Sheila Nevins | 07/01/2008 8:00 pm

Sheila Nevins: 'I'd Like to Take President Bush to Arlington Cemetery'

In response to: Sunday is President George W. Bush's birthday. On this 4th of July, do you have any special birthday wishes for him?

I’d like to take President George W. Bush to Arlington Cemetery, Section 60 — where soldiers lie buried from the war in Iraq. Median age about 25. I’d like it to rain on him with the volume of tears he has caused. Drenched with this sorrow, I would like him to light a candle at each gravesite and pause and reflect on the agony of these losses. Cheney should go with him and kiss this hallowed ground.

Read more about: George W. Bush, Holidays, U.S.

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I would like to try to de-fuse this a little bit….before it goes totally incendiary…. Somebody needs to send TT a needlepoint pillow kit (that’ll keep her typing hands busy) with the motto, stolen from Alice Roosevelt Longworth’s couch, that says, “If you can’t say anything nice, sit right here next to me”…… I’ll throw in the puce velveteen for the backing…that was puce….not…..oops…..

By georgia fatwood on 07/05/2008 1:18 pm

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Trempt—are you for real? Sheila Nevins had the best answer to this question. I have an uncle buried in Arlington. He was a decorated hero in WW2. It is a sacred place, a fact that Bush cannot comprehend unless he makes money from it. Sheila is a very well-known woman who has the class not to respond to your idiotic statement.

By kermie b on 07/03/2008 2:33 am

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Trempt arrived here with Ann Coulter—and writes just like Ann Coulter. If she isn’t Ann Coulter—she is a blogger for her and just as horrible (and so reflective of) her dreadful leader. Neither could tie Miss Nevins shoelaces in a million years. She is an actual talent with class. Ann Coulter is a paid mouthpiece or the fringe lunatic right and a (last three letters of ‘class’.)

By I Love Money And Money Loves Me on 07/04/2008 12:19 pm

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for her to spout her drivel despite the fact no one on the planet knows who she is or cares.—not unlike you, eh Tracy?

By Frank Peterson on 07/03/2008 10:23 am

Him at Arlington? no way—I do not want to see that sacred place dishonoured by the likes of a man who deserted from the Texas National Guard for 1 yr. No damn way.

By Frank Peterson on 07/03/2008 10:25 am

a man was executed for deserting the united states army in europe in world war two. too bad bush was not executed for his wartime desertion in alabama. (normally i am not for capital punishment, but bush was. check out his performance as governor of texas.)

By mary lou s on 07/03/2008 8:31 pm

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Just don’t wanna…can’t make me, can’t make me….Too much already to make us twitch and drool… We’re ‘sposed to be listening to the cooler (as in “chill”) heads on this site and hoping that they will prevail in their admonishments for IG-NORANCE…Those perceived to be somehow problematic will wither on the vine if there is a deafening silence of indifference… Really hard to do isn’t it…..? Ignorance as an OK word=”unconsciousness of”…

By georgia fatwood on 07/05/2008 1:07 pm

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Sheila - thank you.

By Maurine H on 07/04/2008 10:39 am

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Sheila, Thanks for putting the important things front and center as we celebrate our nation’s birthday. And may we all remember this and visit Arlington before we make a decision to start a war, God forbid that there is a next time.

By Elisabeth S on 07/05/2008 10:06 am

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Beautifully said, Ms. Nevins.

By Mugsy Peabody on 07/06/2008 12:24 pm

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I recently visited Mt. Herzl (the Arlington of Israel) with several active Israeli soldiers. Visiting the graves with the baby-faced 20-year-olds I had befriended, armed & in uniform, really clarifies how high the stakes are. I am not yet 25 and feel like I am just coming into my own now. I cannot imagine how devastating it must feel to be the parent, widow(er), child or sibling of a young person lost in Iraq and to ache at every milestone or special event thereafter, knowing that their loved one cannot share in any of it. I have never seen any indication that Bush or Cheney truly understand what these families go through, or that they care. While I am inclined to agree with Frank Peterson that it is insulting for Bush to stand in Arlington among those who served their country, I think he deserves to go and squirm under the judgment of the families that understand the stakes of this war far too well.

By mg b on 07/07/2008 11:13 am