"It makes me wonder what happened that he is so much against everything for which his father stood. It is hard for me to understand something like this."
You can fill quite a few books trying to figure out this kind of thing, and still not understand it in the end. All I know is by appearing at the Democratic Convention and speaking in support of John Kerry - a guy that made his name on the left trying to thwart President Reagan on all fronts, he's choosen to disparage his father in a public manner never before witnessed in American politics.
And the saddest aspect isn't the damage he thinks he will cause his departed Father, its the fact this won't help him get on with his own life. It will just make it worse in the end.
That about sums it up!