First, I do not post this to denigrate Cindy Sheehan nor to diminish the validity of any pain she feels over her loss. She is a mother who has sacrificed a son on the altar of freedom. She is entitled to whatever feelings she may have about the wrongness of his death, the war, the President or any other related issue.
What I want to know is why did she change her story?
In 2004 Cindy Sheehan met with the President after the death of her son Casey in Iraq. Here is what she said then, according to the June 24, 2004 edition of THE REPORTER of Vacaville, CA:
" 'I now know he's sincere about wanting freedom for the Iraqis,' Cindy said after their meeting. 'I know he's sorry and feels some pain for our loss. And I know he's a man of faith.' " The meeting didn't last long, but in their time with Bush, Cindy spoke about Casey and asked the president to make her son's sacrifice count for something. They also spoke of their faith. The trip had one benefit that none of the Sheehans expected. For a moment, life returned to the way it was before Casey died. They laughed, joked and bickered playfully as they briefly toured Seattle. For the first time in 11 weeks, they felt whole again."'That was the gift the president gave us, the gift of happiness, of being together,' Cindy said."
Sounds like the words of someone who supported the President and acknowledged his sense of responsibility and sorrow for her son's death. Someone who felt appreciation for the time he took to comfort a grieving mother.
But not anymore. Now Sheehan has become the darling of the left-wing media and hate-America Lefty fringe groups like MoveOn.org, AirAmerica and DailyKos. Now Sheehan says,
" 'Why did you kill my son?' " In a CNN interview, she says the President "acted like it was party" when he met with her. "It was -- you know, there was a lot of things said. We wanted to use the time for him to know that he killed an indispensable part of our family and humanity. And we wanted him to look at the pictures of Casey." He wouldn't look at the pictures of Casey. He didn't even know Casey's name. He came in the room and the very first thing he said is, 'So who are we honoring here?' He didn't even know Casey's name. He didn't want to hear it. He didn't want to hear anything about Casey. He wouldn't even call him 'him' or 'he.' He called him 'your loved one. 'Every time we tried to talk about Casey and how much we missed him, he would change the subject. And he acted like it was a party. ...[He] came in very jovial, and like we should be happy that he, our son, died for his misguided policies."
Now, that doesn't sound anything like her description right after the meeting. More importantly , it sounds nothing like the experiences of other families of the fallen or of those wounded soldiers that the President has met with. My personal opinion is that someone on the fringe Left, someone like Michael Moore, Joe Trippi or another left-wing nut, got to Ms. Sheehan and convinced her that she would make a perfect sympathetic figurehead for the anti-Bush, anti-war protestors. And there would be nothing wrong with that, except for the change in her stance and her words.
Something is rotten with this whole thing and I'd like someone to ask Cindy Sheehan to explain what, or who, motivated her complete reversal of opinion.
