Chirac Refuses to Attend Reagan's Funeral

Newsmax.com ^ | 6/09/04 | Carl Limbacher and theNewsmax.com staff

[kattracks]

Perhaps too busy still mourning the loss of his business partner Saddam Hussein, chief French quisling Jacques Chirac is not only refusing to attend former President Ronald Reagan's funeral on Friday, his government doesn't even list a representative who will attend.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder are the only G-8 leaders who have confirmed plans to attend. British Prime Minister Tony Blair is expected as well, along with former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Prince Charles.

Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin says he will not attend and is sending Governor-General Adrienne Clarkson. Former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney is expected.

Others on the list for the ceremony include former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, Irish President Mary McAleese, Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai, South African President Thabo Mbeki, Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, Romanian President Ion Iliescu, Acting Lithuanian President Arturas Paulauskas, former Polish President Lech Walesa, former Finnish President Mauno Koivisto, Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Angelo Sodano, Australian Governor General Maj. Gen. Michael Jeffrey, former Japanese Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone, Slovakian President Rudolf Schuster, Grenadan Governor General Sir Daniel Williams, former Danish Prime Minister Poul Schlueter, Swedish Deputy Prime Minister Lars Engqvist and Indian External Affairs Minister K. Natwar Singh.

[Helms]

What came through loud and clear at Normandy was GWB's near complete dominance over Chirac.

Chirac was extremely nervous, no doubt as a results of the accumulating "goods"we have on the French.

GWB has worked his strange magic on Chirac turning him into a submissive wimp which he is.

[Carolinamom]

I know. Chirac, being Chirac, for all his hand-kissing, is incredibly rude.

[hinckley buzzard]

Kerry really is a Frenchman. He lived there much of his youth, I believe, and he has a French cousin who is a green socialist, formerly a minor germ in the French government. In all seriousness Kerry is much more French than American.

[Sloth]

Good, we don't need our enemies there.

[Mitchell]

Ping français.

[MadIvan]

I am pleased and delighted, in contrast, that both Lady Thatcher and Prime Minister Blair will be attending.

Regards, Ivan

[Publius6961]

I appreciate his thoughtfulness.

[conservative in nyc]

Maybe Chirac will send his or Mitterand's mistress. That's slightly more respectful than sending NO ONE. Not even their ambassador?

Sheesh! What Gaul! Why did we bail them out... TWICE. And why does Kerry think we need these clowns for a coalition not to be fraudulent?

[Revolting cat!]

By the way, what's the source of this provocative tidbit of Francophobia from the primary source of secondary hearsay and recyclable trash, the highly esteemed Newsmax?

[anoldafvet]

"Please, let me live to see the Fr*nch degrade into oblivion."

They already have, it's just that the press won't acknowledge it.

[Carolinamom]

Americans welcome Lady Thatcher and PM Tony Blair w/love. Prince Charles will be here too....but my own love and respect is not as unconditional for him.

[MadIvan]

Chirac has problems...Bush can make these problems far worse if he so decides: for example, I believe he could easily bribe the Chinese and the Russians into kicking the French off the UN Security Council and replacing them with the Germans. The Germans would be enthusiastic about joining, and thus it would split the Franco-German alliance.

Regards, Ivan

[gathersnomoss]

Don't be bitter. This may be his futile attempt to insult this country but hey, he is French. He can't help it.

[Atlantic Friend]

Wow, I can't believe this. I just can't. And to think Chirac met Reagan several times, and aspired to be a French Reagan. Ha ! What a sorry excuse for a human being. One thing I'm sure of, the late François Mitterrand would have gone to the funeral.

France will be represented by former French President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, who was Président de la République when Ronald Reagan won the 1980 election, and by Foreign Minister Michel Barnier. So the article is a bit misleading, but for Chirac it's quite accurate.

[KC Burke]

Hi, ol' buddy. We know the ancestral home of conservatism is well managed even when you can't visit. Stay well.

[Lukasz]

these frogs... really shame

[TruthShallSetYouFree]

In the immortal words of Lawrence Peter (Yogi) Berra, "If you don't go to their funerals, they won't come to yours."

[Allegra]

Please, let me live to see the Fr*nch degrade into oblivion.

Let's just nuke 'em. :-)

[Paul Atreides]

When I say "oblivion," I mean true oblivion. I am tired of hearing about that crappy country and its snotty people.

[Carolinamom]

Re the criticisms leveled on Nancy Reagan per her love of clothes while she was in the WH: Remember her surprise appearance on stage before the Press Club dressed in rags and carrying a mop......singing "Second Hand Clothes"? She brought down the house and succeeded in ameliorating the criticisms.