Remember Cindy Sheehan? A decade ago Cindy’s son, U.S. Army Specialist Casey Sheehan, was killed in action in Iraq. She dealt with her grief by publicly protesting the Bush administration, and she was a media darling for a brief time.
Here’s what the NYT’s Maureen Dowd wrote about Sheehan back in August 2005:
Selectively humane, Mr. Bush justified his Iraq war by stressing the 9/11 losses. He emphasized the humanity of the Iraqis who desire freedom when his W.M.D. rationale vaporized.
But his humanitarianism will remain inhumane as long as he fails to understand that the moral authority of parents who bury children killed in Iraq is absolute.
The standard had been set: A mother’s grief, for a son who fell to America’s enemies, imbued her with absolute moral authority.
And so the left-wing troops kept reminding themselves. No attack was out of bounds, no rhetoric was beyond the pale. They were doing it for Cindy.
Once she was no longer useful to them, of course, they dropped her like a hot rock. They stopped pretending to care about her pain when it was no longer useful to them politically.
And 10 years later, with a Democrat in the White House, what’s happened to that foundational standard of “absolute moral authority”?
Never mind.
Last week we reported on a passionate CNN appearance by Patricia Smith, the mother of one of the American victims of the Benghazi attacks, Sean Smith. Today she made an appearance on MSNBC with Andrea Mitchell and identified the root of her ongoing frustration, now four days after the Benghazi Committee hearing…
“Hillary didn’t answer the questions. I am still waiting… if the Ambassador cabled that he needed more people, more security, this cable according to Hillary — it did not reach her. Who did it reach and what was done so that my son wouldn’t be murdered like he was? This has never been answered…”
As Mitchell motioned to draw the interview to a close saying, “Patricia Smith, I am so sorry for your loss…”, Smith dug in and exploded at Mitchell with justifiable outrage.
“My only child was murdered, and nobody will tell me why… He’s not around, and the government won’t talk to me.”
Hillary Clinton lied about what happened that night, what happened in the lead-up to that night, and everything that’s happened since. And her codependents like Andrea Mitchell continue to provide cover for her.
They don’t care that after last week’s testimony, we now have even further proof that Clinton knew the Benghazi attack wasn’t triggered by an “awful Internet video.” They don’t care that the Obama administration lied to the American people about a coordinated Islamic terrorist attack because it might hurt them in the upcoming election. They don’t care that the Libyan consulate made over 600 unanswered requests for help in the months leading up to the attack, and they don’t care that Clinton actually made a joke about it during her testimony. They don’t care that she was too busy e-mailing with Sidney Blumenthal and dealing with Clinton Foundation business to do her actual job.
They don’t care about these facts or any others, because it doesn’t suit their aims to care. They’re Democrats, they want to maintain control of the White House, and they think she’s their best shot. In order to achieve that goal, there’s no limit to the self-debasement they’re willing to endure.
As the great Andrew Klavan puts it:
The left cheered Hillary’s testimony as one of her best campaign appearances and “presidential,” not because she told the truth, not because her lies were plausible, but because her lies were well-delivered. Her performance was the sort of thing an ordinary stupid voter might fall for. So like… hooray.
It doesn’t matter if Hillary Clinton is competent or honest. All that matters is what she can get away with. And her acolytes will decide for us whether or not she gets away with it.
All while dismissing a mother’s grief. Goodbye, absolute moral authority.
This is all you get, Patricia Smith.
Now shut up and get out of the way. We’ve got a coronation to plan.