Posted on 08/25/2005 4:52:12 AM PDT by Embraer2004
Left's effort in Vacaville fell surprisingly short By Catherine Moy
Toni Oliver wears a gold military-style dog tag on her neck. The tag has a picture of her high school sweetheart, Pvt. Sean A Silva. One day in October 2003, while Toni was shopping, her phone rang.
"My sister called and asked me if I was sitting down," Silva said Wednesday night from the back of a pickup in Vacaville where she rallied for American troops. "She told me Sean got killed."
Sean died Oct. 9, 2003, in an ambush in Iraq. Toni, a Vacaville resident, has had enough of another Vacaville woman, Cindy Sheehan, whose life also changed as a result of the war.
"She makes it sound like it was a draft or something," Toni said of Sheehan's anti-war protest outside of President Bush's Crawford Ranch. "(Army Spc. Casey Sheehan) signed on the dotted line. It is the same concept I had to deal with when we learned Sean died." Spc. Sheehan was killed in 2004 while serving in Iraq.
Sheehan has demanded to see President Bush for a second time to ask for what "noble cause" her son died.
If she would have come home to Vacaville on Wednesday night, more than 75 of her neighbors would have answered.
It was the cause that Bob Vigil, Dan Brown and The Brotherhood of Vietnam Veterans of Vacaville fought for in Vietnam. It was the same cause Charles Mazza fought for in Korea. And the same cause Pvt. Silva died for in Iraq.
Sheehan's Texas standoff ended, at least temporarily, on Thursday when her mother suffered a stroke, another tragic turn in Sheehan's life. The mainstream media have used her to give legitimacy to their coverage, which is bent against President Bush.
An example of biased reporting landed on doorsteps around the country Thursday. Large pictures of MoveOn.org's anti-war crowd were featured in newspapers. Smaller pictures of the pro-troops rallies ran in secondary spots.
The news should have been that the individuals supporting the troops came out as strong as the well-organized, well-financed pro-Sheehan groups. I went to the vigil in Vacaville and hand counted both groups. The count is important because Vacaville is ground zero, home of Sheehan.
At first only five people held candles supporting Sheehan, while more than 30 held flags on the other side of Merchant Street. By 7 p.m. - after the candleholders made cell phone calls - the numbers evened out. At the height of the demonstrations, both sides ran 75 to 80 people.
All folks were respectful except for a young man waving a rainbow-colored flag in the faces of veterans. In another instance, Charles Turner taunted veterans with his anti-Bush sign.
Because Vacaville is ground zero in the Sheehan debate, I would expect more peaceniks to flock here than any other place besides San Francisco or Berkeley.
If this is the best the left can do, it's time to put the Birkenstocks and "Bush-lied" signs away. They may have destroyed troop morale during Vietnam, but this time they will fail as long as the Toni Olivers of the world stand against liberal's nonsensical rhetoric.
Why is it that those who oppose war are usually most violent and aggressive?
Prayers for Sean and his family.
Could be Mommy Dearest's mom's medical problems were caused by stressing over her daughter's "it's all about me" mental breakdown.
Because they are angry and bitter that America does not listen to their garbage and twisted rhetoric. That is why the Left continues to slide into the annals of insignificance and is bringing down the Democratic Party.
Way to go Vacaville!
by the looks of her face and demeanor, she seems to be more exultant in the attention than grief stricken.
funny. her mom needs her now, but where is she?
getting her hair done in front of a hundred cameras for two hundred interviews.
Maybe they're against war because they fear, deep down inside, that in a fog of war situation, they would be the kind of person who commits atrocities. So, when there is a war, they have to protest against it because of the slim chance they might be drafted and end up proving that they are in fact the monster they fear they are, and even during the protest, that monster rears its ugly head.
Cindy Sheehan is despicable. She is a media-whore, a Tragedy Pimp (like Glenn Beck calls her). Vacaville has had enough of the vulture; poor Vacaville, first there was Charles Manson linked to it, now it is the detested Cindy Sheehan!
Every time we stand up to these ant-Americans we win!
This will be no exception!
The silent majority is silent no longer!
You might be on to something. It would explain the violent streak in many of them.
"Why is it that those who oppose war are usually most violent and aggressive?"
...Because their only exposure to war is via video games and paintball. They have no clue as to what they are talking about.
Thank you for your service.
some of the pictures of her are priceless, like the one of her new tattoo of casey's name on a leg now sporting $250 sandals...then there's the pic of her immediate and very dramatic sobbing when she saw the picture of casey yesterday when she returned to her ditch.
it's as if she has become a soap opera actress, only without the looks.
Just looking at the picture of your nephew makes me so proud to be an American. What a fine young man. Please tell him we are so proud of him and so thankful for what he is doing. He will remain in my prayers as airborne's nephew.
I assumed Vacaville was full of lefty retired professors and earth-firsters.
(steely)
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