NYT: Of Many Deaths, One Mother's Loss Becomes Problem for Pres

[Rose Siding]

Of the Many Deaths in Iraq, One Mother's Loss Becomes a Problem for the President

President Bush draws antiwar protesters just about wherever he goes, but few generate the kind of attention that Cindy Sheehan has since she drove down the winding road toward his ranch here this weekend and sought to tell him face to face that he must pull all Americans troops out of Iraq now.

Ms. Sheehan's son, Casey, was killed last year in Iraq, after which she became an antiwar activist. She says she and her family met with the president two months later at Fort Lewis in Washington State.

But when she was blocked by the police a few miles from Mr. Bush's 1,600-acre spread on Saturday, the 48-year-old Ms. Sheehan of Vacaville, Calif., was transformed into a news media phenomenon, the new face of opposition to the Iraq conflict at a moment when public opinion is in flux and the politics of the war have grown more complicated for the president and the Republican Party.

Ms. Sheehan has vowed to camp out on the spot until Mr. Bush agrees to meet with her, even if it means spending all of August under a broiling sun by the dusty road. Early on Sunday afternoon, 25 hours after she was turned back as she approached Mr. Bush's ranch, Prairie Chapel, Ms. Sheehan stood red-faced from the heat at the makeshift campsite that she says will be her home until the president relents or leaves to go back to Washington. A reporter from The Associated Press had just finished interviewing her. CBS was taping a segment on her. She had already appeared on CNN, and was scheduled to appear live on ABC on Monday morning. Reporters from across the country were calling her cellphone.............

http://nytimes.com/2005/08/08/politics/08crawford.html

Hallelujah

[Bluebear]

1. How inconvenient. Poor "W". nt

[Rose Siding]

2. This is great coverage.

Lots of detail in the piece. I hope it stays on the NYT front page.

[Bluebear]

3. Me too. Let's get it on OUR front page too!

:thumbsup:

[Pirate Smile]

14. I love the details of how Bush acted during her meeting with him.

As the mother of an Army specialist who was killed at age 24 in the Sadr City section of Baghdad on April 4, 2004, Ms. Sheehan's story is certainly compelling. She is also articulate, aggressive in delivering her message and has information that most White House reporters have not heard before: how Mr. Bush handles himself when he meets behind closed doors with the families of soldiers killed in Iraq.

The White House has released few details of such sessions, which Mr. Bush holds regularly as he travels the country, but generally portrays them as emotional and an opportunity for the president to share the grief of the families. In Ms. Sheehan's telling, though, Mr. Bush did not know her son's name when she and her family met with him in June 2004 at Fort Lewis. Mr. Bush, she said, acted as if he were at a party and behaved disrespectfully toward her by referring to her as "Mom" throughout the meeting.

By Ms. Sheehan's account, Mr. Bush said to her that he could not imagine losing a loved one like an aunt or uncle or cousin. Ms. Sheehan said she broke in and told Mr. Bush that Casey was her son, and that she thought he could imagine what it would be like since he has two daughters and that he should think about what it would be like sending them off to war.

"I said, 'Trust me, you don't want to go there'," Ms. Sheehan said, recounting her exchange with the president. "He said, 'You're right, I don't.' I said, 'Well, thanks for putting me there.' "

What an inconsiderate dumbass! Amazing! I'm so glad she is getting to make sure more of the world hears the details.

[jbnow]

28. He also refused to look

at pictures of her son that she'd brought to the meeting. That's not in the article but is a chilling detail of the meeting.

Mom? He can't learn the names? Mom! How could one not slap his face? To call her what her son can no longer call her.

bush probably thinks it's enough that he deigns to make the time for them. That 'mom' is a homey thing to say and saves so much time in learning names. That would be such hard work.

I wonder if other parents will come forward.

She is a hero. What hard motivation though, the pain of the loss of a son used to take action, to be heard. Bless her

[donheld]

47. I find those details quite disturbing

It would appear to me the man is just as cold and heartless as many of us here at DU have long suspected. A sociopath if you will.

