A word or two for the Sheehan hangers-on
(Note: This is NOT directed towards my friends on the left who civilly disagree about going into Iraq and/or how the war has been conducted and who argue in a thoughtful, respectful manner about your feelings on the issue. I respect your opinions even though I don’t agree with them. This is directed towards the groupies/hangers-on of Cindy Sheehan and her quest to ‘talk’ to President Bush.)
Sheehan hangers-on, you’re disgusting.
Not only have you used one woman’s grief over losing her son in Iraq to advance your pathetic little anti-war agendas, you’re also doing your level best to dishonor the memory of this woman’s son – Casey Sheehan – and the other nearly 2000 men and women who have made the ultimate sacrifice in Iraq. Why? Because your bitter hatred for the President blinds your decency towards 1) honoring the fallen as well as those who are still serving, and 2) expressing honest thoughtful dissent about the war.
How dare you!
Have you no shame? You’ve hijacked Cindy Sheehan’s ‘campaign’ (and yes, I know she’s become a willing participant) and used it as a springboard to denigrate the mission that men like Casey Sheehan died for. You rabid anti-war folks are a dream to the enemy. Don’t think for one second that they aren’t watching and laughing (while planning their next series of attacks) as you preen before the cameras to express your righteous indignation and make your silly statements about "Bush lied" and "war for oil" and "sign up Jenna and Barbara to serve."
You look stupid.
But what’s worse than that is that you are hurting the very troops you claim you want to protect. By spewing your venom and latching on to Cindy Sheehan’s grief like parasites, you do a great disservice to your country. Honest, thoughtful, and respectful dissent is one thing, but when you take it to the next level – and it’s not a "higher level" mind you, but a lower level of discourse, you give aid and comfort to the enemy. And I’m not afraid to say that. If you want to think I’m questioning your patriotism, go right ahead because I won’t deny it: I AM questioning your patriotism.
I don’t question the patriotism of honest anti-war people like Robert L. Jamieson, Jr. – who could hardly be considered a Republican shill. He writes:
Sheehan’s Texas tantrum wittingly or unwittingly abets left-leaning forces that are happy to use her to get at the president. If the anemic antiwar movement needs a mourning mom to lead the charge against this unjust war, then the movement is in dire straits.
Protest marches and demonstrations, which powered public sentiment against the war in Vietnam, have been reduced to this — a mom with a mic.
Pathetic.
My thoughts drift to grieving parents of slain troops who have not even had a chance to meet with Bush.
There are hundreds of soldiers’ families — several in the Seattle area — in as much grief as Sheehan is over the death of her son, Casey, last year in Operation Iraqi Freedom.
They haven’t found the need to shack up near the president’s vacation pad to shame him into a confrontation under the guise of seeking sincere dialogue.
Some of these families believe the war is wrong, too.
They just choose to deal with their feelings in a way that doesn’t cheapen the memory of their loved ones or turn a grave matter into a media circus standoff that generates more heat than light.
I can respect that – and his opinion on this war (even though I don’t agree with his stance on the war). I know many other anti-war folks who feel the same and count them amongst my friends. But are you listening to Mr. Jamieson, Code Pink? Are you listening Gold Star Families for Peace? Are you listening, John Conyers, who wrote a letter to President Bush that apparently has 18 or so signatures from other nitwit members of Congress, urging the President to meet with Sheehan? You guys are pathetic, and you do a great disservice to this country, and you do your level best to dishonor the fallen heros of the Iraq war was well as those still in combat today.
I don’t believe for one second the vast majority of you give a damn about our troops – fallen or not. This is about one thing: your unabashed hatred and disgust with President Bush. Cindy Sheehan’s campaign is just one rung on the ladder you use to openly express that hatred and disgust, and your use of it as a tool to advance your hateful diatribes against the President and the war in Iraq in a way that is so dishonorable, that makes me ashamed that you are an American.
Vietnam war protestors claimed to "support the troops but not the mission" – they were liars. We all know what happened to those troops upon their return home from service. They were spat on, sneered at, laughed at, made fun of, told they were mentality unstable. There’s a parallel to be drawn here between what those protestors did then, and you Sheehan’s hangers-on are doing now: what you are doing is spitting on the honor of these women and men, and creating an atmosphere of dishonest dissent that will serve only to embolden our enemies against those troops you claim to "support." Is that what you really want to do? I’d have to think you do, because no person with even a 10th of a brain could possibly be so stupid as to do something that would deliberately create a situation that would, on down the line, put our troops in harms way even more than they already are.
My suggestion for you is this: if you are truly interested in honest, thoughtful dissent about this war, stop expressing it in a way that works to cheapen the memories of the Iraq war heroes who have fallen and that doesn’t denigrate the mission of the troops who are still serving who you *claim* to support.
And when people disagree with you, express it in a way that is respectable, and not in a way that is reprehensible – such as the case here (in the comments section), here (see comments section there as well), and here (scroll down to see some of the hate mail Michelle rec’d for her stance on the Cindy Sheehan issue).
Until you start doing that, you’ll CONTINUE to earn the contempt and feel the verbal wrath of others like me in the blogosphere and elsewhere who are sickened by your slimy contemptable tactics. Casey Sheehan deserves to be remembered for his honorable service to our country – not for the hate-filled rhetoric coming from the leeches who have glommed on to his mother’s grief and not for his mother’s misguided attempts at creating a ‘dialogue’ with the President – and saying ‘dialogue’ is really not even the right word to use as I know she doesn’t want to have one with the President, but rather tell him what a "liar" and "murderer" he is. Which is exactly what those who claim to "support" Cindy Sheehan and the troops want her to do. They’re attempting to live their anti-war fantasies vicariously through her and by doing so poison the atmosphere of honest dissent and worst of all, dishonoring the memory of those still serving and those who’ve fallen.
We won’t let you grief and hate mongers get away with it.
BTW, don’t muck up my comments section here with your hateful messages. Any such messages will be deleted without warning. Some bloggers have the patience to deal with such nonsense. I’m not one of them – although I may decide to leave them up long enough for others to see here at this blog how idiotic some of you have become.
Update: I’m going to be out for a good bit of the afternoon enjoying the day. I’ll deal with nasty comments, should there be any, when I return this evening.
—More:
Read Michelle Malkin for all the latest.
Varifrank has a powerful and thoughtful post on this that I can’t disagree with.
Mohammed writes a must-read message to Cindy Sheehan (hat tip: Mudville Gazette).
Kevin Aylward slams the lefty blogosphere for their hateful, hypocritical posts about not only this issue but how those lefty bloggers are blogging the righty blogosphere’s commentary on it.
Evening update: Chrenkoff posts a must read about this issue with lots of interesting links.