Help fact or fiction? Snopes hasn't got this one.

[mrcheerful]

Actually President Bush DID meet with Cindy Sheehan along with some others in June of 2004 at Ft. Lewis, near Tacoma, Washington.
At the time, after the meeting Ms Sheehan was quoted as saying "President Bush was sincere about wanting Freedom for Iraqis, I know he's sorry and feels some pain for our loss. And I know he's a man of faith".

[Eric J in MN]

1. She did meet with Bush once.

The quote seems believable, though I can't vouch for it.

After thinking things over, she wanted to meet with Bush, again.

[uppityperson]

2. She met bush once, shortly after Casey died, before he said they died

for a good cause.

She did meet with other families and Mr.bush, was grateful for his sympathy. She had time to get over the immediate "OMG my son is dead" sorrow, and got pissed at Mr.bush using his death for political gain and asked to speak to him again. He has met with other families more than once, by the way. He refused to meet with her. She asked what this "cause" was her son died for. He refused to answer. She went to Crawford last summer to ask, to press the point, figuring she would get arrested but wanting to ask him "what was that cause". She went. She didn't get arrested. And here we are.

[blogslut]

3. Bush met with her during

one of his cattle-call meetings with families of soldiers killed in his war.

According the Vacaville Reporter:

"Since learning in April that their son, Army Spc. Casey Sheehan, had been killed in Iraq, life has been everything but normal for the Sheehan family of Vacaville...

...But none of that prepared the family for the message left on their answering machine last week, inviting them to have a face-to-face meeting with President George W. Bush at Fort Lewis near Seattle...

"We haven't been happy with the way the war has been handled," Cindy said. "The president has changed his reasons for being over there every time a reason is proven false or an objective reached."

...the end, the family decided against such talk, deferring to how they believed Casey would have wanted them to act...

"I now know he's sincere about wanting freedom for the Iraqis," Cindy said after their meeting. "I know he's sorry and feels some pain for our loss. And I know he's a man of faith."

...The trip had one benefit that none of the Sheehans expected.

For a moment, life returned to the way it was before Casey died. They laughed, joked and bickered playfully as they briefly toured Seattle.

For the first time in 11 weeks, they felt whole again.

"That was the gift the president gave us, the gift of happiness, of being together," Cindy said.

June 24, 2004
LINK: http://www.thereporter.com/search/ci_2923921

[splat]

4. NYT August 8, 2005

NYT:Of the Many Deaths in Iraq, One Mother's Loss Becomes a Problem for the President

As the mother of an Army specialist who was killed at age 24 in the Sadr City section of Baghdad on April 4, 2004, Ms. Sheehan's story is certainly compelling. She is also articulate, aggressive in delivering her message and has information that most White House reporters have not heard before: how Mr. Bush handles himself when he meets behind closed doors with the families of soldiers killed in Iraq.

The White House has released few details of such sessions, which Mr. Bush holds regularly as he travels the country, but generally portrays them as emotional and an opportunity for the president to share the grief of the families. In Ms. Sheehan's telling, though, Mr. Bush did not know her son's name when she and her family met with him in June 2004 at Fort Lewis. Mr. Bush, she said, acted as if he were at a party and behaved disrespectfully toward her by referring to her as "Mom" throughout the meeting.

By Ms. Sheehan's account, Mr. Bush said to her that he could not imagine losing a loved one like an aunt or uncle or cousin. Ms. Sheehan said she broke in and told Mr. Bush that Casey was her son, and that she thought he could imagine what it would be like since he has two daughters and that he should think about what it would be like sending them off to war.)
"I said, 'Trust me, you don't want to go there'," Ms. Sheehan said, recounting her exchange with the president. "He said, 'You're right, I don't.' I said, 'Well, thanks for putting me there.' "

[EST]

5. Bush didn't meet with Cindy earlier, he "allowed"

a group of parents who had lost family members to meet him. It was little more than a photo op and Cindy, totally shocked and swallowed by her profound grief, was trying to put the best and bravest face she could on the situation.

That "meeting" was all about bush, not about the mothers or their unfortunate loved ones. When she realized that the so-called meeting was all that bush was going to contribute and was nothing more than a kind of drive-by postcard, she refused to contribute to his narcissism and to countenance his cavalier, off-hand treatment of such an enormous, life-and-death matter.

Chicken shit bush, true to form, then refused to meet and have to take responsibility by having to answer some pertinent, thoughtful questions. What a man!!