NO WOMAN, NO CRY: CINDY SHEEHAN

 

ONE GOOD CONSCIENCE HAS MORE POWER THAN ALL THE ARTILLERY IN THE WORLD. If you doubt this, remember GHANDI. Or MARTIN LUTHER KING. One brave man can make the world new. Or one brave woman. CINDY SHEEHAN is standing  outside George Bush’s Crawford, Texas ranch.  A real woman demands answers from the President, who so likes the heat on vacation, but who has yet to face more heat from a mother.

CINDY SHEEHAN WANTS TO ASK GEORGE BUSH A QUESTION about the Iraq war, a PERSONAL question, a question like so many other questions he has yet to answer.  The VACATIONING Bush is in a tough spot.  His easy living ways will face more scrutiny.

[NY TIMES] "It's just snowballed," Ms. Sheehan said beside a small stand of trees and a patch of shade that contained a sleeping bag, some candles, a jar of nuts and a few other supplies. "We have opened up a debate in the country."
. . . It did not hurt her cause that she staged her protest, which she said was more or less spontaneous, at the doorstep of the White House press corps, which spends each August in Crawford with little to do, minimal access to Mr. Bush and his aides, and an eagerness for any new story.

HOW DOES THE PRESIDENT of the United States get away with so many days off and so many unanswered questions?

A PUBLIC RELATIONS MELTDOWN IS COMING THURSDAY. DAVID SWANSON got a call from Cindy Sheehan saying she will be arrested Thursday for national security reasons if she is still standing outside Bush’s Rancho Fako.  While that seems hard to believe, imagine the imagery of a grieving woman being carted off to  jail.  If Bush allows that to happen, he should be impeached immediately . . . . for stupidity.

BUSH MUST BE BUSY resting from all his hard work having just caught Osama Bin Laden and bringing him to justice, dead or alive.

[HOUSTON CHRONICLE ON BUSH VACATION] White House officials are touchy about criticism of Bush's traditional August break, because most Americans don't get five weeks of vacation a year, nor do they have access to Camp David, the presidential retreat in Maryland where Bush sometimes spends weekends. . . . . In all, Bush has made 49 trips to Crawford for a total of about 325 days since he took office.
At this clip, Bush will surpass the vacation record of President Reagan, who tallied up 436 days in his two terms.

THE HERETIK SAYS Bush seems a little um French on this.  Five weeks off?  It is hard to believe that with Osama Bin Laden still on the loose . . . Bush returns to the place where he heard of Osama's plans for attack . . . for another vacation where he ignored Osama the first time.

BUSH IS THE LAZIEST PRESIDENT EVER.  For hard working Americans wondering where Osama Bin Laden is, Bush's vacation is a Marie Antoinette Let Them Eat Cake Moment, except the moment endures for thirty five days.  For a White House that prides itself on controlling the message, it looks like a few of the horses are out of the barn before the door is closed.

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[FIREDOGLAKE] Cindy Sheehan, the mother whose son Casey was killed in Iraq and who has been camped out at Crawford, Texas until the Idiot in Chief will meet with her has been told that as of Thursday she will be considered a threat to national security and will be arrested.
Coincidentally, Rice and Rummy arrive on Thursday, and on Friday the rich people arrive for a GOP fundraiser. It would be embarrassing to have cranky poor people littering the lawn, so the mother of a fallen American soldier is now equated with Osama Bin Laden and is being stripped of her right to protest and dissent.
I don't invoke Bubba a lot, but there is no way Bill Clinton would let these people go to jail when all it would take is a few minutes of his time to meet with her.

[D/SHAKESPEARE’S SISTER] A threat to national security. Arrested. For the simple act of wanting a straight answer from the dishonorable man who sent her son off to die in a needless war in a country that posed no threat to the United States. Disgusting.
Cindy has said she plans on being arrested, along with everyone else. I hope every major network is there to film it, and that the footage is played on a continuous loop. Then watch all the Beltway gasbags and right-wing stooges like Brit Hume and Charles Krauthammer and Michelle Malkin hem and haw and try to justify armed thugs hauling away the mother of a dead soldier.

[MAHA] I realize Bush needs to rest up for this week's barbeque, but maybe he could find a few moments to speak to Cindy Sheehan.