[fortyfeetunder]

49. Glaring signs of disrespect, per her accounts:

1) Calling the woman "Mom" -- When a Ms. Sheehan would have been appropriate
2) Dismissing the loss -- aunt, uncle or cousin...
3) Not even remembering or acknowledging the son's name

[Amaya]

51. Wow!

Ms. Sheehan is an amazing woman. Good for her!

[FighttheFuture]

59. There's more of this meeting here...

http://www.lewisnews.com/article.asp?ID=105971


...
So when Sheehan received an invitation to meet privately with President Bush at the White House two months after her son died, the least she could have expected was a bit of compassion or a kind word coming from the heart.

But what she encountered was an arrogant man with eyes lacking the slightest bit of compassion, a President totally "detached from humanity" and a man who didn’t even bother to remember her son’s name when they were first introduced.

Instead of a kind gesture or a warm handshake, Sheehan said she immediately got a taste of Bush arrogance when he entered the room and "in a condescending tone and with a disgusting loud Texas accent," said: "Who we’all honorin’ here today?"

....

Sheehan said the June 2004 private meeting with the President went from bad to worse to a nightmare when Bush acted like he didn’t even want to know her name. She said Bush kept referring to her as ‘Ma’ or ‘Mom’ while he "put on a phony act," saying things like ‘Mom, I can’t even imagine losing a loved one, a mother or a father or a sister or a brother.’

"The whole meeting was simply bizarre and disgusting, designed to intimidate instead of providing compassion. He didn’t even know our names," said Sheehan. "Finally I got so upset I just looked him in the eye, saying ‘I think you can imagine losing someone. You have two daughters. Imagine losing them?’ After I said that he just looked at me, looked at me with no feeling or caring in his eyes at all."
...

[Cleita]

5. Do you think we should make sure all his vacations,

weekends, recreational breaks and time outs should be very uncomfortable for him? I think we should.

[Bluebear]

8. Every one.

[Rose Siding]

9. She has not only forced him to react, but led the media to the story

by their noses. I'm so proud of her. :cry:

[BeTheChange]

35. We should all go for Labor day...

Come on! 3 day weekends allow for people to come from all over! I just think it is fabulous that the president who has taken the most vacation ever in the history of presidents is going to be on vacation on Labor day!

It is just so damn incongruous.

[Horse with no Name]

43. And let's not forget that during this administration

1. The worst terror attack in our country occurred.
2. We are a country at war with many beginning their 3rd tours and many of the tours lasting upwards of ONE year.

Yet...Bush vacations. I think that is the biggest sign of disrespect.
Even more so...He has the mother of one of these soldiers 5 miles down the road wanting to talk to him and he can't walk his candy ass out to talk with her...yet he FLEW to DC in the middle of the night to sign the Schiavo bill.
I sure hope karma is a double edged sword.

[jayctravis]

4. Cindy is an American.

[GCP]

6. Sounds like she's on GMA tomorrow!

:woohoo:

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.

What goes around comes around - he's kept the WH press corps hanging around like a pack of lackies whom he can ignore whenever he's been down there. Now it's come back and bit him in the ass because they're all so desperate for a story.

:woohoo:

[senseandsensibility]

7. The corporate media is covering this story

and I'm pleasantly surprised. But for how much longer? We all know the lapdogs can not withstand pressure from this administration. As soon as they get their talking points from Rove, we'll have a different situation on our hands. I am so grateful that Cindy is doing this, regardless of the outcome. Any time that she appears on the air, it serves the cause. Go Cindy!! We love you!!! You are a great spokesperson!:loveya: And you have more integrity and courage in your little toe than most of our "top Dems" do in their entire bodies.

[Arkana]

36. It'll be interesting to see how the wingers spin this.

It's a woman who's protesting out in front of Dumbya's pig farm--how exactly do you spin this politically?

[tavalon]

46. That's easy. Rove, who will be writing this round

of right wing talking points, will spin it as treason.

It's a topic he's intimately familiar with.

