Rain on Cindy Sheehan's parade

Is Cindy jealous of Katrina? Of Rita? Someone identified as "Cindy Sheehan," the newly arrested Peace Mom, is vexed that Hurricane Rita stole Cindy's thunder. That was after Rita bumped Katrina out of the way. Rita's wet, windy weekend tantrum on the Gulf Coast, in fact, so seduced the newspapers and television networks that Cindy's splashy anti-war protests in Washington were bumped out of the biggest, blackest headlines. Rita is no longer even a tropical depression over Tennessee, but Cindy rallied gamely yesterday, giving the cameras at the White House front gate an eyeful. Mrs. Sheehan was arrested with a dozen other protesters as onlookers chanted, "The whole world is watching." But Saturday was a different story. The someone called "Cindy Sheehan" wrote at the DailyKos.com Web site early Saturday evening: "I am watching CNN and it is 100 percent [Hurricane] Rita. Even though it is a little wind and a little rain, it is bad, but there are other things going on in this country today ... and in the world." The comment was one of a dozen entries, including speech transcripts and press releases, credited to Mrs. Sheehan at the site, which says 79 percent of the "page viewers" are Democrats. Bush-bashing is the daily ritual. But was "Cindy Sheehan" actually Cindy Sheehan? "I am very certain she did not post it," says Morrigan Phillips, a spokesman (Mrs. Sheehan has three) who has taken questions for Mrs. Sheehan on her cross-country protest tour. "She was pretty busy on Saturday." The description by "Cindy Sheehan" of the Category 4 hurricane as "little" set off a squall of its own. One soaked East Texas resident shot back a reply to Daily Kos: "You bask in your fan's adulation, party with your celebrity friends and play the star. Shame on you, you're jealous of others' suffering. You've become a caricature, and I no longer support you."