Cindy Sheehan, the soldier's mother who galvanized the anti-war movement, said Sunday that she plans to seek House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's congressional seat unless she introduces articles of impeachment against President Bush in the next two weeks.
Sheehan said she will run against the San Francisco Democrat in 2008 as an independent if Pelosi does not seek by July 23 to impeach Bush. That's when Sheehan and her supporters are to arrive in Washington, D.C., after a 13-day caravan and walking tour starting next week from the group's war protest site near Bush's Crawford ranch.
"Democrats and Americans feel betrayed by the Democratic leadership," Sheehan told The Associated Press. "We hired them to bring an end to the war. I'm not too far from San Francisco, so it wouldn't be too big of a move for me. I would give her a run for her money."
I'm not sure what gives her that idea; Pelosi is a second-generation machine politician, in her tenth term, and has not gotten less than 80% of the vote in her district since 1990. Sheehan might have had a chance to make an impactful statement in that realm last year, and organizing a public demonstration to keep impeachment talk rolling wouldn't hurt. But that's about it. Pelosi erred in pre-emptively removing impeachment from the table, but as more dirt gets unearthed, there's nothing to stop her from changing her mind. Insisting that it happen within the next two weeks could generate some interesting momentum, I suppose, but the idea that Sheehan would be a viable political force, or a challenger to an entrenched career pol with one of the highest re-election rates involves some creative thinking.
Still, the drumbeat is getting louder, bit by bit, and the previously unthinkable notion of going through another drawn-out impeachment process is suddenly becoming a topic of discussion. And it doesn't hurt to at least nudge Democrats with more of a sense of urgency in general. Fredo's not backing down, and neither should they.
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