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August 23, 2005

Grief and politics

Amanda Marcotte of wrote an excellent article on Cindy Sheehan's stand in Crawford, Texas.

[W]e had to laugh when the people setting up the stage tested the sound system by playing the most earnest and unintentionally comical protest song I have ever heard. At one point, the lyrics even referred to a "smear campaign," which made us laugh so hard we never did hear what he tried to rhyme with "smear campaign." And then I started to cry, because it was so painfully earnest I could only imagine that it was like twisting the knife in the hearts of those present who had lost sons or daughters in Iraq.

It drove home how it must feel to be Cindy Sheehan -- everywhere you looked, there were references to the war dead. You couldn't escape the grief for even a moment. The only thing people had to distract them from their grief and sorrow was hard work. To be in the middle of this, I thought, must feel like someone is rubbing salt in your wounds without end, and all for the purpose of getting President Bush to stop for even a moment to consider how many lives his little adventure has ended or ruined.

Go, read the rest. And check out the snazzy pics Amanda posted of Camp Casey, the headquarters of the counter protest, and the counterprotest itself.

Posted by at August 23, 2005 05:46 PM