Hero of the Week
It takes great courage and conviction to stand up to the misbehavior of a major national figure. It takes great strength to rise above personal tragedy to stand up for what is right. This week TSM is proud to honor a woman who did both, thus earning her HWA.
Barbara Doherty’s son Glen was a Navy SEAL, one of four Americans killed in the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya. She and her family were understandably proud of his service and grieving his loss. They issued a brief statement for the press and then tried to find a private space for their grief. Enter Mitt Romney.
Not content with his outright lies and opportunism on the day of the attacks, Mitt decided to exploit Glen Doherty’s death all over again. The Romneybot met the SEAL at a Christmas party. After Doherty’s death, the soulless candidate started dropping his name in campaign speeches in a “heroes I have known” sort of speech. Barbara Doherty would have none of it and demanded that Mendacious Mitt stop using her son to attack the President he was proud to serve.
I don’t trust Romney. He shouldn’t make my son’s death part of his political agenda. It’s wrong to use these brave young men, who wanted freedom for all, to degrade Obama.
Bravo, Ms. Doherty! Thank you for standing up to power and demanding justice. Even better, the story has a happy ending. Apparently the Romney campaign had a shame circuit installed in their candidate (after the debate…) He has agreed not to refer to Glen Doherty in any future campaign activities. Score one for human decency.
Thank heavens for women like this. Now, let’s see if Romney can live up to his promise to stop using the name of her son is his own craven political campaign.
Yes, I am so grateful for people like our Barbara!
This is a beautiful story!
She is an inspiration!
I hadn’t seen this story elsewhere. Thank you for sharing it with your readers, Michael, and for selecting Barbara Doherty as Hero of the Week.
A grieving mother chiding a politician for exploiting the death of her son–a SEAL killed while trying to prevent the murder of an American Ambassador, no less–is just about the most unimpeachable person imaginable.
This is the sort of story that’s difficult for the Obama campaign to directly trumpet (lest they be accused of a falsely equivalent exploitation of the tragedy), so blogs like TSM serve a valuable and necessary surrogate function in spreading the word.
Jay,
Thank you for your very kind and thoughtful comments. Yes, it would be inappropriate for President Obama to trumpet this, but I’m glad I did and I hope others will do likewise.