"In the defense of a Fallen Hero"

August 2006

The recent incident at the Augusta County Fair where a Democrat Volunteer of the Jim Webb campaign made a insulting comment about the memory of Marine Lance Cpl. Jason Redifer to his mother, Rhonda Winfield has received much attention within the County Republicans. Unfortunately the local Waynesboro newspaper "elected" to voice their opinion as to what happened on their opinion page without interviewing Rhonda Winfield. But they did interview the Democrat Volunteer about the incident and published his comments...

"If you think all conservatives wear

suits you haven't met the United Conservatives of Virginia!

We go where wingtips fear to tread!"

Flora over at the "United Conservatives" blog read about the incident and took a ride over to Richmond to meet and interview Rhonda Winfield. She conducted a in depth interview and has been reporting on it for the past several days and it is exactly what the Waynesboro newspaper, The NewsVirginian should have done. Link to her post on this follows:

http://unitedconservatives.blogspot.com/2006/08/news-virginian-another-example-of.html

"I know Rhonda Winfield, & she is NO Cindy Sheehan"

Media

The local Waynesboro newspaper The Newsvirginian has turned a recent incident where a Democrat volunteer to the Jim Webb Senate campaign insulted the memory of a fallen U.S. Marine into a "Cindy Sheehan" issue.

The "NewsVirginian" stated on it's Opinion page: "However, Republicans have no compunction about attacking another mother who also lost her son in Iraq. The difference is Cindy Sheehan has joined the antiwar movement. That should not make her a target of neoconservative wrath. A mother is a mother, whether she’s a Democrat or Republican. Winfield is as far right as Sheehan is left. Both should be off limits to criticism."

As stated in the title of this post, I do know Rhonda Winfield and she is no Cindy Sheehan. Rhonda has continually supported the memory of her son, Marine Lance Cpl. Jason Redifer who was lost in Iraq fighting the war on terrorism. She wrote a book about her son and his sacrafice to our country and it's citizens. Sheehan on the other hand has taken the memory of her son and turned it into a politcal vehicle for her benefit while the media disregards the facts about her son, Casey Sheehan...

It is unfortunate, but not unexpected, that the local newspaper has turned this away from a attack on the memory of a fallen soldier and to a political issue.

Let me point out a few facts about Cindy Sheehan and her son:

Casey Sheehan volunteered for his service to the military...

Casey Sheehan re-enlisted in the military when he had the opportunity...

Casey Sheehan volunteered for the rescue mission which he was killed on while trying to rescue other military personnel and serving his country...

Cindy Sheehan has taken every opportunity to capitialize on the loss of her son and she has truely turned the issue into a political one...

Rhonda, is NO Cindy Sheehan....

Flora over at United Conservatives Blog has a novel idea but one that I doubt the local Democrat party will use...

http://unitedconservatives.blogspot.com/2006/08/webb-campaigner-insults-lcpl-jason.html

No need for facts, we have a "Opinion" page...

It seems that the NewsVirginian newspaper elected to present their "Opinion" on the incident that happened at the Augusta County Fair last week when a Democrat volunteer made an unacceptable comment to the Mother of a fallen soldier.
http://newsvirginian.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=WNV%2FMGArticle%2FWNV_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1149189998774&path=!news!opinions
The interesting thing is that the Waynesboro Newspaper the "NewsVirginian" wrote this piece without ever interviewing Rhonda Winfield or myself about what happened.

The incident has been described here on this blog as "Over the Line " as well as a follow up interview with Rhonda Winfield that appears on the United Conservatives blog done by a seperate person.
http://unitedconservatives.blogspot.com/2006/08/augusta-co-dems-insult-fallen-warrior.html


Another Augusta County resident and blogger describes the reception that he got from the Republican, Libertarian, and Democrat booth as well in this post in: http://augustafreepress.blogspot.com/2006/08/rude-political-awakening.html

It is sad to see that both the Democrats as well as the local media has decided to make this a political issue instead of the attack on the memory of a fallen hero. It appears to be evident that the Democrats feel this was a attack on their volunteers and had nothing to do with the comments made to Rhonda by their volunteer.

