Remember, Gary Qualls? The bereaved parent who last week was telling Cindy Sheehan he loved her, and who this week set up a counter-protest site named after his son? [Here’s another photo of Gary Qualls and Cindy Sheehan in a moving embrace.]

And, remember how he got so indignant that the protesters at Camp Casey had “disgraceful[ly]” erected a cross bearing his son’s name as part of their roadside memorial to the fallen?

Well…I was wondering what he did with that cross. Maybe he tossed it in a dumpster. Maybe he threw it in the back of his truck and forgot about it. maybe he donated it to a homeless shelter for firewood.

All of those things crossed my mind. Surely, I reasoned, he wouldn’t hypocritically set up a SHRINE to his dead son, USING the very same cross he claimed was a “disgrace,” and “disprespectful” just a few days ago.

Now, it is entirely possible that the white wooden cross you see in this photo is a different one than the one Qualls angrily removed from the Camp Casey memorial.

But, even if it were not the exact same one, it is still mighty hypocritical and dishonest of Mr. Qualls to claim that the very same memorial set up by anti-war protesters is “disgraceful,” when he seems to think that so long as it is serving his political ends, it is perfecly respectful and reverent.

Support President Bush if you believe it is the right thing to do. Respect your son. Grieve in whatever manner you see fit. But, please do not fake outrage over a heartfelt memorial to your son, just because “the right people” didn’t establish it.

UPDATE: Now I know Qualls is a hypocritical liar. I finally found William Rivers Pitt’s account of the Qualls/Sheehan meeting last week. Here’s what he said:

“Over the weekend, as the camp prepared for the arrival of the counter-demonstrators, a huge diesel pickup truck rumbled into camp with its nose menacingly pointed towards the tents. It sat for a while, and everyone waited to see what would happen. Ann Wright, the main organizer of camp activities, finally approached the truck and met the driver. He was a father, Wright discovered, and his son had been killed in Iraq.

He did not agree with this protest, he said, but wanted to know if his son’s name was on one of the crosses in the Arlington West cemetery. Ann Wright invited the man to walk the rows of crosses and find his son’s name. They found it. Ann and the man from the truck sat down in front of the cross, wrapped their arms around each other, and wept. Later, the man shared a beer with Cindy Sheehan and told her he loved her.”

So, originally, when he saw the cross with his son’s name on it, he embraced one of the principal anti-war protesters, Ann Wright, and wept.

He didn’t pull it out of the ground, call it a disgrace and prance and preen like an asshole.

So, what explains his 180 degree turn? Politics. Pure and simple.

And the pro-Bush idiots think citing this guy HELPS their cause?

Pitt’s account, by the way, was written a week before Qualls started becoming the Anti-Sheehan.

LAST UPDATE: This is, I’m sad to say, the final nail in the coffin of Gary Quall’s credibility. Read the letter he wrote to Cindy Sheehan this week. It is full of bile, and invective.

“I stand before you, your group of protesters, your unjust and unethical supporters. I also am a parent of a Fallen Hero, Lance Corporal Louis W. Qualls. I repossessed my son’s name and cross from your display, and I have informed you publicly to never use my son’s name for your unjust and political agendas. I publicly asked you and your followers to cease this activity, and to respect our Fallen Hero’s [sic], and honor them as they deserve. Our Fallen Hero’s [sic] gave their lives for this great country, for the people of Iraq, for all people that wish for freedom, and for the world, and they have earned our due respect and honor. All of our volunteers that serve in our military service have done so own [sic] their own accord. They have put their lives on the line for our ways of life, freedom and freedoms of speech. I have had phone calls and have heard from other parents of our Fallen Hero’s [sic] that are across this great nation, on radio stations, expressing their discontent on the use of their sons’ and daughters’ names on your cross display and for your political agenda. These great families are ashamed of you, your protests, and what you are trying to accomplish. You have not ever asked any great hero’s [sic] families for permission to use their fallen hero and family names. How dare you bring your pitiful and unjust protest into my back yard of Texas, and into the front yard of President George W. Bush.”

It gets worse.

And, notice that he never mentions his previous meeting with her, where he drank beer with her, hugged her, and told her he loved her. Or about when he knelt before his son’s cross at Camp Casey and wept.

Cindy Sheehan opened up her heart to you. She gave you a shoulder to cry on.