Talking heads

I don't know much about Cindy Sheehan except what I'm reading in the newspapers and in some venues, the obviously partisan spins. You're going to get a different angle on Sheehan if you visit Michelle Malkin* than what you get when you read Daily Kos. Here's the thing though: I think military families should get a free pass when they talk about the war. I don't care if they are pro or anti, but they've made sacrifices the rest of us haven't been asked to make. The vast majority of Americans are sitting around, enjoying life, and not at all acting as if there's a war on. People are still tooling around in their Hummers -- which is doing nothing to reduce our dependence on foreign oil -- and very few people from the middle-class are packing it in to head to Iraq. Every now and then, someone will tie a yellow ribbon around a tree, or organize a "Support Our Troops" bash, but really, what have you done for the war movement lately? I'll be honest -- I haven't sacrificed a dang thing.

Sheehan is doing more for the anti-war movement than most of us who thought this war was a Very Bad Idea (tm) from the beginning have. She is holding the President responsible for Iraq in a way that most of us haven't even tried to. The Democrats have rolled over (and only recently are finding a backbone again) and the press seemingly has given the President a free ride. Only Cindy Sheehan has the guts to say what should have been said a long time ago.

The chances of Bush actually meeting with her are next to nil. It's literally a no-win situation. He hasn't got a good reason to tell her why her son died in Iraq; all of his reasons for going to war are now proven false. And if he doesn't talk to her, then he comes across as a cold-hearted bastard. It's a PR problem of staggering proportions, but if he asked me, I'd tell him, "You said you were a compassionate conservative. Show that you are."

* I deliberately did not link to Malkin's site as there's considerable bad language in the post about Cindy Sheehan -- not by Michelle, incidentally -- and because I didn't link to Malkin, out of fairness, I also did not link to Daily Kos. However, all posts on the subject are easily found in both blogs.