The Crawford Green Zone
As MoDo points out in today's Times (new slogan: "All the news that doesn't prove our complicity"), Team Bush's handling of the Cindy Sheehan vigil is remarkably tone-deaf, and could prove quite costly. With President Compassion holed up at his pseudo ranch for the next month, a cordon of protesters baking in the Texas sun will make compelling TV, and could make Bush's compound look like the Baghdad Green Zone: a heavily armed myopic oasis, surrounded by unpleasant, dangerous reality. Those living in Green Zone 1 dare not leave; their fear of what waits is well-founded. By appearing to hide from political danger in Green Zone 2, Bush will only elevate Sheehan's stature, and reinforce the perception that he is afraid to confront the consequences of his actions, even when no more threatening than a 40ish American mother.
Bush could defuse the whole thing by meeting with Sheehan, but he just isn't wired that way: inviting Sheehan over to sit on the porch would be like breaking bread with Kim Jong Il. In the monochromatic world of George W. Bush, Sheehan is now The Enemy, and will be treated as such.
Given the improbability of the easiest solution, the remaining options for the White House are bleak. If Bush continues to ignore her, she remains a small but real problem, and a magnet for more protesters drawn by the eloquence of her actions. The story will last at least as long as Bush's obscene summer vacation. If they arrest her, as threatened, she becomes Rosa Parks, and her story becomes the flashpoint for more and bigger protests.
Historical turning points generally appear as such only long after they have occurred. Perhaps this is one in the making.
Bush could defuse the whole thing by meeting with Sheehan, but he just isn't wired that way: inviting Sheehan over to sit on the porch would be like breaking bread with Kim Jong Il. In the monochromatic world of George W. Bush, Sheehan is now The Enemy, and will be treated as such.
Given the improbability of the easiest solution, the remaining options for the White House are bleak. If Bush continues to ignore her, she remains a small but real problem, and a magnet for more protesters drawn by the eloquence of her actions. The story will last at least as long as Bush's obscene summer vacation. If they arrest her, as threatened, she becomes Rosa Parks, and her story becomes the flashpoint for more and bigger protests.
Historical turning points generally appear as such only long after they have occurred. Perhaps this is one in the making.
posted by bluememe at 8/10/2005
2 Comments:
Be you a liberal or a Democrat (or both), you really should take heart in these latests to Republican faux pas.
This is another in a LONG list of devatatingly dispassionate items that will be brought to bear against Republicans.
Paul Hackett, running in Ohio showed us the light in how to deal with Republicans this time: Bring a bigger and better flamethrower to the debate and pull no punches.
Take the list out, prospective canditates in 2006 and 2008. Everyone's strategy should be simple: Two-Hit - one when you hit them and the second one is when they hit the floor.
Casey's Mom for President in 2008!
http://gaelicstarover.blogspot.com/2005/08/run-cindy-run.html
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