Angry in the Great White North

Cindy Sheehan is bailing out of the planned protest at Brunswick Naval Air Station, following her cancellations in Colorado. The plan was to protest the Blue Angels demonstration, the Blue Angels being the US Navy precision flying team.

From the Times Record in Maine:

Cindy Sheehan, the peace activist who was camped out on the road to President Bush's Crawford, Texas, ranch during his August vacation, has decided not to join a protest march and rally in Brunswick on Saturday.

Doug Rawlings, president of Veterans for Peace, said this morning that he's disappointed in Sheehan's decision but understood her reasons for canceling.

"She's on her own tour and was advised not to come here," Rawlings said. "Although we're disappointed, she was never the focus of the demonstration. That focus continues to be calling attention to the glorification of war that the Blue Angels represent."

Technically, demonstration teams like the Blue Angels (Navy), the Thunderbirds (Air Force), and the Golden Knights (US Army paratroops) are recruiting tools, not "glorification" tools.

But this is interesting. She was advised to stay on her own tour and skip this event. Definitely many people will be disappointed:

Bruce Gagnon, a Brunswick resident who is organizing the rally for Veterans for Peace, said it's fitting for someone like Sheehan to come to Brunswick and for the group to stage a protest to "stop the worship of the gods of war."

Gagnon said he expects hundreds of protesters to participate in the march and rally because of Sheehan. He also said the rally will be peaceful.

This year's air show runs Sept. 10-11. It is expected to attract about 200,000 visitors, base officials said.

But many, many more people will be pleased. Hundreds of protesters versus the 200,000 supporters.

Cindy Sheehan's advisors might not fear the "gods of war", but the "gods of public perception" are another matter. Pictures of Cindy Sheehan yelling through a megaphone to a straggly group of 60s era protesters trying to be heard over the scream of F/A-18s overhead and the roar of approval from 200,000 middle class Americans can't sit well with her media handlers.

At Crawford, she had the scene to herself. The President was off-stage, there was no counter-protest for over two weeks, and no other big news stories.

But now with Katrina and the Supreme Court nominations pushing Cindy Sheehan to the margins, any coverage she gets will be abbreviated, and designed for maximum information in minimum time. That means strong visuals and minimal speech-making. And at BNAS that means a quick shot of Cindy Sheehan on a stage, and several shots of the Blue Angels doing their thing over huge crowds.

I can see why she would be told to bail.