Why Bush refuses to meet with Sheehan 2nd time (Seattle Times)

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

Sunday, August 21, 2005 - Page updated at 12:00 AM

Why Bush refuses to meet with Sheehan 2nd time

By Mike Allen

The Washington Post

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002447400_mom21.html

CRAWFORD, Texas — A meeting would have taken half an hour or less, and might have lowered the temperature on a month's worth of searing publicity. When Cindy Sheehan showed up outside President Bush's ranch on the fourth full day of his five-week working vacation to talk about a son who had been killed in Iraq, he declined to meet with her — a widely second-guessed decision, even by some Republicans.

The way that choice was made, and the reasons, provide a vivid illustration of several hallmarks of Bush's style, including his insistence on protocol, his concern with precedent, his resistance to intrusions and his aversion to hand-wringing.

By the accounts of several advisers, Bush and his aides concluded it would be a mistake to yield to Sheehan's demand for a second meeting with Bush to discuss the death of her son, Casey, killed in Iraq at age 24 last year when his Army battalion was attacked with rocket-propelled grenades and small-arms fire. The president has made it clear, going back at least to a California rail swing during his 2000 campaign, that he does not care to see protesters, or to reward them.

White House officials maintain that Sheehan may have discredited herself with statements about impeachment, her insistence on a withdrawal from Iraq, her mixing of her cause with that of the Palestinians, and her accusation that Bush "killed" her son. If Sheehan has lost credibility with the public, the "peace mom" might turn out to be only a summer sensation.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. What about Evelyn Allen and Patricia Roberts?

Their children were killed early on in the war, and they haven't gotten ANYTHING from W, not even a xeroxed letter of condolance. These mothers deserve a FIRST meeting with the Shrub.

[LiberalVoice]

2. I got as far as "working vacation" before I realised this article was poo.

[Cha]

7. I got as far as

mike allen and a red flag went up. Whatever the reason dumbass refuses to meet with Cindy Sheehan..I want to thank the little stupid idiot because it has BACKFIRED BIGTIME!

Take that, you tool, mike allen.

[proud2BlibKansan]

3. I would be surprised if she has lost credibility

She has only gained in many many ways since she camped out in the ditch in Crawford.

The president, on the other hand, has indeed lost more than just credibility.

[Inland]

4. Bush sees domestic opposition as equal to terrorism

Don't reward it, don't treat it as legitimate, fight it, punish it.

[Mythsaje]

6. He thinks all opinions but his

aren't worth hearing.

Damn stupid way to run a country.

Or a war.

[wli]

10. yes... soon he'll be shipping protesters off to Guantanamo et al n/t

[Mythsaje]

5. Or, an alternate headline...

Wishful thinking on the part of the White House advisors.

[fujiyama]

8. Fuck you Washington Post

You fuckers endorsed this war. I remember your whoring about Powell's "amazing case" in front of the UN.

This is a nasty editorial masked as a news story.

[Spinzonner]

9. I wonder what her credibility level is compared to his