Cartoon #203: “War Mom”

Cindy Sheehan’s vigil across the road from President Bush’s fake ranch in Crawford, Texas, finally got wide attention from the mainstream news media on August 11, 2005. Bush is enjoying his annual five-week vacation in Crawford. Sheehan’s son Casey, a Marine, was killed in Iraq in April 2004, five days after his arrival there.

When Ms. Sheehan previously met with Bush at the White House, she got the feeling Bush had no conscience about the death of her son, or the deaths of all the other sons and daughters fighting his “war on terror.” Afterward, Bush said our troops in Iraq are dying for a noble cause. Sheehan wants to ask Bush one question: “What noble cause did my son die for?” She vowed to stay at Camp Cindy through August, or until she gets her meeting and answer.

The response of GOP operatives, and the right-wing media was to threaten to arrest, and attempt to discredit Sheehan and other war moms supporting her. The stupidity of that public relations tactic served only to lower Bush’s already tanking poll numbers. Bush said he respected Ms. Sheehan’s position. Apparently he does not respect her enough to tell her so in person at the end of his driveway.