Who Supports Whom?
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.
[Jack Kelly, "Parent-trap snares recruiters: The tune changes at some homes when they hear 'sign here' ", The Post-Gazette [Pittsburg, PA], 11 August 2005.]
Bush said he appreciates [Cindy] Sheehan's right to protest and that he understands her anguish because he has met with a lot of grieving families of the war dead. But he said, "She doesn't represent the view of a lot of the families I have met with."
[George Bush, 23 August 2005, to reporters near Boise, Idaho; Darlene Superville, Associated Press, "President Bush Challenges Anti-War Activists, Meets Families of War Dead".]
Journalists can get themselves in trouble by drawing simplistic conclusions based on less-than-exhaustive research, and we won't do so here. But we can at least raise the question of whether the rich are more likely to support the war because their loved ones are less likely to die in it.
[Terry M. Neal, "Military's Recruiting Troubles Extend to Affluent War Supporters", Washington Post, 22 August 2005.]
In: All, Common-Place Book, Raised Eyebrows Dept.