Angry in the Great White North

From her diary at Daily Kos:

I apparently am the sacrificial lamb of the peace movement. I don't care about myself. Putting myself in the forefront and daring to challenge the president on his lies left myself open to the attacks. Which are, of course, half truths and distortions.

We'll see.

When they start sliming my home life and my family, that's where I draw the line. Yes, my husband has filed for divorce and yes he filed before I left for the VFP Convention and this trip to Crawford and yes IT IS BETWEEN MY HUSBAND AND I.

Cindy Sheehan addressed the VFP convention on August 5, then went to start her Crawford vigil on August 6. Patrick and Cindy listed June 1 as the date of their separation, and Patrick filed a petition for divorce on August 12, according to papers available at The Smoking Gun.

She would have left for the convention on or before August 5, at least seven days before the papers were filed. So Patrick did not file for divorce before she left for the VFP Convention.

Yet another lie. Patrick petitioned for divorce after Cindy took off. Sounds less and less like a mutual decision. She should expect a visit from a court server with papers soon.

[Correction: The original version of this post mistakenly placed her address to the VFP on August 8. In fact, August 8 was the date of the article I was quoting, and it to me appears to have been written in an ambiguous way. I have corrected the dates, and I'm referencing a different article that seems more clearly written. Note that the corrected dates makes the situation look worse, not better, for Cindy Sheehan.]

[Meanwhile, Michelle Malkin reports that "OPEN WAR" has been declared on her, and by extension, any blogger, who dares consider Cindy Sheehan's personal life -- even though Cindy Sheehan herself made her family a major portion of her campaign. Can we be blamed for wondering where they all went?]

Update: More than a few people wonder what the hub-bub is over a "technicality". April 5? April 12? Who cares?

Here is why it matters.

Cindy Sheehan has a history of saying how her family is behind her, just to have revealed shortly after that this family member or that is clearly not.

In this case, after the fact, she states clearly and unambiguously that the filing happened before she left for Dallas. She was making a big point about this. It was important for her to make sure people believed that the papers were filed before she left.

She did not say they decided to divorce when she left for Dallas. She did not say the papers were filled out. She did not use some other vague wording. She was clear that the papers were filed. The statement was a timeline, designed to make it a point of fact that the decision was made before she left, with the date-stamped divorce petition being the supporting evidence.

Problem is, the filing does not support her timeline at all. In fact, it contradicts it. Her statement is precise and detailed, and completely false. A person lies in order to avoid a truth. If she lied about the paperwork being filed before she had left, it suggests to me that she is trying to hide the fact that the paperwork was done only after she left. That, in turn, suggests that Patrick took it upon himself to divorce her, and waited until she was out of state and firmly entrenched in Camp Casey to file in order to...what? Avoid a confrontation? Take belongings? Change the locks?

Indeed, if this was a unilateral decision by Patrick Sheehan, did he come to it in the days after August 5? Did Cindy Sheehan say something during those days that forced Patrick to take this step? Did he learn something about her plans that made him run down the county courthouse with the hastily prepared divorce petition? Two days after he filed, Cindy Sheehan publicly announced she would not be paying taxes. Did he get wind of this, and decide he needed to begin divorce proceedings in order to protect his financial health, and the financial health of his family?

Correction: Best as I can tell, the earlist Cindy Sheehan announced her plans to not pay taxes was on August 5, in her speech to the Veterans for Peace in Dallas. That means Patrick knew full well his wife was planning to commit a federal offence that could financially impact him when he decide to petition for divorce.

We don't know. But what we do know is that we won't understand what is happening by listening to Cindy Sheehan.

And one more thing. Why even trying lying about this? I mean, you're going to get caught, so why bother? I can think of three reasons:

1. She wasn't lying. The decision to divorce came before the trip to Dallas, and Patrick lied to her when he said the papers were filed, perhaps hoping that with just a bit more time, he could save the marriage. When that hope disappeared, the papers were filed later. I doubt this because it requires a second lie to have happened, for which there is no evidence, and because of my gut feel, based partly on the problems Cindy Sheehan has been having with her in-laws.


2. She wasn't expecting the papers to become public. She might not have appreciated the power of the sites like the Smoking Gun to make this sort of evidence public.


3. She's fighting the perception that she is oblivious to what is happening to her living family even as she uses her dead son to promote an elaborate left-wing agenda (Israel out of Palestine, US out of everywhere, George W Bush impeached, etc, etc). In this case, she is spinning the tale that she knew all about the divorce. Perhaps she did, but that position is not supported by the evidence she presents.


4. She doesn't care, because the message was aimed at her followers (whom I call Sheehanites), the people who describe her in Messianic terms, "light from above...pure love and justice". The Sheehanites won't care much that Cindy was caught in a lie. At first, they'll assume it is an unfounded attempt at character assassination, and then when the evidence is made clear, they'll attack people like me for making such a big deal over a "technicality".

Summary of Sheehan posts:
Death to the twins
Cindy Sheehan: Using and being used ** critical post **
Cindy Sheehan and the orgies of carnal pleasure
Cindy Sheehan: Gold Star Families for Peace a rip-off
Revolution in Crawford, Texas: A prediction or a prayer?
Cindy Sheehan on eBay: Nothing says free political speech has to be tasteful
Cindy Sheehan: Not looking good for 200,000 protesters
Cindy Sheehan: Her own worst enemy
Cindy Sheehan: Send her guns!
Cindy Sheehan: Husband is...concerned
Cindy Sheehan: Her extended family is distressed by her activities [update]
Cindy Sheehan: Court is held at Camp Casey [updated]
Moving on
Cindy Sheehan: The real Gold Star Mothers and Wives
Cindy Sheehan herself confirms the Quartarolo letter
Cindy Sheehan: My husband left me because of George W Bush
Cindy Sheehan: Cindy Sheehan attacks her family -- she is fully a member of the anti-war cult
Cindy Sheehan: An opinion
Cindy Sheehan: If it's not about meeting the President...
Cindy Sheehan: Legitimized by the Hollywood Moonbats
Cindy Sheehan: Michelle Malkin and the definition of hypocrisy
Cindy Sheehan: Changing stories of family solidarity
Cindy Sheehan: "Mother" of the anti-war movement cult
Cindy Sheehan: Marriage goes from bad to worse -- Patrick Sheehan files for divorce [update]
Cindy Sheehan: Is she accepting the cult status?
Cindy Sheehan: Taxes and Matrimony
Cindy Sheehan: The deification continues [updated]
Cindy Sheehan: The President cares more than she will admit
Cindy Sheehan: Support from a member of Congress
Cindy Sheehan: She knows better than the Iraqis [Important Update]
Cindy Sheehan: Ignoring the woman who wants to thank Casey for his sacrifice
Deaniacs and Sheehanites making common cause
Cindy Sheehan: The last member of the Sheehan family is a no-show
Iraq is better off now?
Cindy Sheehan: Remembering Casey at Camp Pendola *** important post ***
Cindy Sheehan: Declares the family as off-limits (and manages to sneak in another lie) [updated]
Cindy Sheehan: Other groups stealing my spotlight!
Associated Press: The Sheehan propaganda machine
Cindy Sheehan: Usurping the names of the dead
Cindy Sheehan: Stay away from this memorial
Larry C Johnson (Left) vs Charles Krauthammer (Right)
Cindy Sheehan: She knew about the divorce...but didn't?