The Augusta County Democrats are obvious strong supporters of the troops as evident in the paper hand written sign that was displayed above their booth during the fair.

more to follow...

Over the line...

Augusta County Fair 2006

The 3rd day of the Augusta County Fair started off well with the Augusta County Republican booths ready for operation and looking forward to interacting with the people visiting the fair. This years booth consisted of several "themed" booths coordinated to promote Republican values and provide information and sources to the fair visitors...

The first booth supported the George Allen and Bob Goodlatte campaigns.
One booth represented the Staunton-Waynesboro-Augusta-County Republican Party.
Another booth supported the "From Our Hearts" www.fromrhearts.blogspot.com support the troops program.
There was a booth supporting the Marriage Amendment for marriage being between one Man and one Woman.
And another booth sold copies of the book written by Rhonda Winfield who lost her son, Marine Lance Cpl. Jason Redifer, who was killed in action in Iraq serving his country and his principles.

Lt. Governor Bill Bolling and his wife Jean Ann also stopped by to visit the Republican Booths and talk to a gathering of the Augusta County Chamber of Commerce members. The Lt. Governor dedicates one week out of each month to spend time traveling the State of Virginia and meeting with the people of the Commonwealth...

The Republican Booths were enjoyed and visited by many of the fairgoers in attendance and were busy pretty much all of the time. The booths are staffed by numerous volunteers who enjoy working all aspects the "Republican Complex" and they did a great job at promoting the Republican values that they believe in.

The table selling Rhonda Winfields book "When Johnny Doesn't Come Marching Home" commanded much interest to the fairgoers and pretty much always was busy with people talking with the author, Rhonda Winfield.

During the afternoon a member of the Augusta County Democrat Party approached Rhonda Winfield with numerous pieces of literature and stickers promoting the Democrat Candidate Jim Webb. He stated that this is the man to vote for in this next election for Senator of Virginia. Rhonda replied that she was supporting Senator George Allen because he has strong Republican values and was admired by her son Jason who volunteered to defend his country and to preserve these same values. She then showed the member of the Augusta Democrat Party a copy of her book that she wrote describing these values.

The Democrat representative then stated "Jim Webb is more of a man then this man [Jason Redifer] ever was" and placed a copy of the Webb literature on top of the book she was holding. I was standing next to Rhonda during this entire conversation and have confirmed this quote with her and know that there was a third person at the table who heard this exchange.... The Democrat Representative was then asked to leave the table at which time he moved away from the table.

I found this statement by the Representative of the Augusta County Democrat Party way over the line and unacceptable. Unfortunately it is the type of statement that does not surprise me coming from this party. This local party as well as the Democrat national party has no true platform that they believe in and in fact now have determined that Joe Lieberman is not even "Liberal" enough for them so they voted him out.

To make an attack on the Mother of a proud American Marine who died serving his country and the citizens of that country in this manner is not acceptable by any means.

Ssgt. Harman stops by the booth...

Augusta County Fair

Ssgt. Herb Harman of Churchville stopped by with his family to the Republican booth at the Augusta County Fair on Wednesday. He is back from serving in Baghdad for a two week break before returning to his unit the "Four-One Element" Squad of the 654th MP Co.

Ssgt. Harman is a member of the S.W.A.C. "Staunton-Waynesboro-Augusta-County" Republicans and has sent numerous letters describing the important work that our troops and military are doing in Iraq. He has described the conditions and the work he has done with local Iraq citizens and how they very much appreciate our efforts and work there...

Delegate Chris Saxman talked with Ssgt. Harman who is one of his constituents for a good 20 minutes about the work that we are doing over in Iraq. Numerous other people stopped by the booth to meet and talk with Herb and to thank him for his service to our country.

"What a treat it was to walk into our booth and see Herb there! There were tears in many sets of eyes as people came by to wish Sgt Harman well and to thank him for his service to our nation. Herb spoke about his duty in Iraq and actually how well things are going over there in Baghdad. He said that the media is so incredibly slanted that is makes the soldiers serving over there sick to their stomachs. He said the people of Iraq are very appreciative of the US and often thank the soldiers for their freedom. Herb is learning Arabic and told me that the Iraqis are great people who love to talk religion. They respect each other for their deep religious faith."

