Brad Friedman [the Bradblog] has a telling post on the T-Shirt war at the State Of The Union Speech. He quotes the Washington Post:
[Capitol Police Chief Terrance W.] Gainer said he also would ask that charges against Sheehan — she was arrested; Beverly Young left before it came to that1 — be dropped. "It was," he said, "a good-faith mistake by officers operating under poor direction."
Which, of course didn’t happen. Cindy Sheehan left quietly when arrested before the speech. Beverly Young was anything but quiet, calling her arresting official an "idiot." Ms. Young was arrested late in the speech, and the implication was that having arrested Sheehan, the war on a slogan T-Shirt sweep was to cover their arrest of Cindy. But that’s not the part that bothered me.
It was this quote by Representative Young:
Young said he wouldn’t be so mad if it were just Sheehan. "I totally disagree with everything she stands for," he said. But by removing his wife, Gainer’s officers clearly "acted precipitously," Young said.
Kind of dissappointing. So much for "freedom of speech" and "all men are created equal." He don’t mind you arresting Cindy because he doesn’t agree with her, but not his wife. When it happened I sent this email to Representative Young:
| Representative Young,
I’m sorry about what happened with your wife last night. She’s obviously a patriot, and her work with our wounded troops is well known and deeply appreciated. I expect you’ll get a bunch of apologies from the Administration. I’m writing to ask you to consider two points:
The Administration orchestrates all of Mr. Bush’s appearances. It’s about how things look, not about what’s happening in our world. Your wife is obviously a person who isn’t hiding from the truth. She’s in the hospitals, working with our troops, allowing herself to know the consequences of this war, a war that was probably conceived in a lie. Please consider what your wife being thrown out of the "Hall of the People" for wearing a shirt that acknowledged the truth means… |
I got a computer generated response.
I sent a copy to codePink. I got this the next day:
|
Dear Dr. [1boringoldman] Thank you so much for the letter you sent to Rep. Young. Thank you for your support. Love and peace Cindy Sheehan |
I wish what happened meant more to Representative Young than just embarassment. From what I read, his wife is quite a lady. Cindy certainly is…
1 …before it came to that Can you say "media spin?"
Um… Of course the Capitol Police are going to bend over backward (so far backwards they could auto-fellate if they had a mind to) not to arrest the wife of a sitting Congresscritter. Who do you think writes and approves their budget?
“auto-fellate”
I love that term! Did you make that up yourself?