# Military funerals, more partisan lies **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 11, 2003, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-funerals-more-partisan-lies/212662 "2003-11-11T19:59:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![London\_Calling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@London\_Calling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/London_Calling)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2003, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-funerals-more-partisan-lies/212662/21 "2003-11-12T02:43:48Z")
Point most happily taken **RTFirefly** , what about the rest of my treating like-as-like questions ? ---
**Author:** ![musicguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ba0ec/32.png) [@musicguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/musicguy)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2003, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-funerals-more-partisan-lies/212662/22 "2003-11-12T02:51:31Z")
**London-Calling** , Just to explain, my purpose wasn’t so much to say that Bush must attend these funerals, as it was to rant about one more of the never-ending lies that the right seems so good at these days. Still, the latter part of my rant did suggest that I was comparing Bush to the former presidents. I understand your points about the fact that under these circumstances, there would be far too many funerals to attend and picking and choosing which ones to attend would be a no-win situation. Still, I think that when Clinton or Bush Sr. or Reagan, attended the funeral services on their watch, it brought comfort to the greiving families and was the right thing to do. It showed that they felt a responsibility came with their decisions to send our soldiers into combat. I just don’t see that with Bush. Maybe the comparison is unfair, as you suggest though. It really wasn’t the point of my rant anyway. I probably should have nixed the last paragraph. Heat of the moment and all… ---
**Author:** ![musicguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ba0ec/32.png) [@musicguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/musicguy)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2003, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-funerals-more-partisan-lies/212662/23 "2003-11-12T02:58:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by RTFirefly \* > \*\*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. > > After all, they seem to have plenty of time for [fundraising](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A23967-2003Nov10.html). \*\* I’m trying to find a cite but I recall reading that one of those fundraisers took place less than 5 miles, and at the same time, from where one of the funerals was being held. ---
**Author:** ![London\_Calling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@London\_Calling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/London_Calling)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2003, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-funerals-more-partisan-lies/212662/24 "2003-11-12T05:11:50Z")
Yep sure, **musicguy**. I understood the rant. But it’s also the old ‘Clinton did this, Bush does this’ thing as well, and I left It alone thinking one of the tin foilers would be along to offer a different perspective. Not my fight but I thought _someone_ had to offer a counter view . . . them tin foilers seem to dying out faster than the dinosaurs lately . . . it’s oddly liberating to make their arguements for 'em. Fwiw, I suspect there’s some kind or rule; an inverse relationship between the extremism of an administration and the quietness of its erstwhile supporters . . . ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2003, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-funerals-more-partisan-lies/212662/25 "2003-11-12T05:14:24Z")
You have to consider the space/time coordinates for the point where the trajectory of the shit intersects the locus of the fan. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2003, 8:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-funerals-more-partisan-lies/212662/26 "2003-11-12T08:34:26Z")
Al Franken, in his book, ‘proved’ that no news organization reported about the time Bush puked on Japanese Prime Minister using the Ann Coulter google techinque. In short, you google carefully selected words and use the fact that those search terms produced no results as proof that there was nothing out there to find. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2003, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-funerals-more-partisan-lies/212662/27 "2003-11-12T13:30:05Z")
Didn’t Clinton showup for the funeral of one of those poor kids who got killed in Somalia? From what I heard, the father (of the dead soldier) refused to shake hands with Clinton-this shocked (and surprised) the C-in-C mightily! ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2003, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-funerals-more-partisan-lies/212662/28 "2003-11-12T13:44:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Miller \* > \*\*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 bet that’s a ‘damned if you do, damned if you don’t’ thing. If she doesn’t show up to enough funerals, she’s a heartless bitch that doesn’t care . If she goes to all of 'em, she’s an attention grabbing bitch who’s mourning for the cameras. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2003, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-funerals-more-partisan-lies/212662/29 "2003-11-12T14:23:48Z")
What would the etiquette be of having more than one limo in the procession? Should the President bring a covered dish to the wake? Who would be responsible for getting the dish back to the White House? In my neck of the woods, funerals were for friends and family only. I remember people being ticked off once when a county commissioner came by to sign the book at the viewing. He didn’t know the deceased well, and it was seen as tacky. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2003, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-funerals-more-partisan-lies/212662/30 "2003-11-12T14:40:23Z")
I agree with **Mr. Moto** and others who point out that (at least for those who aren’t public figures) funerals are normally for those who knew the deceased well enough to mourn at his/her passing. The President (whoever he is at a given time) shouldn’t attend funerals of our combat troops unless invited, IMHO. However, that doesn’t prevent the military from holding brief memorial services at Dover AFB, where the bodies arrive, that the President or his proxies could periodically attend. That manner of recognition of the sacrifice these men and women made on behalf of his policy would be most appropriate, and is deeply deserved. This is his war, and he ought to be there, once in a while, to mourn the dead. ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2003, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-funerals-more-partisan-lies/212662/31 "2003-11-12T14:46:44Z")
