Somewhere in Texas, a village could lose a few idiots

And guess which village it is…

Like many folks in President Bush’s adopted hometown, 83-year-old Robert Westerfield isn’t exactly rolling out the welcome mat for the town’s newest resident: war protester Cindy Sheehan.

“I wish she’d stay away. Crawford’s a Republican town, and she’s a dumb Democrat,” Westerfield, a lifelong Crawford resident, said Friday while sitting on a bench outside a gas station on Main Street.

Excuse me, but who’s dumb here, again? Preznit Chucklenuts lied the country into a war that killed Cindy’s son, and yet she’s “dumb” for taking Chucklenuts to task? Um no, I don’t think so.

As for it being a Republican town, that’s not true either. Just because Chucklenuts occasionally lives there, doesn’t mean everyone’s obliged to join The Party out of respect for him. What respect has he earned, anyway, when you get right down to it?

And here’s one new Crawfordian who is, I’m sure, no Republican:

Gerry Fonseca, a Vietnam veteran who attended the protests in August and April, returned to Crawford in June to help the group look for property.

Fonseca said he doubts that any Crawford landowner would have sold to Sheehan or other protesters, so he didn’t reveal his connection. Fonseca, who lost his Slidell, La., home in Hurricane Katrina, told sellers about that part of his life and that he wanted to build.

He bought the $52,500 lot in mid-July, using insurance money that Sheehan received after her oldest son Casey was killed in Iraq in 2004.

The lot is a tenth of a mile from a small “Welcome to Crawford” billboard featuring a picture of Bush, smiling with his hand in a thumbs-up sign, and his wife.

The land is comprised of pasture and tree groves. Trucks began dumping gravel for a driveway on Friday, and water lines will be installed next week. Fonseca said he is still trying to arrange for electricity to be hooked up.

Although the site is more than 7 miles from Bush’s ranch, it will have more space for the group’s large activities tent, camping area and parking.

“This is close enough. We’re still protesting in the community that he chose to live in,” Fonseca said.

And here’s the sweetest bit of revenge the “dumb Democrat” could take on that “Republican town”:

Sheehan said when the camp is no longer needed, she plans to donate the land to the city for a park to be named Spc. Casey Sheehan Memorial Peace Park. Sheehan said it would have a playground, because “Casey loved children and peace.”

Wouldn’t that be one in the eye for guys like this?

Bill Johnson, owner of the Yellow Rose of Texas gift shop, disagrees with Sheehan’s views of Bush and the war in Iraq and said he hopes protesters are considerate of their new neighbors. Last summer, the group disrupted the peaceful country life of some rural residents near Bush’s ranch, he said.

“I don’t want her rights taken away. Her son fought and died for this country,” Johnson said. “But on the other hand, she needs to be respectful for what our country stands for.”

And what would that be, pray tell? War? Death? Genocide? Illegal domestic spying? The Reichstag Fire of 9-11?

Or maybe just “free speech zones”?