Rich Lowry is reporting on the Corner that Sheehan wrote the letter. You know, the one in which she said her son was killed for lies, the neocon agenda, and Israel — things she denied on CNN ever having said:
In a nut shell, ABC now says it talked to Sheehan and she said she did in fact write the letter in question after all and she did receive an e-mail from ABC confirming that ABC had received it. But she thinks the version on the web has been tampered with. Very, very strange…
In a nut shell indeed. So let me get this straight: Cindy Sheehan fires off a letter to ABC after an appearance on Nightline in which she felt Ted Koppel wronged her by “dismissing” her as “emotional.” Then, at least according to what Sheehan told ABC, someone tampered with the version of her letter online, specifically this paragraph:
Am I emotional? Yes, my first born was murdered. Am I angry? Yes, he was killed for lies and for a PNAC Neo-Con agenda to benefit Israel. My son joined the Army to protect America, not Israel.
Does this explanation even make sense? First, that paragraph follows from the main thrust of her letter, which is a rebuke to Ted Koppel for dismissing her as emotional. Second, the sentiments expressed in that paragraph echo sentiments Sheehan has expressed many times before and since she wrote that letter. It’s becoming more and more clear that Cindy Sheehan lied to Anderson Cooper in order to make herself seem more mainstream to CNN’s audience. (But with her record of anti-American vitriol, that’s not likely to happen anytime soon.)
ABC News also said they spoke to CNN to see if they are going to run a correction about the statement Anderson Cooper made that “ABC News does not seem to be confirming this is what Cindy Sheehan wrote to them.” In fairness to CNN, that conclusion seemed reasonable yesterday. Today, the most likely conclusion is that Cindy Sheehan is making up totally implausible excuses for lying on TV.