"Only dull people are brilliant at breakfast"
-Oscar Wilde		 Brilliant at Breakfast title banner "The liberal soul shall be made fat, and he that watereth, shall be watered also himself."
-- Proverbs 11:25
"...you have a choice: be a fighting liberal or sit quietly. I know what I am, what are you?" -- Steve Gilliard, 1964 - 2007

"For straight up monster-stomping goodness, nothing makes smoke shoot out my ears like Brilliant@Breakfast" -- Tata

"...the best bleacher bum since Pete Axthelm" -- Randy K.

"I came here to chew bubblegum and kick ass. And I'm all out of bubblegum." -- "Rowdy" Roddy Piper (1954-2015), They Live
Tuesday, August 09, 2005

Cindy Sheehan talks back
Posted by Jill | 6:44 AM

I'm taking the liberty of re-posting excerpts from Cindy Sheehan's Day 3 update from Crawford (emphases mine):

I conservatively got 3 to 5 phone calls a minute. I did about 25 phone interviews and several TV interviews. I did several right-wing radio interviews. I was supposed to do: The Today Show, MSNBC live interview, Connected Coast to Coast (MSNBC) and Hardball (MSNBC). The Today Show just never showed up and the other 3 MSNBC shows cancelled for no reason. Could it be because NBC is owned by General Electric, a major defense contractor??

Another big story that was going on today was about my first meeting with Bush in June of 2004. For you all I would like to clarify a few things. First of all, I did meet with George, and that is not a secret. I have written about it and been interviewed about it. I will stand by my recounting of the meeting. His behavior was rude and inappropriate. My behavior in June of 2004 and is irrelevant to what is going on in 2005.

[snip]

The VERY LAST THING I HAVE TO SAY ABOUT THIS IS: Why do the right wing media so assiduously scrutinize the words of a grief filled mother and ignore the words of a lying president?


Amen to that. More:

the early afternoon, we got word that if we were still there by Thursday, we were going to be deemed a "security threat" to the president. Condi and Rummy are coning in on Thursday for a "policy" meeting. Don't they mean conspiracy to commit crimes meeting? I just don't understand why we will be a security threat on Thursday when we aren't now? If we don't leave on Thursday, we will be arrested. Well, I am not leaving. There are only three things that would make me leave: if George comes out and talks to me; if August comes to an end, or if I am arrested.

[snip]

People are heading here from all over the country. I have some more Gold Star Families for Peace members coming tomorrow. We are amazed by the outpouring of love and support we are getting. If you can come, then come.


Gotta love it. She is one tough tomato. This is the Bush Administration's worst nightmare made flesh. I can't believe they're still living in enough of a bubble that they don't realize that arresting a bereaved war mom on national television is not going to exactly help their image. More:

Today was so bizarre for me. I got phone calls from famous people pledging their support, and phone calls from mothers with sons in Iraq who are overcome with emotion when they talk to me. And it is so brave for them to call me, because I am their worst fear. We had a young man who is in the US Army at Ft. Hood come this morning and spend hours with us. He has been there and his unit is scheduled to go back in October. How much courage did that take for him to come within earshot of his commander in chief's home and spend time with some old hippy protestors???


And this is where today's antiwar movement differs from that of the Vietnam era. Back then, the movement was spearheaded by kids with deferments, often rebelling against their WWII-generation parents, who couldn't fathom the idea that our government would get us into an unjust war. It even differs from the movement that marched in New York City over three years ago. Today's movement is being hatched at kitchen tables all across America, and it's not being hatched by A.N.S.W.E.R activists. Instead it's being hatched by bereaved war moms, veterans of THIS WAR, men and women with sons in their teens who are pro-military, support our troops, but who don't want to see anyone else's son come back in a box. Cindy Sheehan, a mom from a Republican stronghold, is the face of today's antiwar movement, and she's a tough face to demonize....though God knows they're trying to.

What's surprising is that the MSM didn't wait six weeks, as they did with the Downing Street Minutes, to start covering Sheehan's vigil. Perhaps those 45% approval ratings and the polls showing that a majority of Americans think Bush is a liar have something to do with it.

The New York Times has an editorial about Sheehan today. It's a good piece, which also notes the appalling lack of sacrifice Americans without loved ones in the military are being asked to make. But even the Times has to make a snarky remark that Sheehan also makes a convenient "media figure", alluding to a summer in which there are no recent developments in the disappearance of Natalee Holloway and no recent shark attacks.

All Bush has to do is go out there for five minutes. Remember, Bush had time to hobnob with porn star Mary Carey at a Republican fundraiser. Bush had time to fly back to D.C. to sign legislation injecting the government into the Schiavo case. Bush had time to answer softball questions from a hooker in the White House press room. But he hasn't had time to attend any military funerals, and he doesn't have five minutes to spend with the mother of one of the soldiers he sent off to his death?

UPDATE: The Lone Star Iconoclast is posting updates daily.
0 comments
Bookmark and Share