Cindy Sheehan, the mother of a soldier killed in Iraq who has been camped outside President Bush's ranch near Crawford, Tex., took her antiwar protest to the Internet yesterday, joining a conference call with bloggers around the country, along with a stray congresswoman.

Sheehan, who has been demanding an audience with the president, told the bloggers that she has felt intimidated by the Secret Service, has been awakened in the middle of the night by thunderstorms and has a sore throat. But, Sheehan said, she has no plans to end her vigil until Bush meets with her to discuss the war, he goes back to the White House or she is arrested.

"This is going to be a very, very long haul," Sheehan said, in a call hosted by Democratic strategist and Internet guru Joe Trippi. Trippi, who managed Howard Dean's presidential campaign, urged the bloggers to write about her protest on their individual sites. The liberal online advocacy group MoveOn.org is also taking up Sheehan's cause, soliciting signatures for a petition in support of her cause and announcing plans to run an ad in the local paper, the Waco Tribune-Herald.

Many of the bloggers on the call gushed over her protest ("We love you, Cindy") while Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) also chimed in to express her support.

Sheehan, who earlier this week described her protest on the popular liberal blog Daily Kos, complained that the mainstream news media have not paid enough attention to her cause -- although she was interviewed Sunday on CNN's "Late Edition" -- and asked the bloggers for their support. "If we didn't have the Internet, none of us would really know what was truly going on," she said. "This is something that can't be ignored."