"Our kind of people"

Many of you may have already seen a link to this over at Atrios:

Staff Sgt. Jason Rivera, 26, a Marine recruiter in Pittsburgh, went to the home of a high school student who had expressed interest in joining the Marine Reserve to talk to his parents.

It was a large home in a well-to-do suburb north of the city. Two American flags adorned the yard. The prospect's mom greeted him wearing an American flag T-shirt.

"I want you to know we support you," she gushed.

Rivera soon reached the limits of her support.

"Military service isn't for our son. It isn't for our kind of people," she told him.

To follow up, here's a great letter to the editor from a well-to-do suburb south of the city

I wonder how many people read "Parent-Trap Snares Recruiters" (Aug. 11) and noted the suburban mother's comment, "Military service isn't for our son. It isn't for our kind of people." What kind of people is it for exactly? She was wearing an American flag T-shirt and proudly displayed two American flags in her yard. What a hypocrite! I am sure she voted for George Bush, too.

I am a suburban mother, too. I have two sons, one a member of the U.S. Army, although not currently in Iraq, and one not in the military. I do not support George Bush and his war, and I certainly do not consider myself unpatriotic. If people like this woman's "kind" had family members at risk of dying or being maimed in war, perhaps our troops would all be back on American soil sooner. Since President Bush's daughters are eligible to serve in the military and do not, he obviously is like this mother -- the war is not for his "kind of people" either.

God bless Cindy Sheehan, the mother whose son died in Iraq, for trying to get George Bush to explain his noble cause.