My mom, not Cindy Sheehan, is Bush’s biggest problem

[Barrett808]

My mom, not Cindy Sheehan, is Bush’s biggest problem
Thursday, August 25, 2005
By John Yewell/City Editor

With Cindy Sheehan gone home to take care of her stroke-stricken mom, President Bush can enjoy the last week of his Texas vacation free of the distraction of her encampment outside his ranch. But a grieving liberal mom whose son died in Iraq demanding an audience may not be Bush’s biggest problem.

His biggest problem may be my mom.

My mother is a lifelong Republican. She got it from her father, a yellow-dog Republican if ever there was one. As unofficial GOP godfather of Fillmore, Calif., he collected absentee ballots every election for his large family and marked them himself. No sense in taking chances that someone might vote for a Democrat.

So when my mother called me the other day and told me she was considering registering as a Democrat, I was, well, stunned. Somewhere in a cemetery plot near Fillmore a body is spinning.

For the last year or more my mother has been gradually expressing ever greater exasperation with President Bush, the war, and the religious right. “Have you heard about this James Dobson guy?” she asked me on the phone, referring to the head of Focus on the Family. “If they overturn Roe vs. Wade, that’ll be it for me,” she said.

Then she mentioned Cindy Sheehan.

For all the efforts to discredit Ms. Sheehan, what she accomplished in drawing attention to the human cost of the war, if my mother’s opinion is any indication, crossed party lines. There’s a Mom Faction in American politics, and while it isn’t a monolithic Third Rail, it’s at least and second-and-a-half rail. When their children are dying on a battlefield of choice, you touch it at your peril.

(more)

http://hollisterfreelance.com/opinion/contentview.asp?c=167045

[funflower]

1. You are SO right. My mom is the same way.

She's a repub because my (deceased) dad was one and is incredibly uninformed about politics, but she remembers when pregnant teenagers committed suicide. When she realizes what 25 years of RW extremism has wrought, she and moderate women like her will revolt by the millions.

Nominated!

:headbang:

[Melodybe]

2. kcicked and nominated!

[CrispyQ]

3. My mother, who voted for Bush twice

has become very concerned with the influence the zealots have on the current administration. I couldn't keep quiet, though. I reminded her that they courted these people for both elections so she shouldn't be surprised when they toss them a bone.

[bhuddaboy]

5. Mine, Too!

For the past few years I have tolerated my Mother spouting off to me about how morally superior the Republicans were compared to Democrats and she repeatedly paraded "W" before me as the poster child of Christian decency.

I was totally shocked last week when she confessed she now thinks Bush is a total screw up. She went so far as to lament the fact that she couldn't vote Bill Clinton back in office just to stick it to the people who had fooled her into supporting an immoral war.

As she said, "Murder is a more heinous crime than a blow job!"

[CrispyQ]

7. Hey! Welcome to DU!!

And kudos to your Mom! I guess better late than never, but man! What a mess we have to clean up!


:hi:

[Barrett808]

8. Welcome to DU, bhuddaboy!

:hi:

[Cha]

17. Welcome to DU, bhuddaboy!

I like the way she puts that "Murder is a more heinous crime than a blow job"! I know me and I'll be using those exact words..thank her for me.

Your mom story has a rather happy ending:)

[BlueJac]

19. You will have fun at DU...........welcome, join the fun!!

[Historic NY]

21. Welcome to DU.......as they say the worm is beginning to turn

and when it does its going to be devastating to the Repugs.

[karlrschneider]

22. My mom, 89 and still sharp as a tack was a Republican for 80 years or so

Dad was too, he actually idolized Adolph Hitler so you can imagine the turmoil of my youth. It wasn't easy...but recently mom has said things I never would have thought possible - she describes Bush with expletives normally heard in a pool hall. I mean stuff like "he's a goddamn fucking moron"! I don't know if it was my influence, or she just finally figured out what scum the GOP really is. I love my mom! :D

[tandot]

23. welcome to DU, Bhuddaboy

Moms will stand up. We have fought to long and hard for our rights to give it up. These pro-war ignorants think that the majority of Americans are anti-American. Welcome to bizzaro world.

You don't have to be pro-abortion to recognize that it is wise to be pro-choice. Actually, I don't know anyone who is pro-abortion. Abortion is an extremely hard decision. I don't want to judge a woman who had to make that final decision. Republicans are for cutting benefits to the poor and mentally ill, and cutting all programs who would help needy people get back on their feet. Once the baby is born, they simply give a f*cking sh*t.

Ask those anti-choice (so-called pro-life) people why they cheer a president who loves blowing up pregnant Iraqi women to pieces...who gave the order to kill innocent Iraqi babies, mothers, fathers, families...I guess to these war-loving, Bush-supporting, anti-American people (scum), brown skinned people are just less worth than a white American embryonic cell. They want to save white cells who might (or might not) develop into white people.

They are anti-choice, as long as it involves white-skinned cells.

:puke:

[LiberalinNC]

4. Thank God your mother is finally seeing the light!

Hopefully more and more mom's will!

[Stand and Fight]

6. Are you the author of the article?

Because some people on here certainly seem to think so on here. If not, you may want to clear that up.

[arikara]

10. The author name is credited directly under the title and above the text...

;-)

[Cha]

18. Yeah, so it's not the

op's fault if people are reading too fast:)

[Hardknock]

9. We're gonna win next year....

[PinkyisBlue]

28. Winning

Actually, we already won the 2000 election, and there's increasing evidence to indicate that we probably won the 2004 election, too. See John Conyer's website re: massive fraud in Ohio.

