The problem with mainstream media is that it generally reports stories narrowly, leaving out how the pieces come together to paint a bigger picture (yes, I know, that's not mainstream media's only problem).
In looking at the Cindy Sheehan phenomenon, I've formed a big picture of my own. See what you think.
First, as you probably have heard, Bush is standing firm on Iraq. No one's leaving as long as he's president. (He could have said "over my dead body," but of course that would have been in bad taste, not to mention inaccurate.)
Now, stick with me on this next part. The outing of CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson has sort of died down recently, right? But the Los Angeles Times helpfully brought it back up yesterday, with an excellent summation of the whole sordid mess, and the pattern in which Karl Rove acts as attack dog on all who dare defy the administration.
That brings us to Cindy Sheehan, who has shown up in Crawford kicking up some dust, reminding everyone that a lot of people are dying and that Iraq is starting to look like another Vietnam.
The right-wing blogs try to defame Sheehan, and a few Republican operatives go on TV to say she's exploiting her dead son for... I'm not sure what.
Enter Karl Rove. Or not.
The noise machine that generally drowns out critics of the administration is not nearly as loud on Sheehan. Some might think it's only because she is a dead soldier's mom, so it's best to tread lightly. But I offer this supposition: Karl Rove's power to shape an issue has been crippled by his out-in-the-open campaign to out a CIA officer. Rove is either being kept on a short leash by the administration or reporters have stopped going to him as a source, as it's become clear that this is a potential path to jail time.
So Bush has to do the dirty work personally. He might not meet with Sheehan, but he has to address this stuff. He does so by making a speech in which he pulls up a mom who has 90% of her family in Iraq, apparently to show us the anti-Sheehan who proudly sends her men off to war. Problem is, the Mom-vs-Mom show is so obvious that our commander-in-chief just looks pathetic (and as exploitive as his minions seem to think Cindy Sheehan is).
And the tangled web comes back to snare George W. Bush.
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