Beckmann sings the Konservative Karaoke

It's hard enough to believe that the right-wing media has the gall to smear grieving war mothers. You'd think they'd smear the Pope if he went to Crawford with Cindy Sheehan. They've taken it on themselves to label her as "nutty", "insane", and my favorite: Rush, the three-hour hate monger, calls her "completely made up". The smear tactics from the right never stop. Ever. This is what they do when they have an indefensible situation that makes them look the charlatans they are (Bill Maher mocked it very well). They even somehow got ahold of the woman's divorce papers and put them on the internet (as if the Right doesn't have their own marital issues). Ann Coulter (authentic nut-job herself) said this: "It's the strangest method of grieving I've seen since Paul Wellstone's funeral. Someone needs to teach these liberals how to mourn." Klassy.

Cue local sportscaster-turned-windbag Frank Beckmann. You're on, buddy!

Yes, Frank knows one-sided arguments. He knows how to swallow what he really feels in order to tell a story. That's what sportscasters do; you can't be too 'homer' in your rhetoric. Well, Frank stuck to his guns today, writing a piece of shrill that's completely expected from the right. Yes, Frank reads his Powerline.

He echoes the GOP talking points of "Cindy met with Bush already", which is true. Did he listen when she told (and other corroborating mothers tell the same tale) of a "buoyant" President, getting up in her face, introducing himself with his full name and title (like she hadn't any idea who he was), and that he didn't know her son's name and that he kept calling her "Mom".

"Mom"? WTF is that about? Not only does this sound like a man with no empathic synapses firing in the attic (Bush's mocking of Karla Fay Tucker is more than enough proof of that - Google 'Bush mocks Karla Fay'), but to hold such a disconnect from the raw emotions involved should send shivers down one's spine.

Frank goes on to crush Ms. Sheehan by having the unmitigated gall - get this - to disagree with the right. Have Mercy! Cindy had the nerve - the NERVE - to have other people that feel the same as she does to join her. Seriously, what is wrong with this woman?

Frank doesn't like what Cindy has to say. Frank basically denigrates her ability to think on her own by saying she's been had by the Left; that these "radical anti-war groups" (ever notice that anyone that disagrees with them gets the term 'radical' added?) have taken over and orchestrated her entire vigil. Of course! There's always a coordinated attack... I mean, it always is for the right (see the ridiculous and laughable "America Stand for Your Freedom" "march", brought to you by the Pentagon!), so why should the left be any different, right, Frank? Oh puh-leaze. As Triumph the Comic Dog said before the elections; "If Bush took a dump on stage... you'd say 'he looked very comfortable up there'."

Yes, Cindy speaks frankly (hehe). But Mr. Beckmann doesn't like such talk. Don't like the term 'fascist state'? I'm pretty sure 75% of the people reading me now don't know what that really means. Here's a primer: 14 defining characteristics of Fascism. You can do as much connecting the dots as you like. Is the term 'war crimes' a bit harsh, Frank? Well, torture and murder - both of which has been proven just within the "penal system" in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo - tend to lean towards such emboldened, radical terms. Also, you might wanna peek at what the rest of the world is saying. I know, I know... it's so unAmerican to give a rat's ass about what anyone else thinks. Weak. But, seriously, have you bothered to read? You might reconsider - or have to reinvent - the word 'radical'.

Frank says this:
"Never mind that this charade may embolden terrorists in Iraq to fight longer against our brave volunteer military force. Never mind that Casey's sacrifice is overshadowed by this embarrassing spectacle. Soon, the cameras will be gone, the stories will stop, and Cindy Sheehan will go home.
But the radicals will find someone new to exploit and ignore the damage they cause."

If Frank wants to turn this into a PR battle, don't bother. The right has lost this one, and badly. THEY KNOW BETTER than to smear a grieving military Mom, but they were left with no choice. Why? Because this war has no legs:

• The reasons were either wrong or lies (you decide)
  
• The management of the 'reconstruction' has been a complete and total sham, filled with unfathomable fraud (see: $8.8 billion MISSING. That's right. MISSING.)
  
• Remember when it was stated that this reconstruction would pay for itself?
  
• Prisoner torture so horrid that the public has been sheltered from the worst of it by this Administration (gee... do you think THAT has 'emboldened the enemy'? What's that, Frank? Can't hear you...)
  
• 12 new permanent military bases in Iraq (doesn't sound like a country that's leaving anytime soon, eh?)
  
• The inability to make serious ground against the insurgents (regardless of what Dick says), and no real timetable for withdrawal (stay the course)...

Oh, yeah. And, 1,800+ soldiers dead. Not to mention countless thousand of innocent Iraqis... you know, the people we were sent to 'liberate'.

So, what do Frank and the rest of the smear-mongers hope to gain from this attack? Charge her with being political? Guess what, guys. You made an entire country political, and woke the sleeping giant - the Democrats - with a series of blunders and lies. It was the end of the world when Clinton lied, but if these guys do it for the Flag, it seems to be OK (a quickly dissipating number, I must say, as

The 'radicals' you speak of, Mr. Beckmann, are the ONLY people with any sort of checks and balances on this big-government, free-spending, war-mongering Administration. This 'culture of life' WH has produced a record number of uninsured, record number of families with children declaring bankruptcy, and 4 million more in poverty - mostly CHILDREN.

Flying back from vacation to save a brain-dead Terri Schaivo made sense, and this man doesn't have the decency to walk to the end of his driveway to answer on simple question... 'What noble cause did my son die for?'

And so it goes. One woman's cause has been joined (naturally) by hundreds locally, and hundreds of thousands virtually. Frank and his buddies think this is just bunk, all the working of the far left.

They'd better wake up.