By: Mary Lyon

I shouldn’t be so stunned by this, by now. The glaring, ridiculous shamelessness of the prancing, cheerleading, wise-cracking, more-patriotic-than-thou hyenas on the hapless morning show “Fox and Friends” were busily and dutifully falling all over themselves praising George W. Bush for yet another gesture of marvelousness and compassionate conservatism. WOWEE! He actually mentioned the casualty figures in his war-of-lies in Iraq! How magnanimous can you get? What a guy! Actually stating that 18-hundred and 64 Americans killed in Iraq, and – oh yeah – another 223 lost in Afghanistan. Hey, whatta guy! He stoops to conquer, doesn’t he? And doesn’t break a sweat, either. That’s our boy George! All hail Captain America! He’s actually acknowledging the number of peons who’ve been sacrificed for his jones for world conquest. Man. I’m impressed.

NOT.

It’s utterly astounding to me to see how many breathless anchorBarbies and their on-camera Kens fairly swooned over this “first” – the first time Bush has ever acknowledged the extent of the loss of life. At least, the loss of life that we “know about.” That soon-to-be TWO THOUSAND casualty figure is just the one that is unavoidable because it’s casualties on the actual battlefront. It’s not those other deaths that occur when the injured were transferred to military hospitals or elsewhere for treatment and died THERE. Those deaths aren’t counted. Neither is the toll of those permanently maimed, physically, mentally, or emotionally, by this war-of-lies. But there they are, the armies of anchorblondes, gushing over the generous and compassionate display by their vacationing “hero.” Wow – he actually MENTIONED the death toll – FOR THE FIRST TIME (pant, pant, gasp, wheeze, faint)!!!

It’s taken those almost two-thousand deaths and more than two years for him even to allow such a shameful admission to pass his lips in public. You can only distance yourself from the bad news for so long, Georgie dear.

Methinks that Cindy Sheehan has had an impact. I mean, look at the watchwords in the public pronouncements now. Bush, and now Donald Rumsfeld, too, are very careful to include somber, respectful intonations about the many families who’ve lost loved ones to the allegedly “noble” cause in Iraq. They hasten to mention, with their lofty magnanimity, that there are many views on the war-of-lies, including those wishing for us to end the war and bring our troops home NOW. After that mention is made, there’s another one immediately on its heels. The admission and acknowledgment of their critics is merely the opening half of a statement that also includes the follow-up assertion that these same critics are completely and utterly wrong. As though merely conceding their existence is enough of a bone to throw at them. What these critics and war opponents are saying needs no agreement or further legitimizing. Just make some statement admitting you realize they exist and that’s all you have to do. No muss, no fuss. And certainly, don’t do anything about it. I mean, you’re on vacation, dammit! You shouldn’t be sweating ANYTHING except another nice long bike ride through Blissfully Unawaresville.

Bush and his buddies are taking some pains to remind America that those people who have a different view have a right to speak out. What a change! Not so very long ago, we were being warned to watch what we say and what we do, because we might be perceived as an Osama-lover, or maybe one of our neighbors or maybe the delivery man or the cable guy or somebody might turn us in as an enemy sympathizer. Now, it’s okay for us to speak out if we disagree? It’s an American thing to do? It’s what we’re over there fighting for? Really? My, things HAVE changed in this White House. How marvelous and open-minded and tolerant they’ve become!

NOT.

Like everything else that sounds so nice from this bunch, it demands a closer look and a grain of salt about the size of Mount Rushmore. These are not the gestures of towering leaders with any moral imperative or shining sword of truth and valor. These are shallow phonies being dragged to anemic, half-hearted concessions to the facts like a group of reluctant, unruly, spoiled, tantrum-throwing little boys whose mamas have to yank them forcibly up the school-house steps on the first day of the new fall semester. They’re only mentioning these things because they have to. The really sad thing is that Bush, Rummy, and the rest of them assume that merely by admitting Cindy Sheehan exists, that alone absolves them from any further obligation to address this calamity they’ve created. See how big I’m being, America? I can talk about Cindy Sheehan and say something relatively harmless about her while in the next sentence calling her wrong and questioning her devotion to this country and its security. Aren’t I wonderful? Aren’t you supposed to agree with that? Okay, okay! Cindy Sheehan already! There! I said it. Why aren’t you giving me better poll numbers then? Why can’t you just shut up and resume shopping? If you’re as shallow and short-sighted as I am, then that relieves me of guilt.

Even sadder is the man behind “Camp Qualls,” himself the father of a lost American life in Iraq. He hates people like Cindy Sheehan, eagerly sneered on camera at her sorrow – the same sorrow he shares, incredibly enough, and took great pains to explain on Keith Olbermann’s show what a good father he was, teaching his kids not to associate with “people like them.” He joined the republi-CON smear campaign against Sheehan, bringing up her private family difficulties to skewer her with, in public. Kick her when she’s down, ‘eh? The manly and oh-so-patriotic thing to do, sir. What your son died for, I’m sure. But when Olbermann reminded him that the “children” Sheehan supposedly abandoned are all grown up and independent adults, and that Sheehan did leave her Crawford vigil to care for her ailing mother in California, Gary Qualls was unable to respond with anything other than blank stares, studders, and then a mindless repetition of the off-subject talking points he was issued by unseen administration handlers. And so sad that it’s not just Bush who continues to look bad through all this. It’s the inadvertent small-timers like Gary Qualls who get dragged into that disgrace, too.

George probably thinks what he’s been so graciously admitting in the past few days is enough, but now that he’s on a roll, he should go all the way. Is he man enough to admit he’s been horribly, sickeningly wrong about Iraq? Can he show true leadership and honesty for a change? Can he even acknowledge the truth death toll in Iraq? Can he really be a man and go to even one of the funerals of the many troops he sent to their deaths? Merely mouthing the words is easy for the man who refuses to get his hands dirty. No muss, no fuss. And since he’s actually gone the extra mile to interrupt his precious five-week vacation to throw such one-liners into his speeches, I guess we’ve seen the extent of his sacrifice for our security and the freedoms “they hate us for.” Sadly enough, it’s the only sacrifice he knows how to make.

Visualize IMPEACHMENT.
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Mary Lyon spent the first 25 years of her adult life as a broadcast journalist, at Los Angeles radio stations KRTH-FM, KFWB-AM, KHJ-AM and KLOS-FM, the NBC, ABC, and RKO Radio Networks, plus KTLA-TV. She retired from day-to-day broadcasting in 1996, after covering Hollywood for nine years in radio, TV, and print, for the Associated Press. She wrote and illustrated "The Frazzled Working Woman's Practical Guide to Motherhood," and is presently at work on a new craft book for kids and friends. A lifelong Democrat who began her political involvement in the Student Coalition for Humphrey-Muskie, and Tom Bradley's first L.A. Mayoral campaign, Mary currently is a weekly columnist for www.democrats.us - from the Left.