Half a month ago I quoted Cindy Sheehan, a grieving mother who spoke at a congressional meeting about the death of her son. Now Ms Sheehan is in the news again, marching on the Western White House in Crawford to demand a meeting with President Bush. Poor guy, he flees the hot summer his energy policies have created only to have his work follow him home. He declined to visit with Sheehan but, undaunted, she is refusing to leave, camping out on the side of the road five miles from Bush’s ranch.Her stand has captured the national attention over the weekend. Fellow war protestors traveled with her, and other military moms have driven down to join her. Two White House aides were sent out to speak with Sheehan in the President’s stead, saying how he appreciates her sacrifice but, jeez, there’s all that brush he still needs to clear. Not satisfied, Sheehan says she will remain until the President meets with her. Privately, President Bush has told his supporters “See, we’ll remain here, so we don’t have to meet her there.” I would be very shocked if this one woman could cause Bush to actually take responsibility for his dumbass war, to actually deal with it in human terms and not robotically through scripted “enemies of freedom” “noble cause” catchphrases (or the desperate attempts to link his Iraq landgrab with 9/11); but I am very proud of and impressed with her for trying.
The Lone Star Iconoclast Online has created a “Cindy Watch” detailing her day-to-day protest. Another site, meetwithcindy.org, has also appeared. Sheehan is also a founder of the Gold Star Families for Peace, which is also keeping track of her. Unfortunately, interest is so great all those sites are running slow right now.
Rumor has it, Sheehan will be arrested on Thursday, since, as we all know, a 47 year-old-woman standing by the side of a country road is an obvious “threat to national security”. This can’t help but be a grrreat PR move for the President and for his party. I can see the headlines now: “Bush Causes Son’s Death, Throws Mom in Jail”. Maybe he can top it off by running over her dog with his pickup truck.
What more does this woman want! She already met with the President in 2004. She only lost one son, she only gets one visit, same as anybody else. Every solider knows the rules. Loose a limb, get a photo. Loose more than two limbs, get an autographed photo. Loose all four limbs, get the autographed personalized. And as Sheehan knows, loose a son or daughter and get to see the President inperson. If selfish sheehan wants to see him another time she needs to loose more kids. Them’s the rules.
She made it through Sunday — and she’s vowed to stay throughout August.
To further illuminate her cause, here is Cindy Sheehan in her own words, at the Huffington Post
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/theblog/archive/cindy-sheehan/this-is-george-bushas-a_5472.html