Original Article Feb. 12, 2006 Copyright Las Vegas Review-Journal VIN SUPRYNOWICZ: Where never is heard a discouraging word Last time, we were examining George W. Bush's attempt to rewrite history in his Jan. 31 State of the Union speech; the president strongly implying it was Iraq that harbored and dispatched the terrorists who attacked this country on Sept. 11, 2001 (a fascinating fabrication), and further asserting that if we were to pull out of Iraq now, that country would soon be run by Osama bin Laden and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi (if true, a stronger condemnation of the mess created by the president's invasion than any yet mounted by his opponents). As any performer will quickly adjust his act to eliminate lines that draw unwelcome cackles of scorn and disbelief, the retention of such howlers provides a strong warning against the practice of having the president try out his material only in front of friendly audiences -- military personnel whose careers would suffer if they broke out in uncontrollable giggling, members of Congress who would be shocked only if they heard something that wasn't carefully crafted to mislead, etc. Even Dick Nixon, who no one liked, occasionally surprised folks by showing a little physical courage as he wandered outside the White House fence to strike up a conversation with the ever-present war protesters. In comparison, how do Bush's gatekeepers respond when someone tries to break through the hermetic seal and bring him face to face with a different view of the war The State of the Union address featured a moment of carnival barking, the mawkishness of which now passes unnoticed simply because it has become so familiar. The family of a dead Marine (in this case, Staff Sgt. Dan Clay) was asked to stand and take a bow as the president read from the dead trooper's final letter: "It has been an honor to protect and serve all of you. I faced death with the secure knowledge that you would not have to. ... Never falter! Don't hesitate to honor and support those of us who have the honor of protecting that which is worth protecting." The dedication and courage of our fighting men stand unchallenged. But the fact that staff sergeants will do their duty, regardless, cannot be taken as evidence that a war is wise or just. Quite the contrary. Asked to prove the sergeant's sacrifice was justified, the president can hardly be allowed to use the sergeant's unquestioning willingness to accept the president's assurance that his war was just as evidence that his war was just. Using a bereaved family in this manner for political advantage should be out of bounds. Particularly when another bereaved Army mother is barred from the hall for attempting to politely register an opposing view. Iraq war opponent Cindy Sheehan, whose son was killed while driving a Humvee in Sadr City in 2004, says she was reluctant to go to the State of the Union. "I knew George Bush would say things that would hurt me and anger me, and I knew that I couldn't disrupt the address because Lynn (Rep. Lynn Woolsey, D-Calif.) had given me the ticket and I didn't want to be disruptive out of respect for her," Sheehan wrote to supporters the following day. "Lynn's office had already called the media and everyone knew I was going to be there, so I sucked it up and went," Sheehan says. Sheehan was wearing a shirt that asked the question "2245 Dead. How many more" "I met one of Congresswoman Barbara Lee's staffers in the Longworth Congressional Office building and we went to the Capitol via the underground tunnel. I went through security once, then had to use the restroom and went through security again," she said. "My ticket was in the fifth gallery, front row, fourth seat in. The person who in a few minutes was to arrest me, helped me to my seat. "I had just sat down and I was warm from climbing three flights of stairs back up from the bathroom so I unzipped my jacket. I turned to the right to take my left arm out, when the same officer saw my shirt and yelled, 'Protester.' He then ran over to me, hauled me out of my seat and roughly (with my hands behind my back) shoved me up the stairs. I said something like 'I'm going, do you have to be so rough' "The officer ran with me to the elevators yelling at everyone to move out of the way. When we got to the elevators, he cuffed me and took me outside to await a squad car. On the way out, someone behind me said, 'That's Cindy Sheehan.' At which point the officer who arrested me said: 'Take these steps slowly.' I said, 'You didn't care about being careful when you were dragging me up the other steps.' He said, 'That's because you were protesting.' Wow, I get hauled out of the People's House because I was 'protesting.' "I was never told that I couldn't wear that shirt into the Congress," Sheehan writes, "I was never asked to take it off or zip my jacket back up. If I had been asked to do any of those things, I would have, and written about the suppression of my freedom of speech later. I was immediately, and roughly (I have the bruises and muscle spasms to prove it) hauled off and arrested for 'unlawful conduct.' " The New York Times later reported the charge against Sheehan was dropped -- but only after Republican Rep. C.W. "Bill" Young, R-Fla., raised a ruckus about his own wife also being expelled from the hall for violating the "unwritten rule" against shirts bearing political messages. In Beverly Young's case, the message was "Support the Troops -- Defending Our Freedom." Needless to say, being pro-war, Mrs. Young was neither handcuffed nor arrested. "After I had my personal items inventoried and my fingers printed, a nice sergeant came in and looked at my shirt and said, '2,245, huh I just got back from there,' " Sheehan continued. "I told him that my son died there. That's when the enormity of my loss hit me. I have lost my son. I have lost my First Amendment rights. I have lost the country that I love. Where did America go I started crying in pain. "What did Casey die for What did the 2,244 other brave young Americans die for What are tens of thousands of them over there in harm's way for still For this I can't even wear a shirt that has the number of troops on it that George Bush and his arrogant and ignorant policies are responsible for killing. "I wore the shirt to make a statement. ... I did not wear it to be disruptive, or I would have unzipped my jacket during George's speech. If I had any idea what happens to people who wear shirts that make the neocons uncomfortable, that I would be arrested ... maybe I would have, but I didn't." Sheehan was released four hours later, well after the speech concluded. She says she is exploring a First Amendment lawsuit. "It is time to take our freedoms and our country back," she says. "I don't want to live in a country that prohibits any person, whether he/she has paid the ultimate price for that country, from wearing, saying, writing, or telephoning any negative statements about the government." Am I endorsing Sheehan's politics in general Certainly not. I think we're more into Voltaire territory here, the great Frenchman having supposedly said, "I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it." George W. Bush didn't personally order Sheehan's arrest. But he hasn't condemned it. Addressing her empty seat that night, however, he did say, "Every step toward freedom in the world makes our country safer, so we will act boldly in freedom's cause. ... No one can deny the success of freedom, but some men rage and fight against it." The president then defended his practice of wiretapping Americans without warrants and called for a renewal of the Patriot Act, offering no compromise to those who worry about the extent to which these things infringe the Bill of Rights. Vin Suprynowicz is assistant editorial page editor of the Review-Journal and author of "Send in the Waco Killers" and the new novel "The Black Arrow." His Web sites are www.TheLibertarian.us or www.LibertyBookShop.us.