I would be happy if _anyone_ from the current administration attended _any_ funerals in the capacity below. Head of State Commander of the Armed Forces President Private grieving citizen? ---
**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2003, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-funerals-more-partisan-lies/212662/32 "2003-11-12T15:09:06Z")
Doesn’t showing up for one funeral piss off the parents of every other soldier who died? ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2003, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-funerals-more-partisan-lies/212662/33 "2003-11-12T15:27:16Z")
So it’s attend all funerals or none at all? ---
**Author:** ![musicguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ba0ec/32.png) [@musicguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/musicguy)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2003, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-funerals-more-partisan-lies/212662/34 "2003-11-12T22:36:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by RTFirefly \* > \*\* > However, that doesn’t prevent the military from holding brief memorial services at Dover AFB, where the bodies arrive, that the President or his proxies could periodically attend. That manner of recognition of the sacrifice these men and women made on behalf of his policy would be most appropriate, and is deeply deserved. This is his war, and he ought to be there, once in a while, to mourn the dead. \*\* I couldn’t agree more. Unfortunately, if we aren’t even allowed to see a picture of a coffin coming home, we sure as hell aren’t going to see a picture of Bush standing next to one. ---
**Author:** ![PhiloVance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e19adc/32.png) [@PhiloVance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhiloVance)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2003, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-funerals-more-partisan-lies/212662/35 "2003-11-13T00:23:38Z")
> [@](#): > > Just to explain, my purpose wasn’t so much to say that Bush must attend these funerals, as it was to rant about one more of the **never-ending** lies that the right seems so good at these days. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![musicguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ba0ec/32.png) [@musicguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/musicguy)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2003, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-funerals-more-partisan-lies/212662/36 "2003-11-13T00:31:06Z")
Yes, that probably could have been worded better. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2003, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-funerals-more-partisan-lies/212662/37 "2003-11-13T02:03:58Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by musicguy \* > \*\*I couldn’t agree more. Unfortunately, if we aren’t even allowed to see a picture of a coffin coming home, we sure as hell aren’t going to see a picture of Bush standing next to one. \*\* Indeed. I was just trying to dispense with the notion (raised by others) that practical problems somehow prevent Bush from personally honoring the dead of this war. He could do so; he just _won’t._ ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2003, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-funerals-more-partisan-lies/212662/38 "2003-11-13T14:07:46Z")
What would be the point of doing so, though. Our country has been at war many times, and the Commander-in-Chief has never participated in public memorial services as a matter of routine. Events like the Gettysburg Address are notable in part because they are rare. The military’s focus in handling the dead is to transport them to their final resting place quickly and respectfully. They generally do so with a minimum of ceremony, reserving such for the final funeral and burial. There was a story in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette recently of a family who wanted the body of their son returned to Pennsylvania quickly so a joint funeral could be held with his mother, who had also died at about the same time. How would this family have felt if this was prevented by a time delay caused by a memorial service in Delaware? (Cite is from another paper, since it’s free.) [http://www.observer-reporter.com/304642395208096.bsp](http://www.observer-reporter.com/304642395208096.bsp) ---
**Author:** ![musicguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ba0ec/32.png) [@musicguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/musicguy)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2003, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-funerals-more-partisan-lies/212662/39 "2003-11-13T18:10:30Z")
I received a response from Carl Limbacher today. Here is what he told me: > [@](#): > > I saw that BBC report/pic too. Read the caption. It wasn’t a funeral. It was a memorial service, the kind Bush has repeatedly attended since the Iraq war started. > > The media’s rap against Bush is that he doesn’t attend military funerals - because they know he has attended memorial services and that charge wouldn’t stick. > > Carl/NM Interesting. Two points that I have… First, can someone explain the difference between a memorial service and a funeral. Because what Clinton attended sure looked like a funeral to me. There were caskets and he gave a eulogy. They can call it a memorial service but if it looks like a duck… Second, I just spend quite a while on Google and cannot find one instance, sans Veteran’s Day, of Bush attending any memorial service whatsoever for anyone that has died in the Iraq war. Does anyone else recall this happening? Carl Limbacher suggests that he has been to many of these. You would think that there would be a link to at least one. ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2003, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-funerals-more-partisan-lies/212662/40 "2003-11-13T18:36:46Z")
Maybe he can sign up here, so we can rip him a new one. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-funerals-more-partisan-lies/212662.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-funerals-more-partisan-lies/212662.md?page=3)