I’m glad to see that you think that Cindy Sheehan being arrested in the gallery of the House is somehow funny. What you just saw happening was an American citizen being put in irons for expressing a political opinion contrary to that of her government. My representative in congress, Lynne Woolsey, invited Mrs. Sheehan to the State of the Union tonight, as is her privilege as a duly-elected member of that legislative body.

I do not know precisely who made the decision to remove her from the building, but it seems to me that wearing a t-shirt with “2,245 Dead � How Many More??” printed on it does not in itself constitute unlawful behavior, and would not, in itself, cause any significant disruption to the presentation at hand. A government that cannot countenance peaceful protest and the airing of grievances against it is a government that should not be allowed to hold power. Whoever made the decision to remove Mrs. Sheehan should resign his or her position or be removed.

Shortly after the State of the Union speech concluded, I tuned in to MSNBC’s post-speech coverage, hosted by Chris Matthews. Repeatedly during the minutes after the speech, he laughed out loud in reference to the arrest. Upon interviewing one of my Senators, Dianne Feinstein, Matthews put to her a question relating the arrest to the possibility of a Senate bid by Sheehan against Feinstein. Again, the result was laughter, by both Matthews and the Senator. Shame on both of you. One of your constituents just became, quite literally, a political prisoner and you seem to think it’s a punchline.