Justin (I mean the good Justin who writes here, not the one who carried on at the recent demo) told me about a wonderful sign being displayed at San Francisco's "'Peace Vigil' starring Cindy Sheehan, Justin Raimondo -- and not Sean Penn" as documented by Zombietime.

Here it is:

That's Cindy Sheehan holding the banner while she, um, does her hair.

Now, I'm not the type of person who ordinarily gets excited by typos or misspellings, but I was fascinated by Zombietime's repeated characterization of it as a "mystery message," and I agree that it is deeply mysterious.

I realize that many people would dismiss this offhandedly as a "typo," but isn't that only one interpretation? The sign was paraded around San Francisco by some of the most notable antiwar luminaries in the country, and apparently no one ever objected or corrected it. Can so many leading intellectuals be deliberately, ignorantly wrong with such a huge typo on such an important issue?

I don't think so, and I'd like to offer an alternative interpretation.

This is the least I can do, considering that we live in a time when the conservative equivalent of Cindy Sheehan has seriously endorsed Hillary Clinton for president. (I refer of course to Ann Coulter, who is not alone.)

Under the circumstances, is it unimaginable that Ann Coulter's left wing counterparts might contemplate at least a covert McCain endorsement as a counterpart? Sheehan is well known to detest Hillary Clinton (whom she compares to Rush Limbaugh), and now she's also furious with Barack Obama. If, like Coulter, Sheehan is into endorse-the-enemy politicking, then the mystery message makes a lot of sense as a sort of, if not an olive branch, at least covert outreach to a man whose promise of 10,000 years of Iraq war is certain to keep the anti-war left busy, keep them pure, and keep them grateful.

So to be fair to these people, and to promote national unity on the fifth anniversary of the Iraq War, I humbly offer a pro-war interpretation of the mystery message. I don't think it is unreasonable at all to decipher a hidden (perhaps subliminal) pro-war message, and maybe even a pro-McCain subtext.

I will therefore drink to their message.

And I hereby propose a toast to go with it!

"FROM FIVE YEARS, TO MANY!"

Think about it. For once, we can all agree.

And it's a good thing, too.

Just think how miserable these people would be if they didn't have a war to protest!