Wow. I'm blown away. I've been calling people and reading them the interview which you will soon read. Once again, I'm inordinately proud of Mainers, of Maine and of Hildi Halley who lost her husband in Iraq and met with Bush today.
Think about the people who have confronted Rumsfeld in audiences. Think about Cindy Sheehan last year in Texas. There are people who serve as inspirations and Mrs. Halley you are one very special person.
Today, when Bush came to a 'family wedding' in Kennebunkport for the weekend (yes, another vacation complete with golf and fishing) he met with a few parents and spouses of the fallen. Mrs. Halley was one of them and here's what she said:
"I said, `As a Christian man, you realize that when you've made a mistake it's your responsiblity to end this. And it's time to end the bleeding and it's time to end the war.'"
How's that for speaking truth to power? Wanna bet she's not the only one who has spoken so directly? One begins to realize the mindset this so-called leader has to discount the truth. But she wasn't done, not in the least.
"As President, you're here to serve the people. And the people are not being served with this war."
Pow. She's Wonder Woman. Can you picture the scene and how she looks right at him and lets him have it. She's lost her Husband, what can he say? He said,
`Terrorists killed three thousand people, we had to go to war.'" Halley continued, "I said, `Well, who put the Taliban into power? The United States did.' He said, `I'm not going to have a philosphical debate over politics.'
He has Nothing to say. There is nothing to say when confronted with reality. There is nothing philosophical about the cold, hard truth. You lied, we're dying. Mrs. Halley you have my thanks and gratitude for standing up for this country.
If the MSM tells the full story, they will say she is an active Dem, that her husband was an active Dem, Whatever. Active Dems are saving this country, that's what's happening and Mrs. Halley is front and center why.
"I talked to him about how important this person was to me," Halley recounted, speaking of her husband. "It's not just a soldier who died. Lives are changed forever...I said, `This doesn't make sense to me.'"
It doesn't make sense to most of us. You do. You make me proud. Your resolve has strengthened me and reminded me that every call i make to ask people to volunteer, there's a reason. Every time I ask for money to support quality candidates, there's a reason.
The whole story is over at Huffington with a great story by Greg Sargeant from which all the grey boxes came.
http://www.tpmcafe.com/...
If you choose to recommend this diary, it's not for anything I've said, i'm sure there is more to say but i think it is worth bringing to your attention. I'll be interested in your thoughts as well.
UPDATE: press story as requested
http://www.pressherald.mainetoday.com/news/york/060825bush.shtml
UPDATE: A little more research and what do you know. Turns out her husband was chief of staff for TWO Dem Speakers of the House of Reps in the Maine legislature and sometimes worked till 3AM, a real striaght arrow. Also, there's more to his death:
She said she was first told that it was of a heart attack, but that subsequently she was told there was no sign that a heart attack had killed him. An invesigation into his death is continuing.
And take a look at this article when they thought it was a heart attack:
http://www.news.mainetoday.com/war/news/060616soldier.shtml