I Thought Something Was a Little Off

A whopping 425 (a larger crowd than her protest last weekend) people showed up the Akron-Summit County Library yesterday to see the illustrious "Mother Sheehan" speak. Considering she had missed her speaking engagement in Cleveland on Saturday, you would have thought the state wide group of activists and Democratic leaders would have been larger. Apparently, though, it was the Progressive Democrats who are striving to make the Democratic party more liberal! (One shudders to think of it). Mimi Kennedy (of Dharma & Greg) also spoke as well as Congressmen Sherrod Brown and Dennis Kucinich. You can't get more far left than Kucinich...just think back to his run for President in '04 and his talking points. NPR

There was one thing which did surprise me, though...

Before her son's death on April 4, 2004, Sheehan said, she hadn't given much mind to politics. She described her 180-degree transition as "surreal."

"The only thing different about me now is I'm a mother of three, not a mother of four," she said.

At a press conference before Sunday's meeting, Sheehan said that her son Casey didn't want to go to war.

She recalled offering to take him to Canada or drive her car over his legs. But he told her he had to go to protect his buddies.

He did -- and returned five days later in a flag-draped coffin, she said.

"The grief is something that never leaves me," she said. "Every morning, I wake up and think, 'Oh my God, my son is dead.' Every day is like April 4 again. But I feel stronger every day.

"I know he's very, very proud of me. Not as much as I was of him."
Akron Beacon Journal

I had never heard that before. I had read that his friends said he gladly re-enlisted and that he volunteered for the mission on which he died. Hmmm, "Mother"'s selective memory or just a mental block? I used to feel sorry for her, but her actions and attitude have diminished that sorrow considerably. Now, I just feel sorry for her son and the misuse of his memory. And here it is, two years later, he still doesn't have a headstone on his grave!

But all seems to be right in my neck of the woods again, now that she's gone!

Tags: Democrats, Cindy Sheehan, military