What A Difference A Year Makes

Let's take a look back at a passage from a past post I wrote four years ago:

Ms. Sheehan has a constitutional right to protest whatever she wants, whenever she wants. Make no mistake about where I stand on free speech, it must always be protected no matter how ludicrous the message or the ideology.

That said, I think it is deplorable how the left has taken a probably decent lady in a weak moment of grief, and exploited it for political purposes. I also believe it to be equally sad that she has allowed herself to be manipulated into this political, media circus.

Fast forward to today, where we read a passage from this piece in the Washington Examiner:

Remember the anti-war movement? Not too long ago, the Democratic party's most loyal voters passionately opposed the war in Iraq. Democratic presidential candidates argued over who would withdraw American troops the quickest. Netroots activists regularly denounced President George W. Bush, and sometimes the U.S. military ("General Betray Us"). Cindy Sheehan, the woman whose soldier son was killed in Iraq, became a heroine when she led protests at Bush's Texas ranch.

That was then. Now, even though the United States still has roughly 130,000 troops in Iraq, and is quickly escalating the war in Afghanistan -- 68,000 troops there by the end of this year, and possibly more in 2010 -- anti-war voices on the Left have fallen silent.

Today we read that in Baghdad, bombs have killed 95 and wounded over 500. We also read that the war in Afghanistan has now killed over 710 of our soldiers, since the invasion in 2001. And like the Examiner article states, those who vehemently protested the wars of George W. Bush are now conspicuously silent.

Cindy Sheehan is still protesting, Code Pink is too. But the difference is as plain as the noses on our faces.

The irresponsible media hacks (who generated the lion's share of the noise during the Bush Administration) are the ones that have kept this quiet, while they malign the rank and file constituencies of the irresponsible political hacks (who have dared to question the machine). The media picks and chooses the issues of the day on any given day and right now, there is no need to attack the Obama Administration for continuing wars that were so immoral just a year ago.