A Tragic Figure.

Cindy Sheehan has now become a minor celebrity. The news is all over it and the blogs are buzzing. The right seems disgusted with the lack of respect she is showing for her son's sacrifice and the left is disgusted by the right being disgusted by it.

I don't blame the press for spreading the story. Mrs. Sheehan is a tragic figure. I don't even blame Mrs. Sheehan for her protest and her vicious jabs at President Bush. As I have said before, I am more than willing to give latitude to any mother who is grieving over a lost child, but must everyone take advantage of it???

The Michael Moore crowd saw an opportunity to take a sympathetic character and have her be their poster child. The press saw an opportunity to blow a story out of proportion. And the right just got ticked off by them all.

Why? Because we feel so strongly about our soldiers. We know what our guys go through (thanks to the milblogs!) and we know that it isn't an easy decision to go into the military, and I would think an ever harder on to re-enlist during a war. But Cindy's son made those choices on his own. He obviously believed in the fight. No one made him enlist. If he felt he had made a mistake, he certainly wouldn't have re-enlisted.

Cindy Sheehan has every right to be angry. My heart goes out to her. But in her grief she is insulting everyone who serves in Iraq. She is implying that they are there for nothing. She has a right to think that, but she has to understand how upsetting that is to so many people. She can't expect everyone to ignore what she is saying if it hurts them as well.

She keeps asking for what purpose her son died.

The answer is here. (if you haven't read this post yet, you must)

It's time for the press to let go of this story. It is hurting everyone. The mother, her son's memory, and all of us who get caught up in throwing barbs at each other.