It Ain't Really Swift Boating Until They Crack Out the TV Ads
I have a cousin who is really pro-war. She's got two sons who are of an age to be in the service, and when the "extended family" of Cindy Sheehan wrote a letter to talk radio host Melanie Morgan of San Francisco KSFO (which was instantly forwarded to Matt Drudge) saying that the family knew Casey wouldn't like what his mother was doing, it made me wonder what I would do if the situation were flipped and something happened to my cousin's kids.
Because she is someone who is perfectly capable of starting Gold Star Mothers for War. How would I react to something like that, as a person who is vocally and explicitly anti-war? I concluded that I'd probably write about how I missed her kids and that I thought it was tragic their lives were lost in a war that made no sense. But there is no way that I would ever criticize my cousin for any way she chose to express her grief, no matter how political it turned.
Then again, I actualy love my cousin.
And I can sure as shit tell you right now that there is no way me and my other anti-war cousins would get together, claim some special Sylvia Brown one-too-many-cocktails-before-closing-time knowledge of what her kids would've thought about her choices and then hurl it off to the media to be thrown in her face through some slime machine.
But that is the stuff this bunch is made of. And Melanie Morgan is at it again. According to today's SF Chronicle:
As Sheehan supporters gathered at vigils Wednesday, Deborah Johns of Roseville was in Sacramento filming an anti-Sheehan commercial.Notice her kid is not dead.
"I'm here to tell you that military families support our troops AND their mission -- in spite of what people like Cindy Sheehan say," Johns says in the ad, according to an advance script reviewed by The Chronicle. Her son William, a Marine who has served two tours in Iraq, is stationed in Florida.
"Cindy Sheehan certainly doesn't speak for me, our military families or our men and women serving in Iraq and Afghanistan," Johns says in the ad.O'Leilly, OxyLimbaugh, David Horowitz and others are piling on and saying Cindy Sheehan is being "used" by the left. But evidently it is only possible to be "used" by the left, anything that happens on the right qualifies as patriotism:
Republican strategist Sal Russo produced the ad, and a spokesman for his consulting firm expects it to begin airing on CNN and Fox News within a week. And Johns will lead a caravan, dubbed "You Don't Speak for Me, Cindy," that departs San Francisco on Monday for Crawford. That effort is organized by talk- show host Melanie Morgan of San Francisco's KSFO-AM.
Johns and other Bush supporters, pointing to the many prominent liberals who have praised Sheehan, say she is being used. But Johns said her support by the GOP doesn't make her feel used.I think I'll start teaching a class in "GOP logic 101." First day, everybody gobbles a fistful of OxyContin and watches Waiting for Godot. End of class.
"I made my son a vow (before his second tour of Iraq last year) to get out their positive stories that are happening in Iraq," Johns told The Chronicle on Wednesday. "And if Sal Russo and the Republicans are going to help get that message out, well, that's OK."
Really, it's the only way you can get your brain in shape to comprehend how the party that controls all three branches of government feels it's necessary to spend its time and money attacking ordinary citizens for exercising their first amendment rights.
But hey, anything to take the heat off Traitorgate for a little while, know what I mean?
Update:: It's over. Cindy fought the good fight and she's leaving to take care of her mom, who had a stroke. Normal people, no matter how well intentioned, just aren't equipped to deal with that kind of sudden noteriety and institutionalized hate, especially on the heels of a violent death. Congratulations to her and bravo for her courageous effort and the inspiration she gave us all.
(hat tip to patrioticliberal)
posted by Jane Hamsher @ 8/18/2005 11:34:00 AM
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