Sue Niederer, whose son was killed in Iraq in February, was arrested for "defiant trespass" after shouting at Laura Bush at a campaign event in New Jersey. She was wearing a T-shirt with a picture of her son and the words "President Bush you killed my son."

http://www.nj.com/news/times/index.s...8497246220.xml

Less offensive than the arrest were some of the comments from those attending the rally:

After the speech, Assemblyman Bill Baroni, R-Hamilton, said "she really ought to find something to do with her time," adding that 1,200 audience members "had a great time."

During her protest, Niederer was surrounded by people waving Bush-Cheney signs and chanting "four more years."

Classy all around.

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Man up.

While I feel very sorry for the woman, it was totally inappropriate to wear such a t-shirt into a rally. She can write a letter to the president if that's the way she feels. It is true, that we don't have a draft......her son's going into the military was his own choice. A lot of people who are grief-striken feel the need to strike out at others and place blame. This is nothing new.

God Bless her son for helping to save his fellow citizens back home.

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"What exactly is this foreign policy experience?" Obama said mockingly of the New York senator. "Was she negotiating treaties? Was she handling crises? The answer is no."

She was continued to yell, and refused to leave. This was not her forum. I would expect the same thing to happen if someone kept yelling during a speech by Theresa Heinz. Her comment about the Bush daughters demonstrates her complete lack of understanding of personal choice. She should have called the Kerry campaign. They'd probably put her on the podium.

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"Government exists to protect us from each other. Where government has gone beyond its limits is in deciding to protect us from ourselves." ~Ronald Reagan

This woman paid the ultimate sacrifice, she can wear any (*)(*)(*)(*)ed T-shirt she wants....

I thought there was "free speech" in America....

Guess there is as long as you thank the emperor for sending your children to die in his war...

So, you're saying that if someone stood up at a Ted Kennedy speech and started yelling..."You murdered Mary Jo Koepehne" over and over again that they shouldn't be carted out?

BTW, the arrest isn't about the t-shirt.....it's about the disruption she caused. Exactly WHO was trying to stop someone else's free speech and other's ability to hear it? I'd say it was this woman.

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"What exactly is this foreign policy experience?" Obama said mockingly of the New York senator. "Was she negotiating treaties? Was she handling crises? The answer is no."

So if my child dies while drunk driving should I go yell at the alcohol company??? OR should I go yell at the person who put themself in that situation to begin with? Maybe I should just understand that my child made this decision and made it on his own. My brother in law was in the military and he has explained to me that it is very much "in your face" about the risk you are taking by joining the armed forces, the military. He said it posted a death count daily at every camp you attended, so it is very known to everyone in the military that you are risking your life everyday, even during training to serve your country as a militaryman or woman.

I can't help but feel saddened by the deaths these families had to cope with but I wonder if they realize that it's no one's fault...it was a decision every single person made voluntarily in order to serve their country...with the benefits of being in the military there is also the huge risk of death and going to war if that's what your commander n chief deems necessary...it does not say you don't have to go to war if you don't agree with it...there are not "conditions" when serving in the military...blaming the President seems to be the only way some people can cope with their loss and I am sure President Bush and Mrs. Bush understand this, it's sad but there is not blame other then haviing the choice to enter or not. You are right about ONE thing truebrit, we do have freedom of speech, just like you have the freedom of choice, to join and risk your life or not to...bottom line.

My point, as I specifically mentioned, was less about the arrest than about the comments that surrounded it. There was a big brouhaha when a dead soldier's mom was criticized at a peace rally in Texas. Although the details on that remain sketchy (one short bit on the local news), I agree that such criticism was inappropriate.

But then, where's the outrage over the jokes and dismissive comments from attendees at the Bush rally?

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Man up.

So....you mean some reporter heard a couple of negative comments and decided to print those.....and not any of the others? I can guarantee you there were plenty of people at that rally who felt terrible for this woman's loss and her grief. And had the reporter been interested in getting some varying sentiments, perhaps they should have done so. OF course, I don't like those comments posted....and I would venture to say that the largest percentage of those supporters at that rally didn't either.

Are you telling me that if a few people at a John Kerry rally are overheard making threatening remarks about the president.....that it necessarily means that EVERYBODY in attendance at that rally thinks the same way? I don't think so.....

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"What exactly is this foreign policy experience?" Obama said mockingly of the New York senator. "Was she negotiating treaties? Was she handling crises? The answer is no."

The details, which you describe as "sketchy", aren't "sketchy" at all. An anti-war/anti-Bush rally was billed as a "non-partisan" rally for US troops, a come one, come all..."this is for our troops" rally. Believing she was attending an event to remember and honor her fallen son, the woman was verbally abused by liberals who had shown up to protest the war and Bush. It was vile, and it was well discussed in this forum.

Anyone can distinguish between these two disparate cases. Admitting this, however, is another matter.

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"John Kerry gave the enemy for free what I and my comrades in the prison camps in North Vietnam took torture to avoid saying. He sold us out."
- Paul Galanti, US P.O.W.

She did get the press she wanted. Obviously, that's why she went there. I don't think it was meant to be a joke even though attributed in the article as a "crack." The odd thing is that even though the article says she kept yelling, the only quote from her from inside the rally was, "when are yours going to serve?"
I have to wonder what else she said.

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"Government exists to protect us from each other. Where government has gone beyond its limits is in deciding to protect us from ourselves." ~Ronald Reagan