Sharpton, Sheen visit antiwar camp to support Cindy Sheehan

By Noble Johns

CRAWFORD, Texas (BNW) –Have you every heard of treeing a fox? That’s when a bunch of hunters go fox hunting with hounds looking for foxes, and when the hounds chase the fox down, the fox invariably runs up a tree where it is found by the hunters and shot out of the tree.

In a different way, you can pole a cat! Once you get a Polecat on the run, it invariably runs and hides in a corner. This is how it is with Cindy Sheehan and Stupid Bush; she got that Polecat Bush on the run, and all he can do is hide in the corner of his Crawford ranch crying, “Stay the Course!”

Even the Rev. Al Sharpton joined hundreds of war protesters camping near Stupid Bush's ranch for an interfaith service Sunday, saying he felt compelled to meet Cindy Sheehan, the grieving mother who started the rally three weeks earlier.

Sheehan arrived in Bush's hometown August 6 and refused to leave until she could question the president about the war that has killed more than 1,870 U.S. service members, including her son Casey.

"I feel that it is our moral obligation to stand and to be courageous with these families, and particularly Cindy, that have become the conscience of this nation," said Sharpton, an activist and former Democratic presidential candidate.

Sharpton and Sheehan laid roses at crosses near "Camp Casey," named for Sheehan's 24-year-old son who was killed in Iraq last year.

Actor Martin Sheen, who portrays the Democratic president on NBC's "The West Wing," also met with Sheehan on Sunday.

"At least you've got the acting president of the United States," Sheen told the crowd of more than 300. "I think you know what I do for a living, but this is what I do to stay alive."

Several cars with pro-Bush signs drove slowly down the road by the protest campsite. One man was arrested and charged with misdemeanor assault for allegedly shoving an anti-war demonstrator, McLennan County sheriff's deputies said.

After the war protest ends Wednesday, the anti-war group plans to spread its message on a bus tour, with the first stop probably in the southeast Texas district of U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay.

Bush has said he appreciates Sheehan's right to protest and sympathizes with her, but his aides have said there are no plans to change his schedule to meet with her.

Sheehan and other grieving families met with Bush about two months after her son died last year, before

A dirt road divided hundreds of supporters and protesters of the Iraq war as they rallied Saturday in near-100-degree heat outside President Bush's Texas ranch.

About 1,000 Bush supporters -- more than the population of Crawford -- poured into the area for their rally. Many of them arrived in a caravan from California bearing the message: "You Don't Speak For Me, Cindy!"

The founder of Move America Forward, Howard Kaloogian, accused Cindy Sheehan, the sponsor of the anti-war protest, of encouraging the very insurgency in Iraq that killed her son.

"The terrorists that are watching Cindy Sheehan's protest believe that this is something that might topple the current administration." Kaloogian said. "And I have a question that I want the media to begin asking Cindy Sheehan: How many more American soldiers are going to die because you are giving hope and encouragement to our enemies?"

Across the road, more than 1,000 people showed up to support Sheehan, whose son Casey died in combat last year in Baghdad's Sadr City. She has been holding a vigil at a site dubbed Camp Casey in honor of her son near the Bush ranch since the president began his vacation there earlier this month.

"I'm going to be sad to leave on August 31st," Sheehan told the crowd. "And you know what? I won't be escaping. I'll be going, and we're going, to take Camp Casey to Congress."

Among those in the Sheehan camp was folk singer and social activist Joan Baez, who mingled among the crowd in a white cowboy hat with a purple flower in the brim.

One pro-Bush demonstrator was arrested on a misdemeanor charge of interfering with the duties of a police officer.

Sheehan, of Vacaville, California, wants to question Bush about the U.S. invasion and to urge an immediate withdrawal of U.S. forces.

She is a founding member of Gold Star Families for Peace, an anti-war group led by relatives of fallen troops.

This week, Bush commented on the fallen soldiers during a speech in Salt Lake City.

"We will honor their sacrifice by staying on the offensive against the terrorists," he said.