Moore Useful Idiots

Moore Useful Idiots
By Mark Alexander
Townhall.com | August 31, 2005

"Patriotism is as much a virtue as justice, and is as necessary for the
support of societies as natural affection is for the support of
families." -Benjamin Rush

V.I. Lenin called Western Leftists who sided with Socialists in
political debates "useful idiots." He's been dead for 81 years, but
there appears to be no shortage of Michael Mooronic idiots lending aid
and comfort to those seeking to destroy the "beacon of liberty" today.

Recently, this column warned that re-emerging anti-American movements
were gaining momentum. That essay ["Spitting on The Few, The Proud..."]
outlined the Left's anti-war modus operandi between 1968 and 1973,
noting how elitist politicos like George McGovern and Ted Kennedy,
joined by glitterati like Jane Fonda and Tom Hayden, came together to
rally adolescent fervor. The resulting spectacle -- one created by
young protesters and promoted by Walter Cronkite and the Left's nightly
newscast dezinformatsia machine -- was a major factor in dissuading
public support for the defense of South Vietnam.

That spectacle also, by extension, cast a pall over everyone in a
military uniform, including those coming home in flag-draped caskets.
American military personnel were viewed with seething glares and
subject to spitting and name-calling from "enlightened youth" and their
protagonists who tagged all military personnel personae non gratae. The
entirety of them were even labeled "war criminals" by none other than
John Kerry.

Today, Kennedy, Kerry, Fonda and their ilk are still at it, but they
have not had much success since 9/11, when America virtually and
rightly united behind President George Bush's campaign against
asymmetric Jihadi threats and their host nations -- collectively known
as Jihadistan.

In recent weeks, support for the Iraq campaign of the Long War has
begun to wane in some circles -- not because of 58,000 casualties as in
Vietnam, but because, once again, as America's finest are defending
liberty at home by fighting for freedom in critical regions abroad, the
beleaguered Left has recruited a pawn to pitch (perhaps hurl) its phony
anti-war agenda across the nation. For a solid month, the Leftmedia has
focused its broadcasts and headlines on Ms. Cindy Sheehan and her
well-funded road entourage. The network talkingheads have in fact
awarded her "Peace Mom" heroine status -- which provided a big
political break for the Left.

Sheehan's 24-year-old son was killed in action in Iraq last year.
President Bush met with her shortly after his death at her request, and
Sheehan said of that visit, "I have a new respect for him because he
was sincere and he didn't have to take the time to meet with us. I now
know he's sincere about wanting freedom for the Iraqis. I know he's
sorry and feels some pain for our loss, and I know he's a man of
faith."

What a difference a few media lights can make. Now this peacenik poster
child says Mr. Bush is an "evil maniac," a "lying ***," and a
"filth spewer and warmonger." In addition, she's asserted that the
President and his "band of neo-cons" wanted the 9/11 attack "to get
their neo-con agenda through." "We are not waging a war on terror in
this country," protests Sheehan, "we're waging a war of terror. The
biggest terrorist in the world is George W. Bush!" Sheehan has been
hounding the President around the countryside asking for another
meeting, but why would President Bush dignify such remarks by meeting
with her?

Army Specialist Casey Sheehan enlisted, and then re-enlisted in April
of 2004, in order to go to Iraq. Two weeks after arriving there, he
volunteered for a rapid-rescue force deployed to help save fellow
soldiers from an ambush by Shiite militia outside Baghdad. Casey died
valiantly -- heroically serving "the men beside him."

Cindy Sheehan, of course, has every right to free speech, but Ms.
Sheehan is also responsible for the exercise of that right. Her crusade
is not about "grief," as her Angry Left cronies claim; it is about the
arrogance and selfishness that uniformly characterize the Left's
causes. Her fallen son deserves the gratitude of all Americans, yet Ms.
Sheehan's actions merely minimize his noble sacrifice.

Despite Sheehan's disgracing of her son's sacrifice, the rest of his
family issued the following statement: "[We] lost our beloved Casey in
the Iraq War and we have been silently, respectfully grieving. We do
not agree with the political motivations and publicity tactics of Cindy
Sheehan. She now appears to be promoting her own personal agenda and
notoriety at the expense of her son's good name and reputation. The
rest of the Sheehan Family supports the troops, our country and our
President, silently, with prayer and respect." The statement was signed
"sincerely" by "Casey Sheehan's grandparents, aunts, uncles and
numerous cousins."