[FACTESQUE] I have to admit that I'm surprised by this decision.  We've seen protesters in Atlanta on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day  blocked from Dear Leader's view by buses.  We've seen tanks roll into peaceful anti-BushCo demonstrations.  We've seen GOP operatives impersonate Secret Service agents and deny access to a BushCo speech to three people who's crime was the bumper sticker on the car they rode to the rally in.  We've seen people hauled out of BushCo events for wearing NARAL t-shirts.   We've seen peaceful protesters kicked on the floor of the Republican National Convention.  We've seen peaceful protesters shot at with pepper spray guns.  We've seen peaceful protesters and innocent bystanders rounded up and held in for days in a toxic pen on Pier 57 during the Republican National Convention.  We've seen video tapes of their "crimes" doctored and presented as evidence during their trials.

We've seen the President flip off protesters standing peacefully on the side of the road as his bus sped by.  We've seen him flip off the press that dared to ask him a question he didn't want to hear.  We've seen the campaign reporter for the NYT banned from Cheney's plane.

[BLUE GIRL RED STATE] CODEPINK joines Sheehan in her efforts to get a meeting with Bush:
Marching with Sheehan was CODEPINK co-founder Diane Wilson, along with many members of CODEPINK: WOMEN FOR PEACE, a grassroots peace and social justice movement that seeks positive social change through proactive, creative protest and non-violent direct action. Wilson, who continues to stand vigil with Sheehan, pledged that CODEPINK would join Sheehan in solidarity through a hunger strike. Members of CODEPINK are flocking to Crawford to support Sheehan's stance, and are embarking upon vigilant fasts around the globe. Ann Wright, who resigned from the U.S. Foreign Service on March 19, 2003, in disagreement with the Bush administration's decision to go to war in Iraq without the authorization of the UN Security Council, has joined Sheehan and Wilson in their roadside vigil.  

In an open letter, Sheehan writes, "We would like for [President Bush] to explain this 'noble cause' to us and ask him why Jenna and Barbara are not in harm's way, if the cause is so noble." She adds, "If George is not ready to send the twins, then he should bring our troops home immediately." She asks supporters to "Bring water and hats…we plan on staying until we are arrested or satisfied with the answers."

[ELISABETH BUMILLER/NYTIMES] President Bush left for his summer vacation last week, and so did a lot of the White House senior staff. . . . Mr. Bush, of course, was in the less exotic blast furnace of his Texas ranch, settling in for a five-week stay on the prairie that will be his longest time away from Washington as president. His return to his full August idyll - Mr. Bush cut short his time at the ranch last summer because of his re-election campaign - is not only the length of a classic French vacation, but grist for some Democrats, who have accused the president of fleeing Washington to escape the federal investigation into who leaked the name of a Central Intelligence Agency officer to reporters, a potential crime. . . . One reason for the activity might be the desire to be in purposeful motion on another anniversary of the now-infamous C.I.A. briefing that Mr. Bush received at the ranch on Aug. 6, 2001.

RELEVANT LINKS: [HAT TIP: DED ] [MEET WITH CINDY.ORG]  [DAVID SWANSON] [CRAWFORD PEACE HOUSE]

 

Comments

[Neil Shakespeare]

FOLKS, THIS IS THE ULTIMATE BATTLE WITH THE DEVIL.

[Words Have Power]

Over at One Pissed Off Veteran , Farnsworth, keeps track of the number of days that the Bush twins (Jenna and the other Jenna) have been unemployed. He continues to encourage them to give the military a try. If it was a "noble cause" for Casey Sheehan, then it must be a noble cause for the Bush children. In any case he has a great musical tribute to the girls.

[The Heretik]

Media girl, LOL.

[Pepper]

More on Cindy - or, actually, a response to Michelle Malkin, who, just as I expected, pointed the finger at Sheehan and calling her an opportunist.

[Glenn Lane]

I think a number of people remember the Kevin Costner movie, "Field of Dreams" at the end of which is shown a huge line of cars snaking their way to the baseball field (BUILD IT AND THEY WILL COME) and I think the same needs to be done for Cindy Sheehan. If we could get 100,000 to 500,000 people to show up in Crawford, Texas to show our support for her it could cause a policy shift by this neocon administration or at least put them notice.