In his Mother’s Day proclamation, President George W. Bush mouthed all the usual platitudes in urging his countrymen to honor their moms. Curiously, he also made passing reference to Julia Ward Howe, an abolitionist who wrote the words to “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.” According to the Institute for Public Accuracy, a lefty nonprofit organization based in San Francisco, Howe also wrote the inaugural Mother’s Day proclamation in 1870.
We think it would be a good idea for the prez to go back and read that proclamation penned by Howe, who declared, in part, “Arise then, women of this day! Arise all women who have hearts, whether your baptism be of water or of tears!
“Say firmly: ‘We will not have questions decided by irrelevant agencies. Our husbands shall not come to us reeking of carnage for caresses and applause. Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn all that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy, patience. We women of one country will be too tender to those of another country to all our sons to be trained to injure theirs. From the bosom of a devastated Earth a voice goes up with our own, it says ‘Disarm! Disarm!’ The sword of murder is not the balance of justice. Blood does not wipe out dishonor, nor violence indicate possession.’”
On a related note, News Hits came across a Village Voice article that included this quote to George II’s own mommy dearest, Barbara, who exposed her warm, nurturing, peace-loving inner self on “Good Morning America” last year when she emoted, “Why should we hear about body bags, and deaths, and how many, what day its gonna happen? … Or, I mean, it’s, it’s not relevant. So, why should I waste my beautiful mind on something like that?”
Now there’s a real mother.
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