If I was Nancy Reagan...

[Raven]

and I knew,loved and revered the 40th President as much as it's been said I did, I would have done the following with respect to his final ceremonies...

I would have had a reception for the people in CA...in a park, no lines... and food and drink and good Irish music (a hooley)...and I would ask folks to donate $ to a charity of their choice in honor of Ronnie.

No State Funeral...too expensive for the taxpayers of this country...too dangerous for those "dignitaries" who feel it is a "must show".

I would have asked the media to use the hours and hours and hours of air time otherwise to be devoted to my beloved husband to take the money and donate it to stem cell research or some other cause that is more important than mummiyfying my husband like Trigger.

Really, Mrs. Reagan, did Ron really give you these garish funeral instructions??? If he did, he's an ass (and not at all as confident of his place in history as we thought he was), if he didn't you're one.

As much as I sympathize with your personal loss and with the disease that you have had to endure for the last 10 years...there was a better way for the American people to have spent their time and their hard earned money...too bad you apparently didn't have the class or the self restraint to have figured that out.

[tom_paine]

1. To be truthful, I don't think Nancy had much to say about it

Grieveing and easily manipulated by Nazi Monsters with no morals.

[Raven]

2. You give them too much credit and Nancy too little.

I think she knew exactly what she was doing. She a classless B movie actress who knows the value of "image" and she knows that without "Ronnie" she's a nobody.

[displacedtexan]

3. Exactly!

Did you catch her playing the spotlight yesterday while standing beside the coffin? I thought she would never take her hand off of the damned flag!

[Carolina]

22. that gesture pissed me off, too

and I only caught a snippet of it tryng to find out what happened locally! And did you see that hag Margaret Thatcher?

The right wingers seem to want to outdo the drama of the Kennedy funeral. But that's impossible. This is a classless charade that's going over like a lead balloon.

[tom_paine]

6. Certainly possible. n/t

[Malva Zebrina]

4. this is the Hollywood way

Nancy and Ronnie were Hollywood actors.

This is the play act. This is the drama. It is Romeo and Juliet all over again--even though Romeo was 93 years old and Juliet is 83 years old, supposedly.

and it may also have been a harbinger of the use of PR techniques to sell a president or an idea or a mood or anything these people want it to.

This whole thing we have been subjected to over these days is nothing but a Hollywood production.

The people love it. It is bread and circus

[TankLV]

5. But in order for her to think that way, she'd have had to have been

a DEMOCRAT!

Those are Democratic ways of thinking - much to far our of sight and mind for all greedy and selfish repuke thinking!

[buycitgo]

7. If I were Nancy Reagan.......

I'd EAT something!

not Frank Sinatra, either

he's dead, too

[Pobeka]

8. I'm not going to second guess Nancy or Ronnie

Look, I agree the policies that the Reagans gave us are utterly despicable.

But I have no idea what Ronnie did or did not ask of Nancy. And if she loved him the way we all seem to agree, and he asked for the big funeral, then I respect her for her personal commitment in following through on his wishes.

I think you tried to stay out of the personal attack on Nancy, but this ended up looking like that. I think we need to show some respect for people grieving over dead loved ones.

As for Ronnie's legacy, and policies, let 'em have it with both barrels. I wish I had been more aware in the 80's what was really going on...

[KharmaTrain]

9. This Was Ronnie's Request

In 1981 Raygun begun planning his own funeral...partly as protocol by all incoming Presidents (even unelected ones) so there's not the scramble there was when FDR and JFK died. Supposedly this includes who speaks at the state funeral, where the burial will be and so on. It's all government controlled. The family had little say on how things are done.

Supposedly Raygun last signed off on this plan...that came to 300 pages...in 1993...certainly around the time he knew he was going down. This was going to be his last blaze of glory and was his due...something the Rayguns never failed to take advantage of in their years in Washington (they had others buy that ranch and Library...and who can forget Nancy's wardrobe). Yep, Raygun was as much a welfare king as anyone.

I didn't expect anything other than this dog & pony show and it is simply amazing to look at the people filing past the casket both in California & DC...I suggest you watch C-Span or check the web for an open feed...and see how many blacks, hispanics or Asians file past.

It's your typical GOOP show...like the NBA...all the blacks are surrounded by the whites. But this is a reflection of Raygun's America we're seeing and Nancy bought into it 10000%. They lived the social life of impressing and being impressed and this is part of that life as well. Public displays are fine, only if they're controlled.

I have no compassion for Nancy...never had, never did. Even as "care giver" she had plenty of help...compared to the millions who have parents in a similar situation who can't get the care these people need. I know, I've been there.

