Apparently, any “wingnut” who dares analyze the political or cultural effects of Cindy Sheehan’s protests—whether it’s how those protests are being covered in the media, or the possible political or personal motivations behind those protests, or the makeup of the attendant support and supporters of said protests, etc.—is an angry, black-souled, evil and vile hater who, in the words of one passionate Cindyphile in the comments here, “should slit [his] own throat.”

In other words, “How dare you! Cindy lost her son!” has, in short order, become the new “RACIST” or “HOMOPHOBE” of progressive poltico speak—a loaded signifier whose power rests in its refusal to allow for any but a single signification, a way for leftwing ideologues to strangle debate in the crib and to prevent any discussion on the practical affects of Sheehan’s carefully-orchestrated and increasingly-well funded anti-war media blitz by turning those very questions into an indictment of the questioner.

In short: any but a particular politically-sanctioned use of Cindy Sheehan’s narrative has become, in effect, hate speech.