Indeed, those closest to the President, and most objective observers,
would agree with this assessment of his sense of obligation as
Commander in Chief. "I've been with the President of the United States
when he has met with the families of those brave young men and women
who have sacrificed all," says Senator John McCain. "I have seen his
compassion, I have seen his love, I have seen his concern. So any
charge of insensitivity or uncaring on the part of this president is
absolutely false. ... I'm sure he wouldn't like to hear me say this,
but I saw him afterwards. He was very, very grieved."

Objectivity, however, has never been the guiding principle of Leftmedia
"journalists." To wit, no headlines have featured or news leads have
featured comments from the parents of Army Cpl. Forest Jostes, 22, who
served with Casey Sheehan in the 1st Battalion, 82nd Field Artillery
Regiment, 1st Cavalry. On 4 April 2004, Forest died beside Casey in the
same battle with Jihadis.

Last week, Forest's parents, Von and Diane Ibbotson, had this to say
about his death: "We were at a crossroads, but we decided from the day
he died that we were going to honor him, his sacrifice. We support the
President, and we have made a conscious effort to not make this
political."

Of Ms. Sheehan's behavior, Forest's parents said, "We both lost sons in
the same battle, but the similarities pretty much end there. Cindy
Sheehan has a right to protest, wave signs, march or whatever, a right
she wouldn't have had it not been for men like our sons. My son gave
his life for the freedom we enjoy in this country; I hope that the
Iraqi people have that someday. We feel sympathy for Mrs. Sheehan, but
we're angry because she presumes to speak for so many. I resent the
fact that she says she 'speaks for the millions' and is the face of the
Gold Star families. That is not so."

President Bush echoed those sentiments on Monday, saying, "She doesn't
represent the view of [families of those KIA] I have met with."

Cheers completely overwhelmed the jeers this week as President Bush
addressed thousands of military families in Idaho. While there, the
President introduced Pocatello resident Tammy Pruett, who now has four
sons in Iraq, and whose husband and a fifth son served there last year.
"Tammy says this -- and I want you to hear this: 'I know that if
something happens to one of the boys, they would leave this world doing
what they believe, what they think is right for our country.' America
lives in freedom because of families like the Pruetts."

Of course, so do our nation's anti-war protesters. As was the case
three decades ago, the revived anti-war movement is casting its long
shadow over our Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsmen.
Nowhere is this more regrettably evident than at Walter Reed Medical
Center in Washington, DC, where hundreds of Patriots are recovering
from severe wounds suffered in Iraq.

This week, protesters marched outside the facility's entrance, chanting
amid mock flag-draped caskets with signs reading "Maimed for Lies" and
"Enlist here and die for Halliburton." They taunted veterans entering
and leaving the facility with angry slogans like "George Bush kills
American soldiers." Walter Reed has been a primary treatment facility
for American Patriots of all ranks for nearly a century. It's the place
where Generals Pershing, MacArthur and Eisenhower died. It certainly
should not be defiled by such contemptible rabble.

Protest organizer Medea Benjamin, one of Ms. Sheehan's backers, has
also backed communists in Vietnam and Nicaragua and recently said of
her visit to Cuba, "It seemed like I died and went to heaven." (Perhaps
she should return posthaste!) So, we've come full circle. As was the
case decades ago, the so-called "anti-war" movement is really the
manipulation of useful idiots like Cindy Sheehan in support of a much
larger political agenda -- that inspired by V.I. Lenin.

If Sheehan and her lemmings were really interested in preventing
senseless death, their attention is grossly misguided. In the two years
since 19 March 2003, there have been approximately 1,450 Patriots
killed in action defending our nation as part of Operation Iraqi
Freedom. Consequently -- indeed, since 11 September 2001 -- our Armed
Forces have kept the warfront with Jihadistan far away from our
homeland. Perhaps Ms. Sheehan should become the spokesperson for the
14,500 men, women and children who died on American highways last year
as a result of alcohol abuse.

Mark Alexander is Executive Editor and Publisher of The Federalist
Patriot, a Townhall.com member group.

.

Loading