[uppityperson]

10. Final paragraph of story is good

It is not clear how the White House will handle Ms. Sheehan. Mr. Bush usually comes and goes from the ranch by helicopter, but he might have to drive by her on Friday, when he is scheduled to attend a Republican fund-raiser at a ranch just down the road from where Ms. Sheehan is camped out. She will no doubt get another wave of publicity on Thursday, when Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice join Mr. Bush at the ranch to discuss the war.

[Rose Siding]

15. I'm glad the included the point that the WH tried to

"head off" the situation, by sending proxies to meet with her. It recognizes that this IS important enough for them to try to hush up.

[shelley806]

11. This is wonderful. I saw her today on CNN Wolff Blitzkrieg, and I cried..

n/t

[shelley806]

12. Kick and nominated! Thanks again for the post!

[Frances]

13. When Arnold insulted the nurses in CA they started

following him everywhere and now his poll numbers are way down.

Cindy Sheehan says that she will follow Bush to the White House if he doesn't talk to her. I wonder if she will have the same effect on Bush that the nurses have had on Arnold.

[mopinko]

16. prairie CHAPEL? he calls his fake ranch a chapel?

how did i not ever catch this. what an arrogant ass.

[senseandsensibility]

17. Yes, he actually named it that

Someone said this term just applied to a town nearby, but that's not it. He named his house that. It was on CNN four or five years ago. And they just thought it was so great and so solemn that "our new prsident" was naming his house that. They repeated it for days, and even had a "prairie chapel" graphic whenever they reported breathlessly about the chimp. Then suddenly, they abandoned the name. Rove must have told them it wasn't polling well.

[mopinko]

18. all i can say is GGGAAAAAAGGGG!!!

[steve2470]

19. kick nt

[txindy]

23. It's the name of the road nearby, I didn't know he gave it to the pig farm

Good grief. He's a bigger yutz than I gave him credit for being.

[in_cog_ni_to]

20. Wow! Wow! Wow!

This IS getting the coverage it deserves! :bounce::bounce:

It's about time! We love you, Cindy! You do your son proud. :loveya:

[txindy]

21. Great article. It's a good start.

I think for the visual images out of Crawford someone needs to make a sign that can be updated every day. One like Lou Dobbs has on his show every night visually illustrating how many days that Judith Miller has been (rightfully, IMO) in prison. A sign showing the number of days that Cindy and company have been waiting in Crawford for the Coward-in-Chief to meet with her is sorely needed.

People in this country need all the help they can get understanding what is happening in the country. A sign saying, "DAY 5 BEING IGNORED BY B*SH" (without the * of course) would go a long way towards helping them get the message without having to pick up that fact from the commentary. I don't trust the SCLM to even put that fact in a report. A graphic is needed. Maybe even adding a paraphrasing of Dobson's commentary after his own graphic, "YES, WE ARE KEEPING TRACK!"

[ClayZ]

22. kick and nominate

:kick:


:applause: :applause: :applause:

[Greylyn58]

24. What this says about the Shrub...

is something all of us at DU have known since the very beginning...he's a coward.

And all this cowardly skunk has to do is talk to this woman, this mother, who has lost her son in the Shrub's glorious war. He owes her for the sacrifice that she has given this country.

My take on this is the longer he avoids her, the worse he looks, especially if the MSM gets off their collective asses and really covers this story. It will show the Shrub as the uncaring bastard he truly is.

Shrub claims to honor the service men and women of this country--well let's see how much he truly honors their families.

[LibertyorDeath]

25. He won't face her, he's a fucking coward.

[shadowknows69]

26. this could indeed be the tipping point folks

out of all the scandals and malfeasance one brave woman may finally bring the emperor low. If we see the advantage we must seize it. No paltry made for TV pull out of some troops in a year. Full withdrawal from Iraq and in my opinion Afghanistan as well. Our Government is broke and has been for a long time now. We need to fix it before we can even successfully deal with the world stage anymore.

[Bumblebee]

27. Amazing how much one individual -- if it's the right individual

can accomplish. Kudos to Cindy! :toast:

[AverageJoe]

29. Mahatma Ghandi

The Rev. Dr. Martin Luthor King, Jr.
Cindy Sheehan

Lights unto the world.

[democratic veteran]

30. courage

to stand up for what she believes in.

