Posted on 09/16/2004 11:44:50 AM PDT by areafiftyone
A Hopewell woman whose son was killed while serving in Iraq was arrested Thursday after she interrupted a campaign speech by first lady Laura Bush.
Sue Niederer had refused to leave the rally and demanded to know why her son was killed in Iraq. She was eventually escorted from the rally site, a local firehouse, by police.
Niederer wore a T-shirt that bore the words "President Bush You Killed My Son" and a picture of her son, Army 1st Lt. Seth Dvorin.
Dvorin was killed in February while trying to disarm a bomb in Iraq. The 24-year-old had just returned to Iraq after spending two weeks with his family.
The first lady continued speaking after the arrest, touting her husband's record on the economy, health care and the war on terror.
More than 700 people attended the rally in the suburban community of 90,000 near Trenton. Hamilton is home to a large number of state employees. It has traditionally been a swing municipality in local, state and national elections.
Republicans are encouraged that recent polls have indicated an erosion of John Kerry's earlier lead in New Jersey.
A Star-Ledger/Eagleton-Rutgers Poll last week had Kerry at 43 percent to Bush's 39 percent, erasing a double-digit lead once held by the Democratic challenger.
Mrs. Bush made several references to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks during her speech Thursday. She said that many in New Jersey, including some in neighborhoods near the firehouse, lost family members that day.
"Too many people here had a loved one that went to work in New York that day," Bush said. "It's for our country, it's for our children, our grandchildren that we do the hard work of confronting terror."
Saying that more families have two parents working, she said President Bush will support initiatives allowing for flexible work time and to give increased flexibility in health care coverage.
"We know that families face new challenges and that government should respond to these changing times," said Mrs. Bush.
BR says hi back! I hope President and Mrs. Bush comes to see us! I will definitely be going if they do!
And I am sure that would please the son that died so that you had the freedom to chastise his mother.
You must be young and inexperienced in losing someone. I take it you are a male with no comprehension of being a mother. Do you think any mother is glad to have her son die for a cause? Causes are ideals - death is reality.
She will mourn as she pleases no matter what you have to say about it.
I agree she is shameful and dishonoring her son. I am just saying that a mother in grief goes through stages one of which is anger directed at someone because it is just one of the stages. So she directs it at the government and Bush.
This stage is temporary as she comes to grips with reality.
Another thing - when a mother loses a son, she is not even thinking about pride, country, honor, patriotism - unless she is in denial, etc. When you lose someone - you realize real quick what is reality - the loss - and what is superficial - honor, patriotism, etc.
Not everybody does this but a death is so profound when totally realized that all fringe views, ideals, politics, etc. become totally unimportant. This is because of the depression. After the depression resolves itself, these society standards become of value again. But when seeing what is loss, nothing else matters.
Each person grieves in their own way on their own time frame. I am just saying - out of respect for her son and his death for us, we, at the very least, can be tender to his mother.
Now, if it turns out she is using his death and it is not tied to her grief, then I too would disrespect her.
But, I am not about to attack the mother of a soldier dying on the battlefield for our country.
Ah, the old feminist argument - men just don't "feel" as deeply as women do. Fathers don't care if their kids die as long as it doesn't interfere with their football watching schedule, while mothers who can't get their fill of newscameras mourn "authentically."
Save it for Gloria Steinem. Nobody here's buying it.
Do you think any mother is glad to have her son die for a cause?
No one is expecting joy from a grieving mother - but her son deserves respect, not treason, in her grief.
She will mourn as she pleases no matter what you have to say about it.
Exactly - she will do whatever pleases herself - her son and her country be damned.
Again, she is scum and she is dishonoring her son.
Hi Malia,
thanks for the welcome and the gracious way you express yourself.
She may be scum - many people are, she is dishonoring her son. However, she is still his mother and since when do we attack a dead soldier's mother?
Out of respect for the soldier and out of respect for the price that family has paid, I will not attack the mother. And, I will not go about "judging" the actions of other parents of dead soldiers.
Do you really think that soldier would be glad to hear that people were treating his mother that way? NO? Then why in the heck do it - unless of course it makes YOU feel better.
You can do what you want.
Here Here
Yes -- once they make their grief so public, I think people can question their motives publicly also. I could see losing a son fighting for freedom in Iraq could be hard when meanwhile hundreds of thousands of Muslims are living the good life in the USA -- why aren't they over there fighting for freedom?
Somehow I don't recall mothers of the WWII era pulling stunts like this when FDR was campaigning. And this was during the draft, not today's volunteer military. If you know that the military is there to "kill people and break things" (Rush's definition), then you must accept that your son/husband who joins may have to fight and die. Don't act surprised when it happens. Reality bites.
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