Sheehan's Group Refuses to Hear Opposing View

I find it high irony that the group Sheehan founded to grab the media spotlight refuses to meet with the opposition. Remind me again, isn't the whole point of their protest to force the President to hear the 'cold hard truth' about Iraq? And yet at the same time they flatly reject any attempt by another group to question them about their version of that 'truth' ? Strange indeed. Or maybe not, if you accept that she's a media hound supported by other groups of hate-filled people still bitter about 2000 and 2004. They are incapable of seeing any other viewpoint, so strong and ingrained is their hatred of those whom they believe to be beneath them (i.e. Bush and 60-some million of their countrymen).

I'm just glad that there are people with enough testicular fortitude to go out there and oppose them.

War Backers Set Up Camp Near Bush Ranch
By ANGELA K. BROWN, Associated Press Writer Sun Aug 21,12:49 PM ET

CRAWFORD, Texas - A patriotic camp with a "God Bless Our President!" banner sprung up downtown Saturday, countering the anti-war demonstration started by a fallen soldier's mother two weeks ago near President Bush's ranch.

The camp is named "Fort Qualls," in memory of Marine Lance Cpl. Louis Wayne Qualls, 20, who died in Iraq last fall.

"If I have to sacrifice my whole family for the sake of our country and world, other countries that want freedom, I'll do that," said the soldier's father, Gary Qualls, a friend of the local business owner who started the pro-Bush camp. He said his 16-year-old son now wants to enlist, and he supports that decision.

Qualls' frustration with the anti-war demonstrators erupted last week when he removed a cross bearing his son's name that was among hundreds the group had put up along the road to Bush's ranch.

Qualls called the protesters' views disrespectful to soldiers, and said he had to yank out two more crosses after protesters kept replacing them.

Cindy Sheehan, whose 24-year-old son, Army Spc. Casey Sheehan, died last year in Iraq, started the anti-war demonstration along the roadside on Aug. 6. "Camp Casey" has since grown to about 100 core participants, and hundreds more from across the nation have visited.

...

Bush has said he sympathizes with Sheehan but won't change his schedule to meet with her. She and other families met with Bush about two months after Casey Sheehan died, before she became a vocal opponent of the war.

Large counter-protests were held in a ditch near Sheehan's site a week after she arrived, and since then, a few Bush supporters have stood in the sun holding signs for several hours each day.

Bill Johnson, a local gift shop owner who created "Fort Qualls," said he wanted to offer a larger, more convenient place for Bush supporters to gather.

He and others at "Fort Qualls" have asked for a debate with those at the Crawford Peace House, which is helping Sheehan.

It's unclear if that will happen. But a member of Gold Star Families for Peace, co-founded by Sheehan and comprised of relatives of fallen soldiers, said her group would not participate.

"We're asking for a meeting with the president, period," said Michelle DeFord, whose 37-year-old son, Sgt. David W. Johnson, was in the Army National Guard from Oregon when he was killed in Iraq last fall. "We don't want to debate with people who don't understand our point of view."

See? They don't want to debate. They want to TELL. They want to LECTURE. They want to 'EDUCATE' Bush about how wrong he his about everything from global warming to his exercise regimen. They have no interest in hearing anything else at all or even being questioned. They are so fundementalist and extremist in their ingrained beliefs that they can't fathom a possible alternate viewpoint and refuse to even hear it.

This elitist mentality is the wrong way to go about effecting change. Instead of mocking vitriol, for example, Lance Armstrong used his personal friendship with Bush last week to civilly oppose the President's policies. He rode with him, they discussed various things no doubt. Bush knows that Lance is against the war on terror and Lance knows that the President isn't stupid or pig-headed or evil, he simply disagrees with him. Amazing isn't it?