[burrowowl]

31. Keep signing her petition!

http://elandslide.org/elandslide/petition.cfm?campaign=...

The more the better if he every agrees to she her or she can give the petition to the press.

[AverageJoe]

32. I think there's a problem with your link

It takes me to a page that says there are zero signatures on the petition and doesn't have anywhere for me to sign.

[burrowowl]

45. Damn! You are right!

I don't know what to do except google and see if the petition is still up. I signed it. What is going on?

[FighttheFuture]

58. I think you are missing the campaign # in your link...

[SeattleGirl]

33. Wow!

I love it that they printed the part about her meeting with Bush and how disrespectful he was to her, calling her "mom". I already knew this from something Cindy had written, but to see it in MSM was great! Hang in the Cindy! I can't physically be there with you, but I'm there in spirit, along with a whole bunch of others!!!!


:bounce: :bounce: :toast: :toast: :bounce: :bounce:

[Arkana]

34. George is a fucking coward. He's too chickenshit to face this woman.

She'd tear him apart with her bare hands--but she'd never get the chance, because on the remote chance he left the safety of the pig farm, he'd be surrounded by his hired goons--er, Secret Servicemen.

[DirtyDawg]

37. You absolutely know...

...that the WH and SS corps screen the families geedubya meets with in advance to make sure he won't have a 'Kitner Boy's Mother Moment'...one where a grieving mother slaps the shit out of him while exclaiming - How could you? You knew it was a lie and yet you did it anyway!

[nookiemonster]

42. Yeah, it's a good thing that he's barricaded himself.

God forbid that something would happen to the boy king. The RW would have their new martyr. Must...keep...Cindy....away...

You know they would be petition to name a state after the bum.


:puke:

[Booster]

38. Has anybody read about where Laura is? If she's there with the

dimson, then where's her compassion for a mother who lost her son in a war based on nothing but lies? She can go overseas to comfort people in a foreign land, but she can't go 5 miles down the road to comfort Cindy?

[onehandle]

39. Leave me alone! I'm clearing brush.

Get off my lawn you kids!

[yorkiemommie1]

40. remember the visual image of the man facing the tanks in Tianamin Square?

that's the image i get when i think of Cindy Sheehan.

Like Rosa Parks, Cindy Sheehan symbolizes the power of ONE.

I hope that many others are able to join her.

[shadowknows69]

41. that would make an excellent political cartoon

cindy in front of an M1 tank with the words "Occupation of Iraq" onthe side. Even better a picture of said tank, with GW at the wheel, turning around to flee from Cindy . If any artists take it upon themselves to actually draw this please IM me so I can have you send me a copy for my website.

[yorkiemommie1]

66. I know

i can visualise it but can't even draw stick figures. hopefully someone else can!

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

44. I have a friend who lost a son in Iraq.

The guy was career military and an avowed right winger till the inicident. He's absolutely devasted by the loss and now questions the war.

I'm not at all surprised at Cindy Sheehan's actions.

[Daphne08]

68. If I lost one of my precious sons in this horrid war,

I would be devastated as well.

Cindy is doing the only thing she can since Casey was her only son. :cry:

[xchrom]

48. bush = chickenhawk.

ms sheehan is brilliant, courageous beyond words and is leading by example.

[mopaul]

50. Cindy is the new Osama

she's an enemy of the state now, but bush fears her much worse than he fears osama.

[dbt]

52. There is a prophecy making the rounds

which holds that a woman will be the undoing of bu$hler. Would that it were this "unknown," unsung Mother who has suffered so much for the great LIE that the regime told us all.

All Cindy Sheehan wants is The Truth. That is such a small request!

[muchacho]

53. I wish I was back in Texas now...

folks that are there take this lady some water and food. Maybe a fan...

[Solly Mack]

54. Simply beautiful! The more he resist, the more obvious the coward

he is...

Imagine how that looks....the (so-called) leader of the free world afraid to meet Cindy Sheehan.

[Karenina]

56. Girlfriend! Don't forget your candle!!!

Workin' on the tri-state area! ;-) :hi:

[Tsiyu]

55. Love the coverage; hate the headline

"Ms. Sheehan: your son is just 'one of many.' You are a 'problem.'"

