The new antiwar voices: Mothers and grandmothers

These days, the right-wing noise machine's got a problem when it goes up against the antiwar movement. The new symbol of Iraq war opposition isn't some 1960s holdover. It's not some goofy Marxist academic. It's a mother. Specifically, the mother of a fallen soldier.

Suddenly, they can no longer frame antiwar activists as a "fifth column" in American life, and they can no longer smear them as traitors to their country. Not when they're moms. After all, motherhood's one of those things that Americans are supposed to love and defend--along with Uncle Sam and apple pie.

Smear a grieving mother, and you come off as a heartless dick. Suggest her motives are less than pure, and you risk a raised eyebrow.

"She lost her son!"

"Have a heart!"

Those are some likely responses you'll get.

Of course, the right-wing noise machine won't give up trying. But their desperation, their flailing, their rush to find something to use against Cindy Sheehan, are all too apparent. As Billmon notes:

There's a kind of comical desperation about it -- like watching cartoon elephants dance in hysterical fear at the sight of a cartoon mouse. I said recently that the Rovians attack what they fear most. And when your greatest fear is the mother of a combat soldier who wants to ask the president why her son had to die in Iraq, you know you've got some serious PR problems.

They're going to get more nervous really soon. Now, even grandmothers are following suit. I stumbled onto the following Lexington Herald-Leader story by way of Daily Kos. It's about the funeral of 21-year-old Marine Chase Johnson Comley:

But on Friday, Comley's grandmother, 80-year-old Geraldine Comley of Versailles, described herself in an interview as a former Republican stalwart who is "on a rampage" against the president and the war.

She said she would like nothing better than to join Cindy Sheehan, the mother of a fallen soldier who has been holding a peace vigil outside President Bush's ranch in Texas.

"When someone gets up and says 'My son died for our freedom,' or I get a sympathy card that says that, I can hardly bear it," Geraldine Comley said.

Chase Conley's aunt (and Geraldine's daughter), Missie Comley Beattie, didn't mince words either:

"I've never seen my father cry, but I've heard him cry this week," she said. "And he will look at the picture of Chase that's on their hearth and say 'George Bush killed my grandson.'"

But wait! It gets even better! A group called the Raging Grannies attempted to enlist--something none of the right-wing pundits have done or encouraged their audience to do.

Mothers and grandmothers and grieving family members are emerging as the new faces of the antiwar movement. Suddenly, the Iraq war cheerleaders have reason to be nervous. Because this time, their opponents aren't crazed, wild-eyed hippies. They're the people we're supposed to love, cherish, and revere. Parents and grandparents.