Sunday, November 27, 2005
The holiday weekend contributed to the low turnout .
CRAWFORD, Texas (AP) -- Demonstrators on both sides of the war debate waved signs and argued their causes in President Bush's hometown again Saturday, though their efforts drew much smaller crowds than last summer's dueling rallies.
About 200 war protesters joined Cindy Sheehan on a private lot outside Bush's ranch, laughing at a Bush impersonator and crying while listening to relatives of soldiers killed in Iraq.
Sheehan, whose 26-day protest in August reinvigorated an anti-war movement, called on supporters to return to the campsite during the president's Thanksgiving holiday. On Saturday, she held up a picture of 20 flag-draped coffins on a plane bound for the United States.
"This is George Bush's exit strategy from Iraq," said Sheehan, whose son Casey died in Iraq last year. "And we want our kids to walk off planes, not be loaded onto the back of a hearse from a loading dock. And that's why we're doing what we do."
Several miles away in downtown Crawford, a dozen Bush supporters gathered with their own signs, one reading: "Real America won't wimp out."
Throughout the day, dozens of others stopped by the pro-Bush tent to express their support.
"I'm just a flag-waver, and I disagree with what [protesters] are saying," said Army veteran William Moore of nearby McGregor. "The fact is, we did go to war. I don't like war, but I don't want us to get out of Iraq before the job is done."
The scene was far different from the last weekend in August, when several thousand Bush supporters and war protesters held separate rallies in the one-stoplight town of 700 residents. Both sides attributed Saturday's low turnout to the holiday weekend and rainy, cool weather.