A tale of five women in or from the south

This is gonna be long. I'm combining a couple of different posts I originally made separately, for reasons that should be obvious.

I notice Cindy Sheehan is getting some of the same shit the pro-warriors gave the Dixie Chicks. Meanwhile, I don't want to say the Bush supporters are divorced from reality...oh no, wait, that's exactly what I want to say.

CNN.com has a story about the "Dueling protests" now outside the Bush ranch in Crawford. One of them, of course, is Sheehan's, the other is Bush supporters.

The founder of Move America Forward, Howard Kaloogian, accused Cindy Sheehan, the sponsor of the anti-war protest, of encouraging the very insurgency in Iraq that killed her son.

"The terrorists that are watching Cindy Sheehan's protest believe that this is something that might topple the current administration." Kaloogian said.

Right. Failed "neocon" strategy, general incompetence and a mission where expectations keep being revised downward. A president who thinks sending men and women to their deaths for dishonest reasons is funny and who now has a 36% approval rating.

And Cindy Sheehan might topple the current administration.

And you know what? She might.

I got the CNN story via Hoffmania, who point out:

Arrest Numbers in Crawford:

Camp Casey after three weeks: 0
Pro-Bush Demonstrators after one day: 1

...That doesn't even include Shotgun Guy or Pickup Truck Drunk Guy.

Over on Tiny Cat Pants, Aunt B has made an excellent entry. She starts out by wondering about the Dixie Chicks and whether their career is well and truly over. I hope not. I came to like the Dixie Chicks music late, and I admit the first thing I liked about them was their lead singer's big mouth. Ok, the second thing--they are awfully cute, after all.

But I have come to like their music, which is no small thing. Remember, you're talking about a guy who prefers sample-jams, dance, new wave, techno and synth-pop bands from the '80s. And I like--I legitimately like--the Dixie Chicks' music. I came to like it on compilations; and on their live album which I asked for and got for Christmas last year after seeing them sing with James Taylor on the "Concert For Change." I think/hope they're too good for such vicious, stupid attacks as they recieved to end their careers. But I concede they're probably going to have to complete that crossover.

Anyway, that's only Aunt B's starting point, in the spirit of essays going from the smaller to the big (or in this case, the broads to the broader):

Those of us who have only ever lived in urban areas, where it's impossible for everyone in your community to be in your business, don't understand the appeal in believing that, if only we could get rid of the troublemakers, everything would be all right. We especially don't understand the small-town paranoia that says "If only we could get rid of the troublemakers, everything would be all right" at the same time the speakers seem almost cognizant that anyone at any moment could become a troublemaker.

She develops from that starting point thoughtful opinions about why the war, and George W. Bush, have become so unpopular not just in those urban areas, but rural communities as well. It's worth a look.