If the votes are legitimately recorded and counted, we are the winners!

By the way, welcome to DU Zidzi!

[opusprime]

11. My Mom...

saved me from becoming a Conservative.

She's the best!

[BlueJac]

20. You were so lucky !!

[savemefromdumbya]

12. GOP will lose the 'Mom' vote

More and more moms are becoming frightened of Bush

[krkaufman]

13. Why wouldn't it be sufficient that the Republicans WANT to overturn Roe?

Why are voters like this fellow's mom sticking with the Republicans in the face of their expressed opposition to Choice?

[NVMojo]

36. in some ways, it is more significant to have one of their own turn

on them ...

[krkaufman]

37. But Republicans aren't "turning" on them...

... with respect to Roe v Wade; it's the stated policy of the Republicans to overturn it and to again make abortions illegal. The problem is w/ the guy's mother, who is turning a blind eye to the Republican position on abortion/Choice, for some unknown reason.

It's good that the guy's mom appears to NOT be a one-issue voter, but if she feels so strongly about Choice she's got one heckuva case of issue glaucoma.

[jurassicpork]

14. God bless your Mom...

...for retaining the capacity for independent thought, which is verboten in the GOP.

It was notable during the vigil I'd attended for Cindy in my home state of Massachusetts, many of the responses we got were from mothers of all ages. They knew. They understood. Only a mother can possibly know what another mother feels.

JP
http://jurassicpork.blogspot.com

[blue state liberal]

24. Since we are extolling our mothers

I have to put in my 2 cents about my mom. She passed away a few years ago at 95 and never missed voting in a presidential election. In 2000 at the age of 94 she had to miss voting in that illegal, grievous election but I'll never forget how she denounced and detested Bush! And that was before all the s--t that ensued after he was (S)elected. I can just imagine what she would say about him if she were alive! She loved Clinton though.

[KTinOhio]

25. I know you didn't mean to imply otherwise, but...

Fathers are just as protective of their kids when they think they are in harm's way.

[ktowntennesseedem]

15. My Mom worships the ground James Dobson walks on.

Until Republicans outlaw heterosexual marriages and mandate abortions, she won't be changing her stripes. But she and the rest of my conservative family haven't said a word about politics in several months. They know I'm 180-degrees removed from them on that topic, and don't bring it up very often, but they've been even quieter than normal lately. They may never vote for a Democrat, but if their silence is any indication, they just might stay home next election.

[Cha]

16. This is an interest ing

story..I think the real reason that bush won't meet with Cindy Sheehan is that he is literally afraid of her quiet strength and honesty..it's like a wooden stake through his heart, metaphorically speaking.

[Uncle Joe]

32. Yes all of those labels that have camouflaged

him for the masses with the enabling of the corpwhorate owned MSM such as "compassionate conservative" "uniter not a divider" "restoring honor and dignity to the White House" blow away in the wind as a dandelion leaving him naked and exposed to the world for what he is were he to stand next to her light.

P.S. Just curious, are there still any morons out there that would like to have him in there home for a beer? We all remember how that was such an important issue with the corpwhorate MSM in 2000.

[AAARRRGGGHHH]

26. To quote the poet

Biggie Smalls...

Things Done Changed.

Congrats on the breakthrough and God bless!

[MarinCoUSA]

27. Sounds just like my mom! She came around in '04

I was very happy but not totally surprised last summer when not more than 10 minutes in the car from the airport she- a woman of true hereditary Republican background (the good folk (er, that's "volk") in Lancaster CO. PA have been reliable Republicans since 1860) turned to me and did a 100% Sheean; "And if I had a kid that got killed over there I would... something bad to shrub".

No dead kids for Shrub's lies for this mom. No way!

Love you Mom.

[mrfocus]

29. Right on..

George is a uniter, indeed. He is uniting every sane, rational person against him...even across party lines!

[buddha8]

30. downside

I have come to the unfortunate conclusion that we are on the downside of Empire and sliding inexorably towards our fate. There really is no turning back of these facists who are in control. People who talk about Republican moms swinging the other way are missing the far more radical point. They control the vote count. I don't care if someone is polling 30%, if he is supported by the new facist party of America he will win because we simply do not have free elections any longer. People Must Come out of Denial.

The model I see for this land is a basic 12 Step model. America is a reeling drunk in terrible denial about its actions and its addictions. It is not even close to hitting bottom yet. Bush himself is more than likely drinking heavily again. Regardless he is a classic drunk who blames,rages and never takes responsibility. The perfect fit for this country. We have spread and are continuing to spread destruction and havoc across the globe yet most of us still think of America as some sacred,higher nation-state.

I seriously doubt that this country will be able to heal itself by reaching back to responsible representative democracy. We are to far gone. I expect instead that either massive shortages of water or oil or nuclear terrorism will be our first step towards humility unfortunately. Bush has simply sped this process along tremendously. We are an Empire that will take some time to fall just like the British around 1900 but it is the inevitable way for nations that chose arrogance,death,war and imperialism and such collapse has never failed to transpire amongst aggressors in all of World History.

[mhr]

34. Agree Completely

We are on the backside of greatness and the Republican cheer leading represents nothing less than desperation because they can't admit the truth to themselves.

[adnelson60087]

31. What are the ten states

that still support the Cowboy-Priest's holy war?? Are these people insane or just stupid?

[Imagevision]

33. You better believe a "Mom faction" is growing in the US. and Karen Hughes

knows it!! - Karen the creator of; "they died for a noble cause" speech.

Joining Cindy in Washington!

http://downingstreetmemo.com/

[NVMojo]

35. Excellent observation!