NYC Letter: Grieving For Attention, III

Blink and the circus leaves town.

'PEACE MOM' LEAVES CAMP, HER MOTHER ILL*

CRAWFORD, Texas August 17, 2005 (AP) - The grieving woman who started an anti-war demonstration near President Bush's ranch nearly two weeks ago said Thursday she was leaving because her mother had a stroke.

Cindy Sheehan told reporters she had just received the phone call and was leaving immediately to be with her 74-year-old mother at a Los Angeles hospital.

"I'll be back as soon as possible if it's possible," she said. After hugging some of her supporters, Sheehan and her sister, Deedee Miller, got in a van and left for the Waco airport about 20 miles away.

When does Ms. Sheehan find the time to grieve? Well, to speak plainly, Ms. Sheehan is not grieving. Ms. Sheehan is in a state of exaggerated political pique. It is equally clear that Ms. Sheehan does not wish to talk to the president or anyone else not like-minded, she simply wants an opportunity to posture in front of the press corps.

And Ms. Sheehan does all this because she can. And she can because the pajama-less MSM pretends it's impolite to question the "absolute moral authority" of grieving Cindy Sheehan. Since the liberal project begrudges such authority to a Supreme Being, we are surprised to see such a mantle placed so readily on Ms. Sheehan, who is so very much less. Yet such is the diminution of morality nowadays that liberals can accessorize Ms. Sheehan with its authority, though barely covering the narrow shoulders that pedestal the narrow mind that peeps out of the narrow shell that is Cindy Sheehan.

Where have we seen this "moral authority" act before?

* Congratulations to the AP for putting 'Peace Mom' in critical quotes.

Ms. Sheehan is a witless opportunist.

First, I want to give my little story about [Lynne Stewart]. Of course, you all have read To Kill a Mockingbird. Lynne is my human Atticus Finch. He did what he knew was right, but wasn’t popular. And that’s what Lynne is doing. {applause}.

Her little story? Ms. Sheehan may now be radicalized, but we doubt seriously that she was keenly aware of, much less following puppy-eyed, Ms. Stewart's defense and abetting of Abdel-Rahman.

And a risible big-picture polemicist:

"Our government is run by one party, every level," Sheehan continued, "and the mainstream media is a propaganda tool for the government."

Oh, shaming quotes and name-calling won't send Ms. Sheehan away. Writing about Ms. Sheehan only keeps Ms. Sheehan front and center another day. Yet there is a fascination: The shameless mother conjuring a dead son** for egress to the celebrity circle of the peace mob and chat time with reporters. And the applause. She very much likes being applauded as a moral giantess towering heavenward over us morally clueless punies.

But it really is too much to write more. Erik over at ¡No Pasarán! has done the work of culling commentaries on Cindy Sheehan, peace star, oh, and camera-ready grieving mom. Available for parties and funerals.

** Tony Snow: [S]he never talks in detail about her son -- other than to mention that he is dead.