What I like about Cindy

Cindy Sheehan touched a nerve.

Not with George Bush, mind you, but with many decent Americans she did.

One day, amidst a lull in the apocalypse cheerleading the dust cleared just a little bit and people saw a Gold Star mother asking "Why?".

Only the most loathsome character, someone like Rush Limbaugh or Anne Coulter would demean someone in Cindy's shoes. But decent people know to respect a great sacrifice like Cindy's and to listen to what she has to say. After all, one can hardly Support the Troops and insult their mothers can they?

What this mother had to say is that her son is dead because the President lied to him. Her son is dead because he had enough faith in America to defend it with his life, and yet that trust was misled.

And she wants to look President Bush in the eye and ask him why he told those lies which cost her so much.

And he is too cowardly to face her.

And so she waits and draws attention to that fact.

And the nation waits wondering much the same thing as Cindy.

And he is too cowardly to face us too, except in sanitized forums where every question is pre-approved.

But Cindy is undeterred and that determination is what I like about her. That, and the fact that she says things like this:

How in the world is anybody still sitting on that fence?'

"If you fall on the side that is pro-George and pro-war, you get your ass over to Iraq, and take the place of somebody who wants to come home. And if you fall on the side that is against this war and against George Bush, stand up and speak out."


Cindy Sheehan

If you decide that you want to stand up and speak out, then you should mark your calendars for this event on Saturday, September 24th:

Just say No

I'd consider it a job well done if all the Bush horses and all the Bush men could not put the Iraq lie back together again. So, if you need just a little push to get down off the fence, then perhaps this article by Ray McGovern will provide the Humpty Dumptian nudge necessary.

In closing I'd like to offer thanks to Cindy for awakening the conscience of a nation. The war supporters try so hard to maintain their ill-gotten war that it must seem daunting to stand in their way? To suffer the personal attacks? To be a Gold Star mother and get lectured about your patriotism from those drive-by ignoramuses?

Perhaps your vigil has turned a death into something that will save lives; not Casey's life, but perhaps the life of the child of a new friend (of which I'm guessing you now have many). Thank you for trying. It is honorable work.