CLINTON DISAPPOINTMENT: LEFT OFF FUNERAL SPEAKERS LIST (Updated)

Drudge Report | 6/8/04

[lainie]

Controversy develops over Reagan funeral speakers...

'President Clinton really held out all hope the funeral would be a nonpartisan event, like Nixon's was,' a top Clinton source said on Tuesday morning. 'He's angry and disappointed neither he nor President Carter have been asked to speak, as of yet'...

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UPDATED:

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XXXXX DRUDGE REPORT XXXXX TUE JUNE 08, 2004 11:02:52 ET XXXXX

CLINTON DISAPPOINTMENT: LEFT OFF FUNERAL SPEAKERS LIST

Former President Bill Clinton has privately expressed anger he has apparently been left off the speakers list of Friday's Reagan State Funeral, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned.

"President Clinton really held out all hope the funeral would be a nonpartisan event, like Nixon's was," a top Clinton source said on Tuesday morning. "He's angry and disappointed neither he nor President Carter have been asked to speak, as of yet."

The top source says Clinton has been critical that both Bush presidents will address the crowd gathered at National Cathedral.

Nixon's vice president Gerald Ford did not speak at Nixon's funeral.

Clinton's inner circle is convinced Nancy Reagan has personally shut out Clinton from any high-profile participation.

"It is a state funeral, using tax dollars," the top Clinton insider explained.

Former President George H.W. Bush, former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney will join President Bush in eulogizing Ronald Reagan, Reagan's office announced. Presiding over the service will be former Sen. John Danforth of Missouri, who is an ordained Episcopal priest. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor and the Rabbi Harold Kusher will give readings, while Irish tenor Ronan Tynan will sing.

The eulogy is being prepared by President Bush's chief speechwriter, Michael Gerson, who also wrote the president's moving speech for a memorial service in the same cathedral after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Developing...

[Types_with_Fist]

All of this just shows me how scared to death the libs are by Reagan's passing at this time. We've heard it mentioned, we've talked about it, now we can see it for all the ugliness that it is.

[grumple]

"President Clinton really held out all hope the funeral would be a nonpartisan event, like Nixon's was..."

I did not realize that funeral's (any of them) were non-partisan events...imagine my shock over this clown trying to politicize Reagan's funeral...really takes a sick narcossistic freak to do this. Best thing to do is press the "ignore" button.

anyway, Drudge is a "leak" extension outlet for the Clinton's...this piece is designed to get a rise out of Reagan loving Conservatives in an effort to be able to portray them in a particular light....don't buy into it....and stop reading Drudge's "link to other authors" page...please...

[Angelwood]

TOUGH - it's not about Clinton!

[Hi Heels]

I have no desire to hear anything Clinton may say.

[Diddle E. Squat]

[lainie]

1. Reagan did not speak at Nixon's funeral.
2. Bush '41 is not speaking as former prez but as Reagan's VP for eight years.

Two more excellent points.

[MamaB]

I heard Rush talking about Kerry and how he wanted to break in line, get his photo taken and then leave as quickly as he could. Pathetic!

[cyncooper]

I taped Nixon's funeral .. I think I still have the tape, but I'll have to check for sure

Oh, don't get me wrong. I clearly remember the event and that Clinton spoke. I don't recall it was extraordinary is all I was saying.

As others have pointed out, he was the sitting president and so it was appropriate that the person in office speak.

For this event, he and Hillary have been invited, and so it should be. This behind the scenes tantrum about wanting to speak is breathtakingly rude and out of bounds behavior. The type we've come to expect from that crew.

[doug from upland]

I don't care how well he spoke for Nixon. He does not belong. While Reagan had so much respect for the Oval Office that he never took off his coat, Clinton was in there without his pants staining the Great Seal with his DNA. No, to allow Clinton to speak would dishonor Ronald Reagan.

[Democratshavenobrains]

I bet the DUhers are mad as heck about this. Ever since Reagan died, they have been saying crap like Nancy Reagan and her family shouldn't invite the current President because they hate the Bushes! Something tells me they won't respect her decision now...

[babaloo]

Thank you for posting your response to a Democratic appeaser. The Dems and Dems alone turned the Wellstone funeral into a fiasco. The press did not. The Republicans will show respect to the man and not use it as a rallying cry.

[CasearianDaoist]

I have news for you, they will "go on a two week tirade" no matter what happens. They will invent something or the other - in fact dozens of things. There is nothing we can do about it.

I am sure that the midnight oil has been brightly burning in Manhattan, DC and LA all weekend long. Just you wait. It will be the Democrats that politicize this but they will try to pin it on the GOP.

On the other hand the get to bury positives coming out of Iraq this week. The only relief we have is a brief surcease in Bush bashing.

We will see how the nation response to Reagan's passing affect the sobriety of its judgment. Let us hope they overplay their hand yet again.

If today's turnout in CA is any indicator, this could be a much larger national event than they bargained for.

And another tack will be comparing Bush to Reagan - they will bite the bullet and extol Reagan's praises and then call out what a poor leader Bush is.

I imagine that Bush's morality will click in and they will make no conscious effort to use Reagan's death. Somewhere something perfectly innocent will come up and off we will go.

Let us hope that people are smarter than the media. I hope that some reflect on what Kerry would mean to the Reagan legacy. But I imagine that it is pretty much self selection in this audience. This is our half of the 50/50 nation.

Kerry and Clinton have already politicized it really. Have you ever gone to a funeral where a man enemies are allowed to give eulogies, I do not mean the "loyal opposition" but his enemies. It is really beyond all decency, and if acknowledging that is called "politicizing" the funeral then so be it.

[cold_dead_fingers]

Which is why I said that I would understand why he would be asked to speak, not that I want him to speak or expect him to speak. Clinton is an idiot, he is a philanderer, and he is a lying scumbag. But this is an opportunity to show how magnanimous Republicans are, in contrast to the Wellstone democrats. We are not cut out of the same cloth.

[lainie]

Luckily for us, she seems to have chosen Thatcher and Mulroney.

[Not A Snowbird]

to see them trying to support the ruling to prevent the deportation of an illegal immigrant, yet at the same time having to forcefully denounce the ruling as a clear threat to Roe v Wade.

Now, why would you want to cause the poor little people brain damage? (I have a vision of alien heads exploding in Mars Attacks...) ack ack!

[GraceCoolidge]

Boy, did you ever hit the nail on the head with that comment! You're absolutely right...

[John O]

Why is this man (clinton) still talking breathing?

Some people are alive only because it's illegal to kill them.

[Bonaventure]

He was the sitting president when Nixon died. Having the sitting president speak at a former president's funeral is par for the course. But I know of no precedent that requires every surviving former president to speak at a former president's funeral.

[SunnySide]

" Even at Reagan's funeral, Clinton thinks it all about him. "

Ditto that. Emperor Clinton is the narcissistic pleb who said he should be able to run for USA President again...and again...and again ... (barf)

[shield]

After this so typical screaming by the commies', you watch they'll be asked to speak. At least....clintoon!!!