"Some stories, I guess, just never make it to the airwaves over here."

Chris Saxman

Ssgt. Harman also stated how welcomed the packages from home are when they get their shipments from the "From Our Hearts" program. www.fromrhearts.blogspot.com

Augusta County Fair Republican Booth...

ExpoLand

The Augusta County Fair opened last night at the ExpoLand in Fishersville and the Republican Booth was ready to meet and welcome the fair-goer's to the Allen & Goodlatte campaigns. NBC29 provided some good coverage of the campaigns at the fair this morning on their early morning show and mentioned that Attorney General Bob McDonnell will visit the fair tonight at 6pm.

Attorney General Bob McDonnell and Delegate Chris Saxman will be at the fair Wednesday from 6pm to 7pm and Lt. Governor Bill Bolling will visit Thursday night. Congressman Bob Goodlatte will attend the fair on Saturday...

The Value of Blogs?

DrudgeReport

Saw this on Drudge today and it seems that the Blogs out there keeping an eye on the mainstream media is a very valuable tool...

Anybody remember when the blogs discovered when Dan Rather & CBS ran those fake documents against President Bush during the last election?

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3286966,00.html

"When Johnny Doesn't Come Marching Home"...

The story of when the War on Terrorism in Iraq hits close to home and what the impact is like to all involved. Unlike another Mother who has lost a Son in this war and has turned that lost into a political play, Rhonda Winfield describes what her Son believed and stood for. A tribute to Jason and all of those brave soldiers who are willing to make the ultimate sacrafice for their country and it's people...

“Marine Lance Corporal Jason Redifer was a young man who made the ultimate sacrifice on January 31, 2005 to secure freedom for others a half a world away. In her book, When Johnny Doesn’t Come Marching Home: A Mother’s Story of the Price for Freedom, Rhonda Winfield takes her readers on a journey that memorializes the life of a young man who was reared in the heart of the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, raised to fight for the freedoms and values that all too many take for granted, and died ensuring those same freedoms survived. I am thankful to Jason for the life he lived and gave and I am indebted to Rhonda for this noble story which shares her loss with her readers. With this moving story, Rhonda and Jason teach us all that the impact of one’s life often doesn’t end with death.”- U.S. Senator George AllenFormer Governor of Virginia

"This book deals with the loss of one of our own and infuses our institution with a sense of humanity that is rooted in our history and nobility. It displays the naked truth of a family brought to its' knees by the sacrifice of a young Marine. The book is written with a tender honesty that rips straight to the core of anyone who has a friend or family member serving in the military. After reading this book, I am reminded of three things. First, families are forever changed after the loss of a loved one, Second, the Marine Corps takes care of their own, and Third, America will never lose her freedoms as long as men and women like Jason C. Redifer rise to defend her. Whoever reads this book will come away with a higher respect and understanding of what it means to be a United States Marine."- 2nd Lt Craig W. Thomas, USMCPublic Affairs, Headquarters and Support BattalionMarine Corps Base Camp Lejeune

More information and link to purchase this book at:

http://www.whenjohnnydoesntcomemarchinghome.com/getacopy.html

Unraveling (Jim) webb?...

Jim Webb (D) 2006

Had a good friend forward this article over to me and thought it would make some good reading. We saw some of this come to light at the Allen\Webb debate a week or so back.

Seems the "Webb" might be starting to come apart already...

"He’s on record insisting that affirmative action should apply only to African- Americans. Yes, you read correctly, this Democrat is against affirmative action for women, Latinos or any other minority."

http://www.examiner.com/a-203456~James_Webb__the_new_face_of_the_Democrats_.html

Augusta County Fair...

Augusta County VA.

Visit the George Allen \ Bob Goodlatte booth at the Augusta County Fair August 8th-12th...

The booth will be in the large building at the ExpoLand fairgrounds located just off of Route 64 in Fishersville.

Additional Fair info: http://augustacountyfair.com/acfair/