The left has found its next cause célébre in the form of Cindy Sheehan, the mother of a soldier who was killed in Iraq.
Sheehan is being exploited, pure and simple. She herself is exploiting the memory of her son for partisan talking points. This entire affair is ghoulish in the extreme.
Spc. Casey Sheehan joined the military of his own free will. He reenlisted in the military of his own free will – apparently against the wishes of his mother. He made the honorable choice to serve his country, and he lost is life in the service of this country – joining millions of other Americans who have given their lives during times of war. Cindy Sheehan has ensured that his memory is being turned into a deeply divisive partisan campaign in which she’s appropriating her son for herself.
Sheehan had already met with the President once before. This is what she said then:
The 10 minutes of face time with the president could have given the family a chance to vent their frustrations or ask Bush some of the difficult questions they have been asking themselves, such as whether Casey’s sacrifice would make the world a safer place.
But in the end, the family decided against such talk, deferring to how they believed Casey would have wanted them to act. In addition, Pat noted that Bush wasn’t stumping for votes or trying to gain a political edge for the upcoming election.
“We have a lot of respect for the office of the president, and I have a new respect for him because he was sincere and he didn’t have to take the time to meet with us,” Pat said.
Sincerity was something Cindy had hoped to find in the meeting. Shortly after Casey died, Bush sent the family a form letter expressing his condolences, and Cindy said she felt it was an impersonal gesture.
“I now know he’s sincere about wanting freedom for the Iraqis,” Cindy said after their meeting. “I know he’s sorry and feels some pain for our loss. And I know he’s a man of faith.”
And now Cindy Sheehan is sitting in Crawford, Texas making herself into a media whore and spouting anti-Semitic conspiracy theories. Cindy Sheehan, the woman who met with the President and stated that President Bush was “sincere” is now spouting the same kind of inane rhetoric one would expect from the deepest fever swamps of the left.
Mrs. Sheehan has the right to express her opinion. She can protest – within the law – all she wants. However, she doesn’t deserve a pass on her lies and her actions. She’s turned her personal grief into a political spectacle, and the more she speaks the worse things come. No doubt that once she becomes too hot to handle the leftist media will drop her just like they’ve dropped the cavalcade of anti-Bush figures that they’ve propped up in their continual attempts to manufacture dissent.
Furthermore, to anyone who understands anything about Bush knows that the President cares deeply about the soldiers. We’ve all seen it in his face, at the RNC Convention last year, in his speeches, and in his actions:
Privately, Bush has met with about 900 family members of some 270 soldiers killed in Iraq or Afghanistan. The conversations are closed to the press, and Bush does not like to talk about what goes on in these grieving sessions, though there have been hints. An hour after he met with the families at Fort Bragg in June, he gave a hard-line speech on national TV. When he mentioned the sacrifice of military families, his lips visibly quivered.
Newsweek‘s article gives a view of the President that he deliberately hides. Anyone with even a smidgeon of doubt that assumes that Bush doesn’t care about the families of the soldiers killed in this war doesn’t know the President in the slightest.
Spc. Casey Sheehan gave his life for his country of his own free will, reenlisting in the Army and serving with honor. He was an adult, a citizen, a patriot, and a hero.
Cindy Sheehan is a woman whose private grief has been systematically exploited for political gain. She is tarnishing the cause for which her son died, and systematically aiding the enemy in their propaganda campaign – endangering the lives of his fellow soldiers in Iraq.
But Sheehan isn’t the worst player in this whole sordid affair. That title belongs to the ghouls who are using a mother’s grief to further their own political ends.
The way to honor Spc. Casey Sheehan and all the other soldiers who died in this conflict as well as those who continue to serve in Iraq, Afghanistan, and everywhere else in this global conflict against Islamic extremism is to support their mission and see to it that the cause for which they died shall not have been in vain.
UPDATE: This is why Casey Sheehan is the person who should be getting the media attention here.
Specialist Sheehan was a mechanic with an artillery unit attached to the 1st Cavalry who reenlisted in the military at the age of 24. During his final tour in Iraq, a group of soldiers from his unit were attacked by terrorists in the Sadr City district of Baghdad. Specialist Sheehan volunteered to go in which a rapid rescue force to get those men out of that firefight. His commanding sergeant told him that as a mechanic he did not have to go into that fight.
His response: “I go where my chief goes.”
Specialist Sheehan never returned from that mission.
That is bravery and heroism, and that is why it is soldiers like him, not the peanut gallery back home who should be getting the attention of the media.
UPDATE: Jeff Goldstein is on a roll with this story, and he’s pulling no punches in mocking the moonbats who are trying to milk this story for all its worth. Meanwhile, La Shawn Barber makes the impassioned argument that we should all just let this whole thing go. Were Sheehan not being used as a tool by the anti-Bush left, I’d agree, but when she’s making herself into a public figure she’s opened herself up to a great deal of very well-deserved criticism.
Check this one out. Didn’t know where else to put it, so I am sorry if the link does not at all relate to Jay’s post. Might be relevant in some way, though.
