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Posted on 08/17/2005 3:00:17 PM PDT by crazyhorse691
It's hard to believe that the Bush administration let the Cindy Sheehan situation get to this point.
You'd almost think it was out of touch.
Sheehan, of course, is the California mother who set up near Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas, and demanded that the president come out and tell her why her son died in Iraq, and just what is the "noble cause" that the president often invokes.
Actually, last week she was a California mother.
This week, she's a movement.
Partly, that's because of the president's decision to dismiss her importance, a strategy that didn't work with the Iraqi insurgency, either. A brief encounter early on -- even if tricky for a president who meets only with screened and selected audiences -- would have diminished the story, or maybe even turned it around.
Instead, the White House adopted a strategy of presidential motorcades whizzing past her -- which, not surprisingly, somehow didn't work. And now that Sheehan has declared that Bush is a "maniac" who "murdered my son," it's hard to imagine a useful conversation between them, even with refreshments.
The Bushies doubtless hope that such statements from Sheehan will discredit her, but it may not happen soon. Her comments in a telephone press conference Tuesday included denunciations of "warmongering" and "imperialism," but also arguments more shrewdly crafted than anything heard from Democratic senators:
"We've been in Iraq for two years, and our troops still don't have the proper body armor and the proper vehicle armor," Sheehan told one questioner, "and I'm accused of not supporting the troops because I want them to come back alive?"
Maybe Bush was right to shrink from a conversation.
And, unstoppably, "The movement has to focus on people who have had skin in the game," people who have lost people in Iraq. "How can you argue with our hearts?"
Hearts may not be the ideal organ for making foreign policy. But in a war that Americans' heads tell them isn't working -- the belief that it's being handled well is now near 35 percent -- hearts have a particular power.
"Whether you agree or disagree with every part, or any part, of what Cindy wants to say, you know it is better that the president hear different opinions, particularly from those with such a deep and personal interest in the decisions of our government," Elizabeth Edwards, wife of Democratic vice presidential candidate John Edwards, wrote Tuesday.
"Today, another voice would be helpful. Cindy Sheehan can be that voice. She has earned the right to be that voice."
The press conference announced that tonight would see more than 1,000 vigils around the country in support of Sheehan. More than a dozen are scheduled in Portland -- involving people who feel they have, in some way, skin in the game.
Somehow, the Bush White House never saw any of this coming. Somehow, as it built, the president offered an almost breathtaking explanation of how he had to manage his time: "I think the people want the president to be in a position to make good, crisp decisions and to stay healthy. And part of my being is to be outside exercising. So I'm mindful of what goes on around me. On the other hand, I'm also mindful that I've got a life to live and will do so."
Which would have been the ideal response, if the key national concern of this August was whether the president was getting enough exercise.
Instead, even within the administration there's a realization that the war is not turning out as planned or promised, and that it needs a new direction.
"What we expected to achieve was never realistic given the timetable or what unfolded on the ground," a "senior official involved in policy since the 2003 invasion," told The Washington Post last week.
"We are in a process of absorbing the factors of the situation we're in and shedding the unreality that dominated at the beginning."
So maybe a mother whose son died under the now-abandoned unreality can ask which reality applies now.
And maybe it's not so surprising that the Bushies have let the Sheehan problem turn out this badly.
After all, which part of the Iraq situation have they handled well?
David Sarasohn, associate editor of The Oregonian, can be reached at 503-221-8523 or davidsarasohn@news.oregonian.com.
"It's hard to believe that the Bush administration let the Cindy Sheehan situation get to this point."
Translation: Bush's Fault.
"You'd almost think it was out of touch."
Wrong, Mr. Sarasohn. It's you and your friends who are out of touch - with reality. You really think the President has to take seriously every person's demand that he meet with them? Do you really believe that Sheehan is a person the President has to meet with?
"Today, another voice would be helpful. Cindy Sheehan can be that voice. She has earned the right to be that voice."
Sigh. So ignorant. The right is inalienable. I read that somewhere...
She didn't have to earn the right to speak, but she sure is abusing it.
"A brief encounter early on ... would have diminished the story, or maybe even turned it around."
No it wouldn't .
"...This week, she's a movement..."
Uhh yeah, she is definitely a "movement" alright.... Shall I continue to explain the type???
LOL!
Dishonest article about a dishonest woman and a fake "movement". And that, at this point, the only people who think she is important are the people who oppose Bush no matter what happens.
If he meets with her, not one mind will have been changed about anything. Except for one thing; that Bush is weak and can be bullied. That message will be sent loud and clear.
Cindy,
I can call you Cindy, can't I? After all the grooming and coaching and help you have received from the various organizations who are supporting you, I thought I should maybe refer to you on a first name basis like they do.
While I have the utmost empathy for the loss of your son (I lost my Dad (a World War II combat vet) and brother last year, and my only uncle on my mother's side was killed in service to this nation), I take issue with your so-called protests. You see, I have taken a couple of weeks to do some research on you...to read your speeches and look at the organizations you have allied yourself with and what they are saying...what you are saying.
In that regard, concerning your protest outside of Crawford, Texas, and your many statements regarding the death of your son, Casey, and against the war in Iraq, where your son was fighting for his country and died in that war, I have this to say to you:
Yours is the most despicable, shameless, disgusting spectacle I have ever seen from any mother.
Do you not care that you are shaming and sullying the memory of your brave, patriotic son? After reading about your "protest" and your long history against the war in Iraq and this President, it is clear to me, and, I believe, to any other objective, reasoned individual, that you are clearly doing this to your son's memory for you own purely anti-American political purposes and for your own stage.
Casey volunteered, Ms. Sheehan, and according to other members of the family, knew exactly what he was about in his service to his nation. My guess is that, because of your activities, there must have been some fairly significant disagreement between the two of you regarding the same.
Now you are using his loyal service and HIS DEATH...to promote causes which he showed by his own service and sacrifice that he stood four square against, and was willing to die fighting against.
How utterly disgusting, and how disrespectful to Casey's memory and all he stood for, how terribly selfish of you.
It is really Casey whom you are fighting Ms Sheenan, isn't it? It is the statement he made with his service and with his life, and his willingness, all of your protests and carryings on notwithstanding, to fight for his nation against enemies he clearly saw, that you are really railing against.
How pathetic of you. Shame on you...how could you?
You are apparently so self-indulgent that you do not care the spectacle you are making of your own son's death, or the disservice or disrespect you do to his memory, to his wishes and goals and to his service to all of us...including yourself.
Please, for Casey's sake, and his memory...for all he believed in...ask his forgiveness and step back from this sorry, awful spectacle you are making.
I pray, and am absolutely sure that God will rest his soul...and I pray that He will have mercy on yours.
Cordially,
Jeff Head
she is definitely a "movement" alright
The "movement" the stale old anti-war hate America "movement " , that movement. Yawn....
I hope her handlers let her see that email.
David: Could you explain to me why you would write a news story about Cindy stating that President Bush refuses to meet with this poor woman who lost a son in Iraq, when you know full well that he has already met with her on two different occasions. Now that she is criticizing him its news. But when she was praising him it wasn't? Your agenda is transparent to the computer world! rocksblues
A bowel movement.
Maybe that email is something she checks herself. I hope she somehow realizes what a terrible disservice she is doing to her son, and to herself. But I'm not going to hold my breath though.
Sort of stupid to read any more after this point.
The woman has basically declared an extortion demand: either meet with me or I'll give you bad press. One doesn't give in to extortion. There would then be no end to it.
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