It's easy to see why some conservatives -- mostly pundits and their cohorts in the blogosphere -- has been fuming over Cindy Sheehan's vigil just beyond the "Western White House" in Crawford, Texas.
Forget that Sheehan is a mother grieving the loss of her 24-year-old son, Casey, who was killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq. Forget that she is exercising her first amendment rights.
The conservative punditry doesn't want Americans thinking about dead soldiers or grieving mothers. Instead, they want Americans thinking about guilt by association. Michael Moore has taken up Sheehan's cause, and to conservative pundits, Moore is evil incarnate. And Moveon.org has backed Sheehan. Yikes. That may be even worse. Conservatives look at all the anti-war protesters who have shown up and helped keep Sheehan's name in the news, then joke about Bush's farmer neighbor who
fired shots in the direction of "Camp Casey." The conservative punditry look at Sheehan holding up a sign as the president's motorcade drives by, and remind viewers that even Sheehan's husband has
deserted her.***
The right-wing attack dogs have made the rounds since Sheehan began her protest, working most of the shows on Fox News Channel, and its Fox-lite competitor, MSNBC.
And thank goodness for Comedy Central's
The Daily Show With Jon Stewart, which perhaps better than any news outlet amplifies the lunacy of the conservative punditry. If it can show hypocrisy, all the better.
Here's an unofficial transcript from the Aug. 15 show:
STEWART: The Cindy Sheehan saga has many on the right fuming over her decision to go so public with her anguish.
MICHELLE MALKIN (on MSNBC's
Hardball): I do think she has turned her private personal pain into a public circus.
MELANIE MORGAN (on Fox News): She is also a person who has had a political agenda for a lot longer than her son has been dead.
FRED BARNES (on Fox News): She's a crackpot.
STEWART: Yeah, she's a crackpot. I mean, who in their right mind raises an altar boy, eagle scout, honor student marine? What kind of parent was this woman? (Makes cuckoo sound.)
But this is hardly the first time a private family nightmare has become a national political flashpoint. Only a few months ago, the Terri Schiavo case unfolded with a similar narrative. And to his credit, Fred Barnes was just as blunt in his criticism of that grieving family.
BARNES (3/22/05, on Fox News): The parents, uh, of Terri Schiavo rather, I think have a strong moral case.
STEWART: Oh, why I guess theirs was a tragic circumstance you could really get behind.
***
This article first appeared at
Journalists Against Bush's B.S.
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