I was listening to KABC talk radio this morning. The conservative host, Al Rantel, was complaining about the flak Bush is receiving for not attending any of the funerals of the soldiers that had lost their lives in Iraq. His guest was someone from newsmax.com. This idiot wanted to know how come Clinton gets off scott free when he never attended any military funerals either. He stated that he did “extensive research” and could find no instance of Clinton ever attending a military funeral. This “fact” is also stated on the newsmax website.
Well, Mr Dumbass, it took me less than a minute to find a picture of Clinton at the funeral for victims of the USS Cole. here
So, why is it that I can confirm this with less than a minute on Google but you, in the media, cannot.
You also stated that no presidents in recent history have attended military funerals. But I seem to recall both Bush Sr. and Reagan, attending military funerals. As far as I can find, Bush Jr. is the only president in 20 plus years who has not. I suppose it would take too much time away from fundraising. Oh yeah, and it wouldn’t look too good considering the “mission accomplished” message that you so proudly proclaimed.
I get so friggin tired of these outright lies. At this rate, Al Franken should be able to write a few sequels before too long.
Let me also add that given the extensive security planning that goes into any presidential trip, it is nearly impossible for the president to go to a traditional funeral, days after the person(s) have died. So it’s a mute point which president has gone to what funeral.
Who would want the president at their loved one’s funeral? A funeral is a private time for family and friends to mourn, not a play ground for the secret service or a photo op for the president.
See, its like this, the media is Liberal and out to make Bush look bad……wait, that makes not sense, does it? Its almost as if they are being Bush apologists. hmmmmmm.
Well, the ways things are going, Bush just needs to be somewhere random in the US, and dead soldiers will soon be clogging up the local funeral parlor wherever he’s at.
I’m more mad about this. Clinton gets a pass (but not a free one) since he wasn’t officially at war.
And my point wasn’t to debate the pros and cons of a president attending a funeral. It was simply anger towards these conservative liars, who don’t bother to check any facts, even though the information can be easily found. They just spew in all directions, assuming that nobody will attempt to verify the misinformation.
Sorry Musicguy, I’m repulsed by Bush but I have to say I don’t think the case is made against him here. Here we go:
In what capacity was Clinton attending the USS Cole service, as
Head of State
Commander of the Armed Forces
President
Private grieving citizen?
With that knowledge I’d ask, is it common for the person in that role to attend, not funerals as you say, but a unique Memorial Service at the dockside on the homecoming of the victims?
Then I’d ask how practical is it for the president to attend every funeral of a someone dying in Iraq (clearly not, it would be a full-time job in itself at the moment), followed by, whether it’s right to attend some funerals and not others, and on what basis do you decide that?
Finally, I’d ask if the president, given the time being fair and equitable would consume, has better things to do (in the interests of the country) and, instead of a one-off as the USS Cole dockside Memorial Service was, how long would the president continue to attend funerals as this is likely to go on for a very considerable length of time to come?
I don’t worry quite so much about the protests he’d attract, or the negative media image or the callous way ignoring the dead portrays him.
But I do think there are possible reasons that might explain why the comparison is unfair ?
In addition to the whole business about Bush banning media coverage of when the bodies of dead US soldiers are returned to American soil, one has to love the following:
Interesting how lies mutate through retelling. Various right-wing “pundits” have been spreading a similar lie about Hillary Clinton not attending any 9/11 memorial services. I suppose that’s what makes lies so convenient: it only takes a few quick changes to shift the smear to the target du jour, where as when you’re dealing with facts, you have to actually wait for them to happen before you use them as evidence of how scummy your opponent really is.
Certainly Bush can’t attend all the funerals. But he, or some high-ranking proxy such as Dick Cheney, could either attend the occasional funeral, or periodically show up at Dover AFB for a brief memorial service when the bodies arrive.
Mistakes happen.