UPDATE: More on Mrs. Sheehan

Since I wrote the previous item on Mrs. Sheehan (Sunday, August 7), the war mother protesting outside Bush's ranch, the issue has exploded in a media frenzy. The more I read and see, the less I think of Mrs. Sheehan. I guess there are just too many "cry for the camera" photographs to be sincere.

To me she appears to be well over the initial depth of grief and mourning, and now into playing it up for public consumption. Instead of sorrowful, I now find her shameless -- using her son's death more than reacting to it.

In addition, I did not realize that she already had a audience with Bush, and made public comments not consistent with her current views. It is not unreasonable to wonder if she, herself, has not been twisted and manipulated into a publicity puppet.

Some of the publicity is now obviously manipulated. I visited a web site that was listed as her blog, and found public reactions included -- but I found no way to add a public reaction. They appeared to have been placed by the blog-meister for appearances sake.

She talks about how her son was forced into the military. Yet everyone knows he enlisted. From many other observations, it appears that her son did not share her anti war views. He appears to have been a genuine American hero -- his reputation now being besmirched by his own mother's view point.

Mrs. Sheehan seems less a heroine, and more a woman driven by a toxic mixture of bitterness and vanity -- the latest fungible pawn in the media propaganda campaign.