Across the tracks at Crawford, Texas, a divided nation bares its pain and fury
Independent [UK]
Andrew Gumbel


There could have been no starker symbol of the political divisions vexing George Bush's America this weekend than the railroad track running right through the heart of Crawford, home to the president's summer holiday ranch in the scorched plains of central Texas.
On one side of the tracks was the Crawford Peace House, base camp for the activists who have poured in to support Cindy Sheehan, the bereaved mother of one of America's Iraqi war dead .... On the other side, along Crawford's main drag, were clusters of an entirely different breed of protester - ardent Bush supporters .... In the end, both sides had to feel disappointed by the turnout for the final weekend of summer madness - no more than a few thousand people all told. The counter-demonstration failed spectacularly in its aim of outnumbering the anti-war activists by three or four to one, as chartered buses turned up half-empty, and cars adorned with "You don't speak for me, Cindy" bumper stickers created a traffic jam stretching only one block rather than the miles the organisers had hoped for." (08/29/05)

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article308766.ece