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/focus/story/0,6903,1548808,00.html
Amazing. Cindy Sheehan sacrifices a son for a war that you think you’re too good to fight, and you sit comfortably behind your computer and smear her.
Enlist or shut up.
You first.
Yeah really, Jay.
Freedom of speech is only for those who enlist.
Unless you oppose the war.
Or hate Bush.
And conservatives.
Let me be clear about one thing as well: the “chickenhawk” argument is an argument that is profoundly antidemocratic. In this country, we have freedom of speech. Anyone can support or oppose this war regardless of whether they’ve served in the military or not. Our military is under civilian control – and that’s by deliberate design.
If people think that only those who serve should have the right to speak out for or against the war, fine, but then you want a military dictatorship, not a democracy.
Jay, but you’re also the one who just last week said that people who oppose the war should do so quietly. Voicing opposition to wartime policy is tantamount to giving comfort to the enemy, you told us. In effect, you told those who opposed the war to “shut up”.
Now, you’re saying balking at some of your own medicine when someone challenges you to join this war that you believe nobody should even critically talk about. Free speech works both ways. You can’t in good conscience go around saying that Britney Spears was right to demand unquestioning “support” for Bush in everything he does, and one week later state your “freedom of speech” to smear the mothers who lost a child in war, all while maintaining your continued lack of interest in fighting this war that nobody should be criticizing.
No, let’s look at what I actually said:
So, if dissent is patriotic. the KKK are patriots. Do they not dissent from the popular view. Neo-Nazis are ardent patriots by that definition.
Dissent is not a substitute for real patriotism
The very dictionary definition of “patriot” is one who loves his or her country and supports its authority and interests. By that definition, Cindy Sheehan isn’t a patriot. Here’s what she’s said about this country:
With all due respect for Mrs. Sheehan and her personal situation, the only response to that is that if she hates this country so much then she’s welcome to leave.
Yes, Mrs. Sheehan has the right to speak out – and every American who actually cares about this country has the right to call her a anti-Semitic media whore who is pissing on the grave of a good man. The fact that its her own son makes it even more disgusting.
And even more disgusting than that is the way in which the left have exploited this woman’s grief to further their own defeatist ends.
Again, had a group tried this kind of shit during World War II they’d be ridden out of town on a rail. The fact that so many find it perfectly acceptable to slander this country shows just how much American civil society has declined over the years.
Dissent is the highest form of patriotism.
If you believe that your government is WRONG, you must dissent. End of story.
Many people believe that the government is, in this case, very wrong (I am witholding judgement), and have a right to dissent; you have a right to disagree. But keep in mind that to many people, a corrupt government is in charge of this country and is engaged in an unlawful war, and to them you’re guilty of supporting a morally abhorent regime.
There’s a reason nobody tried this “shit” during WWII- it was clearly legitimate. It has nothing to do with any “decline” of civil society.
(In any event though, I am witholding judgement. I have no opinion on the war either way. In fact, given my recent political realignment, I should be supporting the war ESPECIALLY if it is being waged under corrupt pretenses…)
The problem with that is that it isn’t remotely true.
“Hitler was a great guy.”
“Gigli was the greatest movie ever made.”
“Sex with seven-year-olds should be made legal.”
All of those are dissenting positions, but they’re also stupid, morally repugnant, or both.
Dissent is only patriotic when it is informed dissent. The crap that spews forth from useful idiots like Michael Moore and Cindy Sheehan doesn’t even come close.
We’re in a war with people who behead aid workers and blow up children. And we have a sizable amount of our population that cares more about their own infantile conspiracy theory crap than winning that war.
There are some intelligent anti-war arguments, and there are a hell of a lot of intelligent critiques of Bush Administration policy in Iraq. Just not from Sheehan, MoveOn, or the rest.
Try telling the bus driver he is heading the wrong way. Grab the wheel and the passengers have the right to beat the shit out of you. The way to dissent against government policy is to vote for someone else at the next election. Until then, the rules say he is president, for better or for [Jimmy Carter] worse. Imagine a society where public policy is decided by the noisiest riot. On second thought, don’t because the loony left would all be chivareed to Canada.
Jay and Walter, the British would have loved having “patriots” like you around during the Revolutionary War. I for one am thankful that this nation’s founding fathers didn’t adhere to the Britney Spears logic of mindless, robotic allegiance to the king, er President. Had George Washington taken the advice of Jay Reding in the 1770’s, we’d all be eating crumpets and boiled potatoes for dinner every night.
Apparently the left wouldn’t understand the concept of patriotism if it bit them in the ass.
Well, at least with straw men like that, there won’t be any crows hanging around the site for a while…
“So, if dissent is patriotic. the KKK are patriots. Do they not dissent from the popular view. Neo-Nazis are ardent patriots by that definition.”
No, that’s not dissent, dumbass–that’s terrorism. If they confined themselves to rhetoric instead of lynchings, bombings, harassment and physical attacks you might have a case that what they do is “dissent.” But MoveOn.org never blew up a preacher’s house. Michael Moore never strung up a Bush backer. And Cindy Sheehan is standing quietly outside Bush’s home, not lighting a cross in front of it.
Even your strawmen are weak.