There’s so much out there on the left blogosphere about Cindy Sheehan, and it’s all good.  But Steve Gilliard focuses on the predictable smear tactics of the right, and how it is backfiring:

The thing about the Right Wing noise machine is that it only has one tactical mode. Full bore attack. Which against a woman who lost her son, is a bit fucked up. Just a bit.

Michelle Malkin can now read the minds of the dead by suggesting that Casey Sheehan wouldn’t want his mother to protest. Which is a crock of shit. I think it’s safe to say if he has any divine power, it’s making sure his friends got home alive. If Sheehan launched after Malkin with a bat, I can’t say I’d agree, but I’d understand.

The wingnuts are scared. They think the script is that she is supposed to be greatful for Bush getting her son killed. And she is anything but.

They are so scared of her that they are doing oppo on her. So scared, the machine is trying to discredit her.

But she’s not John Kerry. He’s a politician. Cindy Sheehan is an average woman who wants to talk to her president. Nothing more. She could be anyone of 1800 parents.

How low are these people? Clear Channel was going to drag Cav troopers up to some picnic to denounce her. Oddly enough, the Cav served in Sadr City while in Iraq.

But the more they demonize her, the more of a hero she becomes.

The issue is that the right wants to make this political and it is anything but. The more they use politics against Sheehan, the bigger their mistake becomes.

She’s becoming, as Gary Hart and Tom Hayden indicate, a true folk hero, and everything the right does to blast only makes her — and her cause — stronger.

UPDATE:  True to the chickenhawk epithet, it looks like Bush is using a helicopter to enter, leave Texas ranch to avoid confrontation with Sheehan:

Yet there was no sign Mr. Bush intends to meet Ms. Sheehan. In fact, there were reports he is travelling solely by helicopter when he leaves the ranch in an effort to avoid racing past the protester in a limousine.

UPDATE: Maybe Bush shouldn’t be using his helicopter. CBS in Chicago is reporting about Marine One’s Near-Miss at O’Hare Airport.