[Raven]

10. Yup, and a sad commentary on Ron's values...

your observation about the people filing past his funeral baer is so sad...I thought that myself today listening to some of the interviews of people who had packed their families into cars and driven miles to stand in the heat...the very people this man screwed...are we lost as a country? Watching this spectacle would make me think so!

[Pobeka]

12. Yeah, I think we've been lost as a country.

To me, the eternal optimist, I see the passing of the man, as the passing of an era too. I think many of those people going to see Reagan's coffin would be horrified to know the truth. And a large percentage would do something about it if they knew.

The knowledge is coming, I see it coming, drip by drip. It comes from places like truthout.org, democraticunderground.com, moveon.org, commondreams.org, (even, GASP, the NY Times seems to have made something of a recovery towards real news reporting).

People are waking up. It's been a long, bad, dream. Those who are awake are getting angry. And the angry voices are waking more up. The rot in our government stinks so bad that very few believe the GOP when it declares itself to be a rose.

Cheers!

[KharmaTrain]

17. 10 Years Can Create A Lot Of Revisionism...We're Seeing It

It was telling the other day when I heard some kid call into one of the local hate radio shows and say how she never knew of Raygun but was real sad he died. Bet she's heard of Kennedy or FDR or even Johnson...Raygun was non-descript at best and rolled back nearly 50 years of social progress in 8 years. That's his legacy.

The lies that he ended the Cold War (he was still developing "Star Wars" when Gorbachev was ready to deal), straightened out the economy (that Nixon & Ford wrecked) and made this country proud again is a damn lie. I'll tell you when I felt proud to be an American. It was when Sadat, Begin & Carter joined hands at Camp David. There's leadership. Anything else is pandering.

Fortuantely, lots of people are bored or seeing through this crap for the 93 year old manure it is. There are good people out there, we just have to the light for them to know it's safe to come out.

[Hamlette]

11. you're talking about the woman who wore $5,000 dresses

as first lady while her husband tried to convince poor school kids that ketchup is a vegatable.

[Cleita]

13. Well, that is what a liberal would have done.

Nancy, like most conservatives isn't noted for being sensitive to the "little people" whose hard earned money has enabled her to enjoy a luxury life style. But looking back at the ostentation of the British Royal family at the taxpayer's expense I guess it's par for the course no matter what royalty you belong to.

[bigwillq]

14. Great post. I agree that this is too lavish of an ordeal

I agree with a lot of your suggestions about donating money to charity and the like and that a state funeral is so expensive.

Plus, if they interupt the Young and the Restless one more time....

I'll tell ya, I'm gonna lay the Smackdown.

[stevedeshazer]

15. I could not agree with you more

Nancy has the look of being dragged through an ordeal, yet she must have acquiesced to these plans long ago.

My mom and our family went through ten years of living hell until my dad died of the same disease, and we had no help. My dad wanted a simple pine box and a graveside service. And he did one hell of a lot more for America through his military service than Reagan and the rest of these chickenhawks ever did.

If Nancy really wanted to make a difference, she could have asked for donations in Ronnie's name to fund research into a cure for Alzheimer's Disease. Imagine the flood of money and support that would have followed!

Instead, we're treated to a bizarre week-long spectacle replete with fawning references to everything Reagan did (and in many cases didn't do.)

Thanks, Raven.

on edit- fixed grammar

[Unperson 309]

23. If the $44 Mil for that Funeral had gone for Alzheimer's research!

What a difference THAT would make, h'mmm?

309

[Justice]

16. I don't have a problem with any of the ceremonial pieces

I don't think the media needs to cover it 24/7

[LibDemAlways]

18. Flying Ronnie's remains back and forth

on the taxpayers' dime is over the top. I think a dignified ceremony at the library would have been sufficient. And if all the grandstanding repukes wanted a Washington service of their own, and the family said yes, then fine. But the logistics and security arrangements of carting the corpse around have turned this into a circus.

[StopThief]

19. If you were Nancy Reagan. . . .

you would never have married Ronald Reagan.

[ScreamingMeemie]

20. The only reason I beg to differ is that them memories of my grandfather's

death 2 years ago are still fresh in my mind. My grandmother was in such a state of shock, and grief, that we could have dressed him in a clown suit and paraded him down Highway 100 and she would have cared not. She gave it all to us to arrange, as I am sure Nancy was grateful to not have to deal with it, when the powers that be took over.

[ScreamingMeemie]

24. That should read the, not them, memories.

Oops!

[Exgeneral]

21. Actually, his funeral was planned when he left office

and in the days since by his show biz staging crew, who agreed to stage this extravaganza and stage managed even the tiniest of details. This thing has been planned as total symbolism of Reaganism redux.

See the Wall St. Journal Weds. for names and details.