He Couldn't Put Aside Clearing Brush for Five Minutes?

Four years ago, President Bush received the PDB that told him that "Bin Laden Determined to Strike Inside United States." So what did he do? Did he order an emergency meeting of his national security staff? Nope -- he golfed or fished during his month-long vacation at the ranch.

Well, now he's got another problem -- the mother of a soldier killed in Bush's folly, the war in Iraq, is waiting outside his ranch in Crawford, Texas for a meeting with Bush. Bush has thus far refused to meet with her. You see, he can't seem to find time during his MONTH LONG VACATION to spend five quality minutes with this grief-striken mother. The reason he won't meet with her: why, it's the same reason he stacks the deck at his Social Security "town meetings" with only supporters of his plan. This Administration cannot deal with criticism, of any kind.

Now this mother, Ms. Cindy Sheehan, did meet with Bush previously, in a multi-family event in Washington state. But that event, it didn't go so well:

The White House has released few details of such sessions, which Mr. Bush
holds regularly as he travels the country, but generally portrays them as
emotional and an opportunity for the president to share the grief of the
families. In Ms. Sheehan's telling, though, Mr. Bush did not know her son's name
when she and her family met with him in June 2004 at Fort Lewis. Mr. Bush, she
said, acted as if he were at a party and behaved disrespectfully toward her by
referring to her as "Mom" throughout the meeting.

By Ms. Sheehan's account, Mr. Bush said to her that he could not
imagine losing a loved one like an aunt or uncle or cousin. Ms. Sheehan said she
broke in and told Mr. Bush that Casey was her son, and that she thought he could
imagine what it would be like since he has two daughters and that he should
think about what it would be like sending them off to war.

"I said, 'Trust me, you don't want to go there'," Ms. Sheehan said,
recounting her exchange with the president. "He said, 'You're right, I don't.' I
said, 'Well, thanks for putting me there.' "

What a chicken-hawk. But the idea of Jenna over in Iraq is pretty funny. As usual, Mo Dowd sums up the situation pretty well.

Oh, and by the way, since Ms. Sheehan is criticizing the Administration, a la Richard Clarke and Paul O'Neill, they've unleashed the dogs on her. There's no sense of decency in this White House, not when someone dares to critique.
- posted by Joshua @ 9:35 PM