(ZOT?) Don't Bash Kerry for Paying his Respects to Reagan

06/08/04 | xm177e2

[nuconvert]

Agree.
It was a photo op.

[big bad easter bunny]

I think most of us here think he is a snobbish putz and we can't stand his arrogance, so why not? It has been documented just this morning on Rush's show that he said two very negative things about Reagen just last year, then when needed he comes out and says he was a great man. Which is it? Why should we give this weasel a break?

[mass55th]

"I think the best way to respect Reagan's passing is to be positive and optimistic and constructive."

Optimistic and constructice? You should have told that to Kerry, who failed miserably in paying his respects to President Reagan, by spending more time making derogatory remarks about President Bush than he did at Reagan's coffin.

Frankly, I have no idea why Kerry should go out of his way to show up in Simi Valley to "pay respects" to a dead man he obviously didn't care for when he was alive. I'm waiting to see if he makes an appearance at the Capitol Building or the church service. More than likely he will, because like Cinton, he's a press hound.

[gcruse]

And Reagan was not a "right-wing" Republican.

The heck you say.  Was he left-wing?  Center?

Ronald Wilson Reagan rode to the presidency in 1980 on a tide of resurgent right-wing sentiment among an electorate longing for a distant, simpler era

[harpo11]

It's not John Kerry's time to seek photo-op opportunity. He should have shed his all self-aggrandizement and waited in line like the rest of us would have had to if he seriously was interested in mourning and showing his respects for President Ronald Reagan.

Sometimes a man should just be a man. Not some pampered arrogant and spoiled high fallutin fat cat politician.

President Reagan embodied the spirit of America and did not give off airs that he was more important than anyone else, even though we all know he was.

Mr. Kerry was just showboating to further his presidential campaign, IMO.

In many ways, I wish that the common man could be invited to honor President Reagan at the National Cathedral, but as it is only the so-called dignitaries will be allowed. I'm thinking Ronald Reagan, the man, would be delighted above all things that it was us, ordinary Americans filling the seats rather than men and women who usually just sit on their arses and tell us what to do and not what to do. He believed in us and let us loose to reign in freedom.

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

Kerry will get ZERO mileage out of this. Nobody's going to look back and wistfully remember Kerry "paying his respects" at Reagan's funeral come November.

[Hostile]

I agree. Next week we'll have a million things we can go after John Kerry for, but until then let's be civil.
Going after him when he pays his respects makes us look crass.
Besides there are plenty of examples of actual full bore hatred toward President Reagan we could go after.

[Howlin]

Kerry would show up for a hanging if it got him on TV.

LOL......paul in cape says up in Boston they call him "Liveshot."

[RedBloodedAmerican]

Exactly. He canceled his appointments to hop a flight to California.

John Kerry once again politicizes the graves of deceased veterans for selfish gain.

[Proud Legions]

Hmmm, good question. Not sure were it was first reported.

But I did watch it on C-span, and it was clearly a photo op. Did you watch it?

[gatorbait]

I think your point is made well, Frankly,I do not believe any of us would have been unhappy had sKerry not attended. He did and frankly I think sKerry besmirched himself rather badly.

[RedBloodedAmerican]

Besides there are plenty of examples of actual full bore hatred toward President Reagan we could go after

Kerry showed disrespect, not respect, for Ronald Reagan by what he did. That, IMO, equates to confirming his hate for Reagan.

[Dane]

Going after him when he pays his respects makes us look crass.

Son't know about you, but kerry giving a thumbs up sign leaving a funeral should be the new definition of crass, IMO.

[formerDem]

'he would not need a photographer to memorialize the event.'

"I keep seeing this. Where did you see that he brought a photographer?"

Hello OTL--

The angle of the photographs show that he had his own photographer. The cameras that are filming the crowds filing through the lobby are higher up (filming the entrance and around the casket) and there are other cameras at the front of the lobby. If I am incorrect in this, I am sure more knowledgeable FReepers will set the record straight.

[smonk]

quick question; how many other Dem Senators paid their
respects? and, of course, until the convention, kerry
is nothing more than the junior senator from Mass.

if the answer to this question is NOT "a whole bunch", then
his visit to simi was the brazen prostitution of a national tragedy as a political photo op.

the only reason that the GOP isn't standing on their chairs
squealing like a bunch of 3 year old girls (a la the
performance we saw from the dems after the GWB commercial
with 9/11 footage) is because the GOP isn't actually RUN by
a bunch of 3 year old girls.

[Twinkie]

Relax. History will judge Kerry. This was a good, fair
article. Don't zot it. What is zot anyway? I think I
know. Go ahead and zot me. I have not been zotted yet,
and I think I may just be the only one of FR to never
have been zotted. - Please have your little Viking kitties
zot me. They are so cute.

[BlkConserv]

You know what I mean. Reagan wasn't the fire-breathing, caricature right-wing that the NY Times and Rats like Clinton and Ted Kennedy make Republicans out to be.

[Dane]

Son't know about you=Don't know about you.

I guess my thumb got in the way since I don't use it to make a sign as I leave a solemn occasion.