Digby is wondering what it is about Cindy Sheehan that gets under the right wingers’ skin. My own quick two cents: she makes them realize they’re losing control of the narrative. For four years, conservatives have answered any criticism by invoking the flag, the troops, and of course 9/11 itself. But “the troops” are not an ethereal concept or a moment frozen in history — they are individuals, each with their own stories, not all of whom are going to happily hew to the party line. (I hear tell that some of them may even be — gasp — Democrats.) Cindy Sheehan drives this home. As the mother of a young man sacrificed on the altar of George Bush’s hubris, she has the moral authority to challenge the precarious worldview they’ve constructed, and deep down, they know it.
BY TOM TOMORROW