I think Cindy Sheehan is proof that the White House's much-vaunted political operation isn't an ounce as savvy as we've been led to believe. If these guys were smart, they wouldn't let the grieving mother of an Iraq veteran camp out in a tent at the Crawford gates while fielding a thousand media interviews; it's a public relations disaster. They'd have gotten her cold drinks, a hotel room, and promised a meeting two days hence. Then they'd have had some freed Iraqis whose children Saddam had tortured and murdered as punishment for chewing bubble gum fly out. The Iraqi parents would be immediately shuttled to CIndy where, with quivering voices and many tears, they'd try to tell her that her son died so others could live, that her son died so others could live free.
But no, this stubborn group is just letting her roast in the Texas son, furious that the woman would dare invade Bush's vacation sanctum and try to force him into feeling personal pain over the loss of her son. Whether they judge her right or wrong, common sense would dictate they get her inside and away from cameras. But common sense is routinely trounced by Bush's truculence, and, in this case, political savvy got knocked out right along with it.