LIVE THREAD--Reagan State Funeral Ceremony: Lying in state at the rotunda

CSPAN | 6.10.04

[TomGuy]

[Clara Lou]

That Fox broke away for OReilly was totally uncalled for. He was not doing funeral coverage just his usual carping.
O'Reilly provided justification for the the break-away. It was a night when O'R was right on the mark. It wasn't the usual carping. He supported the Reagans and Nancy's right to choose whom she would have speak at her husband's funeral. His guests were Monica Crowley and Michelle Malkin. They discussed the wonderful Cheney eulogy and discussed whether Ted Stevens's words were too partisan for the occasion. It was a good program.

[MasonGal]

I wonder if that will be the case later this evening. My husband and I REALly want to try and catch a flight - to arrive by 10:00 tonight - but I am afraid even then - will be too late. :((

What do you all think?

[vollmond]

My wife and I went last night, with her catching up with me at the metro. We got there at @ 6:30 PM, and were lucky to get a spot in the viewing line that gave us a great view over the pool of the steps on the west side of the capitol. We got to see a lot of detail.

The experience was incredibly moving, and the sight of our silent servicemen and women standing guard is worth the long wait in summery conditions. Since we saw other people do it, we stepped into a squared off corner of the line at the very end and offered a silent prayer of gratitude and thanks to President Reagan and to God.

Our wait was not too bad. The line starting moving at @ 7:30 or so, and we snaked around through the waiting line. I'm not sure when the public viewing began, but our wait from the time the line started moving was only 2.5 hours. The people that jumped in the line up to 10 hours earlier only shaved an hour or so off of our waiting time.

I originally didn't want to brave the crowd, but my wife expressed an interest in paying our respects. And she's a Democrat (the Zell Miller type - very patriotic). That reminded me that there are hundreds of thousands of people in the country that would love to be able to pay their respects as well if they had been able to make the journey.

If you go there today, don't bring anything. They'll check in cameras, but backpacks, food, etc. are not permitted. They have a multitude of pallets of water, and the Red Cross is there handing out bottles of water to anyone that asks.

[StayAt HomeMother]

You should be OK if you arrive at 10 pm. Lines seems to be "only" about 3 hours now.

Lines might be even shorter this afternoon when the lines have to deal with heat and then thunderstorms.

Do you know your way around DC or do you need advice? If so, arriving at which airport (Reagan National, Dulles, or BWI)?

[MasonGal]

Thanks for the info - we would be flying into BWI from Louisville.

We've been to DC a number of times - so that's not a problem. However - when does the Metro close?

[quantim]

At first noting that the pedestal lineup was not perfectly symmetrical kind of disappointed me. After a couple of hours of the quiet somber video the fact that coffin was a little off-center turned into a joy for me. It's just Ron's way of giving us one final smile and acknowledgment he is still watching over us. ;-)

[mcshot]

What a great way to interpret the positioning of the casket. It was obviously difficult to place it there and it's appropriately right of center. :-)

mc

[BufordP]

Doc,
Thanks for the good info

Bill,
See post 26

Doesn't look like I'll be able to make another trip down there this week.

[StayAt HomeMother]

Metro opens 5:30 a.m. (Mon.-Fri.) and closes at midnight (Sun.-Thurs.)
More info at http://www.wmata.com/

However, from From BWI you can also take Amtrak or MARC to Union Station. The front door of Union Station faced the Capitol, a long block away.

Late night Amtrak trains departing BWI and arriving DC:
10 30P 11 00P
10 48P 11 20P
10 21P 10 47P
10 25P 10 55P
11 17P 11 48P
11 38P 12 10A
11 28P 11 55P
12 37A 1 10A
12 52A 1 30A
1 28A 1 59A
2 42A 3 15A

[TomGuy]

Neal Boorz is talking with callers about the various types and levels of coverage yesterday from the networks.

Petey Jennings apparently says Reagan was 'as popular as Clinton.'

Bawawa Walters decries that Nancy Reagan got someone fired (when she was First Lady). Boortz mentions that Bawawa apparently forgot how Hillary emptied the WH Travel Office, had the workers possessions loaded into a van, taken outside the WH gates, and piled for them to reclaim.

---

The leftist libs are having fits that 5,000 viewers per hour are coming to pay their respects.

[MasonGal]

Thank you SO MUCH for the information. :))

[ned13]

Now I am a bit more coherent with a little sleep so I can share some more of my experience. Anyone who is thinking of coming down for this should - it'll be something you'll never forget. We hardly brought anything but we did stop at 7-11 before hand to pick up some caffeine and food which we finished before the security checkpoints. We also took off our watches so we wouldn't know what time it was - a trick I learned while writing my thesis.

The military staff once inside was so nice and comforting. The guard had notified us of the changing of the guards as we approached the rotunda and we were some of the last ones in so I stood right in front of the casket. I said this yesterday at the procession and I felt the same way last night - I felt that I was not worthy to be in the presence of this great man and couldn't believe that I was some 3-4 feet away from him. I said a prayer during this time while wiping the tears from my eyes. As I left I felt a bit nauseous over what I had just experienced but once outside the fresh air made me feel better.

Now to the bad parts and keep in mind I'm a bit grumpy and I'm not sure where else to post my feelings on this. For those of you who do not know me I look a bit younger than I actually am. I seem to attract these young indie reporters which was the case last night. First question - obviously "Why are you here?". I was a little annoyed at one point and just said in a nasty tone "Because this is where all the cool kids are" figuring that was something they would be able to comprehend. The next question is always "Did you parents support Reagan?" Well - I think most everyone's parents supported Reagan - remember landslide victory???

I can't help but see their connection for young conservatives - well their parents must have influenced them - why else would they be supporting him? I will never understand my generation. Sorry for the long post.

[BonnieJ]

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