Bush Meets With Republican Good Ol' Boy, But Not Sheehan

When Cindy Sheehan held a lengthy vigil near George W. Bush's Crawford, Texas ranch last summer and endured oppressive heat, dehydration and right-wing hecklers, she was there to ask Bush one simple question: "For what noble cause did my son die?"

The president of Gold Star Families for Peace, Sheehan lost her son, Casey, on April 4, 2004 when he was killed in Iraq.

Bush aides made lame excuses every day last August including citing his schedule -- he clearly had a lot of brush to clear and many bike rides to take -- as a reason for denying Sheehan's request for a 15-minute meeting with the man she still blames for her son's death.

A grieving mother, who gave her only son fighting in a war started by this president and she wants a meeting with him? Tough luck and have a nice summer, said Team Bush.

But let a good ol' boy from Louisiana show up in front of the White House to express concern over the slow process of getting Hurricane Katrina relief, and Georgie's schedule opens up faster than George Allen can spit out a racial slur. Rockey Vaccarella, of St. Bernard Parish, towed a replica of a FEMA trailer from Louisiana to the White House to insist on a meeting with Bush.

Vaccarella said he wanted to thank Bush for what little help has come to Katrina victims, but also said that he was coming because he didn’t want the federal government and President Bush "to forget about us."

Lo and behold, Bush decided to take the meeting. Oh, you should also know that, while he didn't lose a child in Iraq or anything, Rockey is a Bush supporter who once ran as a Republican candidate for the St. Bernard Parish Council.

“We have hope that he will join me for dinner. And, why would he not? Why won't he talk to an American?" said Vaccarella on August 21 as he journeyed toward Washington. "He talks to people from China. He talks to people from Israel and many other countries. So why wouldn't he talk to me - an American?”

No reason at all, Rockey, as long as you're not the mother of a dead soldier and you are a fawning sycophant or can otherwise be used for political gain.

As it turns out, Vaccarella worked out well on both counts.

While something admirable could have come from Bush taking the time to meet with a person representing those his administration let down so badly almost a year ago, you could have thrown a rock in the Ninth Ward and hit someone better than Vaccarella to deliver that message.

"I just don't want the government and President Bush to forget about us," said Rockey, starting out sounding like he meant business.

But then he said what I'm sure had people lucky enough to actually be in FEMA trailers in New Orleans throwing shoes at their televisions: "If we had this President for another four years, I think we'd be great," said Vaccarella.

Good freakin' grief.

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