stung by the undiminished presence of Cindy Sheehan, the "peace mom", and a growing anti-war movement, the
White House today trotted out Tammy Pruett, the "war mom":
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In a clear rebuttal to Sheehan and a growing protest movement trailing Bush on the road, Bush highlighted the story of Tammy Pruett, an Idaho woman who sent her husband and five sons to fight in Iraq with the Idaho National Guard. Her husband, Leon, and one son came home last year, leaving four sons still in the country.
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no doubt Tammy Pruett has righteously earned whatever feelings she might have about the war, given her family's sacrifice. but since all her children are still alive, she can't exactly know what drives Cindy Sheehan either. but the Prez clearly considers Tammy the anti-Sheehan:
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Bush quoted Pruett: "'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. And I guess you couldn't ask for a better way of life than giving it for something that you believe in.'"
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so we have the Prez quoting the war mom, and if we reiterate the criticism leveled at the peace mom, she's putting words into her live kids' mouths. the obvious difference is that, unlike Casey Sheehan, they could be speaking for themselves. wonder why the Prez didn't track down the Pruett clan in Iraq and let them loose firsthand? guess he wanted to play the mom card too. this is not exactly a grass roots effort:
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Pruett, 46, received a kiss on the cheek from Bush after the speech. The couple told the Los Angeles Times they received a call about a week ago from the White House requesting their presence.
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it's such a crude and obvious pr ploy, you have to really think the White House considers the American public to be largely made up of programmable morons...and maybe they are correct. but i can't help but wonder this: after a really bad week in Iraq, does the administration put the same effort into re-evaluating and adjusting the military/political strategy over there, the way they retool the pr strategy after a really bad week in the polls over here?