Show of Grief

From Drudge Report: Bush Protesting Mom Calls for 'Israel Out of Palestine' (via Little Green Footballs who first noted this story last week).

Anti-war protestor Cindy Sheehan, whose soldier son Casey was killed in Iraq, is calling for Bush's "impeachment," and for Israel to get out of Palestine!

"You get America out of Iraq and Israel out of Palestine and you'll stop the terrorism," Sheehan declares.

From The Washington Post: Cindy Sheehan's Pitched Battle.

Cindy Sheehan vaulted into national consciousness this month on the power of her story as the grieving mother of a fallen soldier.

But what began as a solitary campaign to force a meeting with President Bush by setting up camp along the road to his ranch has quickly taken on the full trappings of a political campaign. Sheehan is working with a political consultant and a team of public relations professionals, and now she is featured in a television ad.

Sheehan began her protest here last Saturday after crisscrossing the country for more than a year demanding answers on why Bush continues to wage what she calls an unjust war in Iraq. After her son Casey Sheehan, 24, was killed in Baghdad last year, she founded Gold Star Families for Peace, an antiwar organization that labored largely in obscurity -- until now.

In part, Sheehan's case has echoed as her grievances merged with what polls show is growing dissatisfaction with the war. But her cause has also been aided by political organizers who swiftly mobilized around her -- recognizing an opportunity to cause acute discomfort for a vacationing president and put a powerful emotional frame around the antiwar movement.

But now even some war critics are voicing criticism of Ms. Sheehan. From The Seattle Post-Intelligencer: Mother's war protest veers onto wrong path by Robert L. Jamieson, Jr. (via Michelle Malkin)

Trouble is Sheehan is not sincerely interested in meeting Bush for a private, heartfelt chat about her understandable anguish and lingering questions.

She wants to make a public splash by allowing critics of the unjustified war in Iraq to use her as a human bazooka against Bush, who got us into this war mess.

That Sheehan would allow her private grief to be plied for a public stunt seems unfathomable even if her underlying message about unnecessary blood being shed by American soldiers hits the mark.

Sheehan already got face time with the president, right here in Western Washington last year -- a fact that folks tend to ignore as Sheehan morphs into the celebrity du jour.

LGF also noted a comment at one leftist site offering P.R. advice for "anti-war" protesters using Ms. Sheehan:

We should call her "Mother Sheehan". We should never call her Cindy; I don’t know her. "Mother Sheehan" is her title, and expresses her ceremonial status as a bereaved mother, calling forth over the dead body of her son. ...

We should use the word “sacrifice”. She has sacrificed the most precious thing a mother has, the life and promise of her child. ...

We should not use the name of her son. Her son is a symbol of all sons who have been sacrificed for this useless and criminal war. ...

If there are any persons who are theatre professionals at the Sheenan vigil, they should arrange things much more theatrically.

UPDATE I -- Aug. 15: A May article at FrontPageMag.com featured more of Cindy Sheehan's opinions about America and Israel (via Lawrence Peck):

"They're not waging a War on Terror but a War of Terror," she said. "The biggest terrorist is George W. Bush." ... "We have no Constitution. We're the only country with no checks and balances. We want our country back if we have to impeach George Bush down to the person who picks up the dog sh-t in Washington! Let George Bush send his two little party animals to die in Iraq. It's OK for Israel to have nuclear weapons but we are waging nuclear war in Iraq, we have contaminated the entire country. It's not OK for Syria to be in Lebanon. Hypocrites! But Israel can occupy Palestine? Stop the slaughter!"

UPDATE II -- Aug. 25: From WorldNetDaily: Cindy: Terrorists 'freedom fighters' (via Lawrence Peck).

Posted by Forkum at August 14, 2005 08:50 PM