Hell hath no fury like a mother scorned!

Whew boy! Things are really heating up. You can bet the White House is working overtime to find something on that mother, Cindy Sheehan, who wants to talk to Bush about her son Casey's death in the president's Iraq war. Stationed outside his Crawford "ranch" until she gets an audience, she's not going away. I'm sure the administration is trying desperately (if you'll pardon the wrestling metaphor) to body slam, scissors lock and eye gouge her credibility.

The first hint of smear I heard was from a Matt Drudge "smudge". It went something like this:

PROTESTING SOLDIER MOM CHANGED STORY ON BUSH..."The mother of a fallen U.S. soldier who is holding a roadside peace vigil near President Bush's ranch -- has dramatically changed her account about what happened when she met the commander-in-chief last summer!"

Drudge was no doubt parroting White House aides' talking points about a newspaper story from Sheehan's hometown of Vacaville, CA, last year. After meeting with Mr. Bush, Sheehan was quoted as saying, "I know he's sorry and feels the pain for our loss." Sheehan doesn't deny those comments, but she says the president told her at the time he would not use such meetings with families for political gain.

But Cindy Sheehan had this to say today about her encounter with Bush in 2004:

Another big story that was going on today was about my first meeting with Bush in June of 2004. For you all I would like to clarify a few things. First of all, I did meet with George, and that is not a secret. I have written about it and been interviewed about it. I will stand by my recounting of the meeting. His behavior was rude and inappropriate. My behavior in June of 2004 is irrelevant to what is going on in 2005. I was in deep shock and deep grief. The grief is still there, but the shock has worn off and the deep anger has set in. And to remind everybody, a few things have happened since June of 2004: The 9/11 commission report; the Senate Intelligence report; the Duelfer WMD report; and most damaging and criminal: the Downing Street Memos. The VERY LAST THING I HAVE TO SAY ABOUT THIS IS: Why do the right wing media so assiduously scrutinize the words of a grief filled mother and ignore the words of a lying president?

It's obvious the Five Stages of Grieving--Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, and Acceptance--as part of the natural process in the loss of a loved one is being ignored here by the Right. That's not really their concern. Discrediting and smearing are. It's the standard administration modus operandi employed against its enemies. Removing her from the news as soon as possible is also another tactic often employed. The following from Sheehan this morning shows the White House may be doing just that.

I conservatively got 3 to 5 phone calls a minute. I did about 25 phone interviews and several TV interviews. I did several right-wing radio interviews. I was supposed to do: The Today Show, MSNBC live interview, Connected Coast to Coast (MSNBC) and Hardball (MSNBC). The Today Show just never showed up and the other 3 MSNBC shows cancelled for no reason.

A Sampling from right-wing blogs I did earlier today described Sheehan as deeply depressed to suicidal, hoping to provoke the government into taking her life! These are examples of extremist blood thirsty dupes still clinging to the administration's storylines for this war. They are among the dwindling minority of Americans who still believe this war is justified and "noble." And they are getting so desperate as to attack a dead veteran's mom.

NPR's show this morning quoted White House spokesman, Trent Duffy, as saying president Bush has no plans to meet with Sheehan. He says the president already spoke with her last year in a larger meeting of grieving families.

NPR went on to say, "Privately now, Sheehan says one of three things will happen: the president will meet with her; she'll be arrested; or, she'll spend the hot month of August camped out in a ditch on Prairie Chapel Road."

An unverified post from David Swanson later this afternoon added the following information attributed to Sheehan:

"Cindy Sheehan phoned me from Texas a few minutes ago to say that she's been informed that beginning Thursday, she and her companions will be considered a threat to national security and will be arrested. Coincidentally, Thursday is the day that Rice and Rumsfeld visit the ranch, and Friday is a fundraiser event for the haves and the have mores. Cindy said that she and others plan to be arrested."

Hang on. This could get very interesting. If the government arrests Cindy Sheehan, mother of Casey, one of its fallen soldiers in Iraq, expect the growing anti-war sentiment to grow even faster. It may turn out there are not enough prisons in the freakin' country to hold all of the government's "national security" risks!