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September 28, 2005
Cindy Sheehan, John McCain and Reality
After meeting with John McCain (for a second time) Cindy Sheehan called him a "warmonger" and claimed "He tried to tell us what George Bush would have said... I don't believe he believes what he was telling me."
McCain says that the meeting was misrepresented as one of Cindy Sheehan and constituents of Arizona, when in fact nobody currently living in Arizona was in attendance.
"He is a warmonger, and I'm not," Sheehan said.
Who should I trust? A former Captain in the U.S. Navy, and current United States Senator? Or an angry mother who only hears what she wants to?
What qualifications does Cindy Sheehan have again? Losing a son in war is not a qualification. Having a relative who is currently fighting, or even a veteran, is not a qualification. Actually knowing something about foreign policy, military tactics, and the world at large.... those are qualifications.
Cindy Sheehan... I have the utmost sympathy for her loss, but I find her to be a complete waste of time. She, and her fellow "anti-war" protestors, are unable to comprehend why war in Iraq and Afghanistan is necessary. But rather than accept that some people "get it", and they don't, they make up other reasons that are easier to understand but also a lot less likely.
According to the left, we didn't go to war because we feared Saddam Hussein. George Bush and Karl Rove and Dick Cheney sat around one night devising a plan where they would lie to us, and then invade Iraq for oil! It's all for oil! Bush/Cheney/Rove/Rumsfeld are evil, and all they are interested in is oil, oil profits, and propane accessories.
And all that sounds good, I guess. But it's fiction. It's as delusional as the idea that we faked the moon landings, that we're hiding aliens in Nevada, that the government is using jet contrails to control the weather, or maybe even our minds!!!
These people live in a fantasy world. Sheehan believes that McCain lied to her during her meeting. (It's okay that McCain was lied to, of course.) And what makes her believe this? What McCain said didn't fit into Cindy Sheehan's "reality", and thus was ignored.
And you know, that's fine. She can live in her "reality" all she wants. A lot of people do. A lot of people imagine they're movie stars or millionaires, or even the President of the United States. Some people imagine they're hired mercenaries, or race car drivers, or the mayor of their own metropolis. We all do it. You do it. I do it. But then I turn off the computer, or I stop daydreaming, and I return to real life, with all it's intricate complications. It's not just blood for oil. Natural disasters aren't deadly because of incompetent management. Kim Jong Il is a murderous dictator who may have nuclear capabilities, and we can't just sit around and wait for him to use them.
Oh, the world is a nasty place, liberals... the real world that is. People are filled with both "dignity and depravity" and there's nothing we can do about it. You can live in la-la land if you wish. Slay dragons. Search for UFOs. Protest the treatment of terrorists who would kill every single one of us if they had the chance. Meanwhile, we'll do the dirty work in this dirty little world that is reality. We'll protect you. We'll create jobs for you. We'll pull over and help you when you're broken down on the side of the road.
You can sit around sipping your lattes, talking about music and theatre and "progressive" politics. You can get together a few hundred people and have a "peace" march. You can call us liars and warmongers and evil and stupid. That is fine.
You are ignorant. You can't see the world around you... not just the people on your block, or the people who agree with you, but the entire world. And that makes you utterly unqualified to make decisions that affect that world. That's why John McCain and George Bush and all the rest disagree with you, people. They are right and you aren't. I'm sorry. But there's good news. We're in power, and you are safer for it.
Posted by March at September 28, 2005 05:00 PM