Dehumanizing this situation does not dehumanize the humans. It only dehumanizes the NYT.

[FourStarDemocrat]

57. People are starting to talk about the story...

My friend, who lives in a rural upstate NY area brought it up to me the other day, and asked if I'd heard of the Gold Star group and Cindy Sheehan--she said that there's a lot of people in her area that are members of it. My mom, who only gets her news from msm has heard all about it and is disgusted by Bush's behavior knows all about it. This story is breaking big!

[mistertrickster]

60. Protestors should get a life-sized dept. store mannequin, dressed in blue

jeans and a white T shirt. They should throw the mannequin in front of one of those speeding SS cars as it roars by.

When the SS turns around to see what happened, some guy dressed in blue jeans and a white T shirt should smear ketchup over himself and limp and crawl toward the SS car--

"You bastards hit me. I'm gonna sue. I've got it all on tape. This is going to be on the evening news. Etc. Etc."

Let the bastards think about what would happen if they really followed through on their threats . . . and what an enliving piece of street theater that TV media couldn't resist showing . . .

[AnotherMother4Peace]

61. Do ya think that Bush knows who Casey Sheehan is now?

In his "light hearted" meeting with Cindy shortly after Casey's death, Bush kept calling him "your loved one" & would not look at his picture. He was very detached & unfeeling.

She's on the Today show right now.

[Name removed]

62. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[hayu_lol]

63. This really is a lose lose situation for the Bush/Rove machine.

Doesnt matter what they do...Bush will not accept blame for anything...will not admit to faults...will not accept responsibility.

Here he is, faced with one unarmed woman, and remains hidden behind Laura's skirts.

I hope that women across the country will get behind Cindy and make their feelings known.

All the protestors who were hidden from Bush as he wore out Air Force One on political junkets across the country, are now being seen for the first time on national tv and other media. Bush now has only one protestor to face...just down the road from the 'pigfarm.'

The town of Crawford and the state of Texas finally sees what sort of slime this man is.

I am reminded of what Bush said about 5 years ago when a protestor walked up to him during his campaign for his first stolen election:

The man told Bush he wouldnt vote for him and was telling him why. Bush turned to him and snarled "I don't care what you think."

Have to be some screaming being done inside the ranch house. Shame that we can't hear any of it.

Support Cindy in every way.

[mrsadm]

64. Bush and Laura don't even know about this!

People please! Remember, Bush doesn't read newspapers! He is isolated by his staffers! He doesn't even know about this incident. That's why they sent out the two guys to try to get rid of her - they don't want to tell him.

[volitionx]

65. Cindy RULES...

I just posted this in the topic above, but I want to spread it around:

I heard an interview with her last night on the Laura Flanders Show, on XM Satellite 167 (America Left).

Cindy is ON IT. She gets it.

She said that Bush is totally afraid of her, which is right on.

She said that Bush doesn't plan to leave Iraq, which is also true.

She said that she met him soon after her son was killed, and Bush wouldn't even look at photos of her son, and refused to talk about it, changing the subject every time she tried to talk about it.

She also said that she could tell that Bush didn't have "an ounce of compassion" in him.

Cindy's connected. She knows all about the blogosphere (Daily Kos was mentioned), etc. She's not some clueless protester.

Hopefully, her example will serve as a meme, a template, that will spread to other mothers who have had their children killed in this war, or mothers who fear for their sons lives in Iraq.

This could spread into a great movement.

AND...The longer Bush holds out, the WORSE that FASCIST looks. So it actually benefits us (and the world) that he shows his true colors and doesn't meet with her. Like she said, "he's a coward".

[BabboonBush]

67. I said this before, but...

This is putting Bush where he belongs - on the spot, and between a rock and a hard place. If he agrees to answer her questions, he'll look like a baffoon and will dig himself into a hole. If he doesn't meet with her, he looks evasive and uncaring towards our servicemen and their families. Ha!

[B Calm]

69. As a veteran of Vietnam, I would be proud of a mom like Cindy!

This gal has stolen my heart!