Ron Jr. hits Bush team
BY MONIQUE EL-FAIZY
DAILY NEWS WRITER
Saturday, June 19th, 2004
Ronald Reagan's son harshly criticized the Bush White House for invoking religion and his father's name to justify the Iraq war and scoffed, "They're no Ronald Reagans."
Ron Reagan, the late President's son, unloaded on President Bush and his advisers to NBC's Chris Matthews in an interview that aired last night on "Dateline."
Reagan was asked about the ambiguous comments he made at his father's funeral, criticizing politicians who wear their faith on their sleeves.
"What I find interesting about it is that everybody assumes that I must be talking about George W. Bush, which I find fascinating and somewhat telling. If the shoe fits . . .," Reagan said.
"I think he's used religion to make his case for - for a lot of things, including Iraq," he said later.
Reagan said he also resented White House efforts to draw parallels between Reagan and Bush.
"I would observe that my father never felt the need to wrap himself in anybody else's mantle. He never felt the need to pretend to be anybody else. . . .
"This is their administration. This is their war. If they can't stand on their own two feet, well, they're no Ronald .Reagans, that's for sure," he fumed.
Reagan lashed out at Bush's refusal to expand the use of embryonic cell research.
"For the federal government, for this administration, to stand in its way just to pander to people who, well-meaning as they may be, are, I think, ignorant of the facts, is just unconscionable to me," he said.
"There's no downside to this. There's no real moral problem here. We're talking about cells in a petri dish, not creatures with brains and spinal cords and fingers and toes."
White House spokeswoman Jeanie Mamo avoided a confrontation, saying, "The President was honored to be asked to give the eulogy at President Reagan's funeral last week and his thoughts and prayers remain with Mrs. .Reagan and the family."
On stem cell research, she said Bush "continues to believe strongly that we should not cross a fundamental moral line by funding or encouraging the destruction of human embryos."
Ron Reagan rips GWB
-
Rspaight
- Posts: 4386
- Joined: Wed Apr 30, 2003 10:48 am
- Location: The Reality-Based Community
- Contact:
More from Larry King last night:
KING: You said, dad was also a deeply unabashedly religious man, but he never made the mistake of wearing his faith on his sleeve to gain political advantage. Were you referring to the president?
REAGAN: You know, it's interesting.
KING: Everyone thought that.
REAGAN: I know. I wasn't watching TV much after I delivered the eulogy for a few days. But after a couple of days I started getting calls from people saying, boy you really stirred something up, didn't you? I thought, well, what? Well, you know, the stuff you said about Bush. I said, I didn't say anything about Bush, why would I mention George W. Bush in my father's eulogy?
No, no, no, no, the stuff about the religion. I thought, ha, funny, you then everybody thought I was talking about George W. Bush. And then I heard -- everybody thought I was talking about George -- but people connected with George W. Bush thought I was talking about George W. Bush. And then I began to think, maybe I was, I just didn't know it.
KING: Do you think he wears his religion on his sleeve? He certainly refers to it more than your father ever did.
REAGAN: Well, you know, there was that answer he gave to the question about, did you talk to your father about going into Iraq? No, I talked to a higher father, you know, the almighty. When you hear somebody justifying a war by citing the almighty, God, I get a little worried, frankly. The other guys do that a lot. Osama bin Laden's always talking about Allah, what Allah wants, that he's on his side. I think that's uncomfortable.
KING: Do you have thoughts on the war?
REAGAN: Sure, I have thoughts on the war.
KING: And what do you think?
REAGAN: And I think we lied our way into the war.
KING: You think it's a mistake?
REAGAN: Absolutely, a terrible mistake. Terrible foreign policy error. We didn't have to do it. It was optional. And we were lied to. The American public was lied to about WMD, the connection between Osama bin Laden and Saddam, which is virtually nonexistent except for fleeting contacts. But they're still trying to pull that one off now, Cheney and all are out there flogging that.
KING: Can I gather from that, that you will not support this president?
REAGAN: No, I won't.
KING: Will you support his opponent?
REAGAN: I will vote for whoever the viable candidate is who can defeat George W. Bush, yes.
KING: So, you might vote for Ralph Nader?
REAGAN: If he were a viable candidate I might.
KING: So the obviously you're going to vote -- what did you think your father would say, if he were here and listening to this?
REAGAN: I don't think he would have gone into Iraq. I think he would have been much more interested in going after Osama bin Laden, who after all planned the 9/11 transactions.
KING: Would he be mad at you for saying, I'm not going to vote for this Republican?
REAGAN: I can't imagine he would be. So long as I was telling the truth he'd be okay with that. And I am. So -- no, I don't think he'd be upset. Again, these are just my personal feelings you've asked, so I'll answer.
KING: You've answered.
REAGAN: I just think it's a terrible mistake. Terrible mistake.
KING: You said, dad was also a deeply unabashedly religious man, but he never made the mistake of wearing his faith on his sleeve to gain political advantage. Were you referring to the president?
REAGAN: You know, it's interesting.
KING: Everyone thought that.
REAGAN: I know. I wasn't watching TV much after I delivered the eulogy for a few days. But after a couple of days I started getting calls from people saying, boy you really stirred something up, didn't you? I thought, well, what? Well, you know, the stuff you said about Bush. I said, I didn't say anything about Bush, why would I mention George W. Bush in my father's eulogy?
No, no, no, no, the stuff about the religion. I thought, ha, funny, you then everybody thought I was talking about George W. Bush. And then I heard -- everybody thought I was talking about George -- but people connected with George W. Bush thought I was talking about George W. Bush. And then I began to think, maybe I was, I just didn't know it.
KING: Do you think he wears his religion on his sleeve? He certainly refers to it more than your father ever did.
REAGAN: Well, you know, there was that answer he gave to the question about, did you talk to your father about going into Iraq? No, I talked to a higher father, you know, the almighty. When you hear somebody justifying a war by citing the almighty, God, I get a little worried, frankly. The other guys do that a lot. Osama bin Laden's always talking about Allah, what Allah wants, that he's on his side. I think that's uncomfortable.
KING: Do you have thoughts on the war?
REAGAN: Sure, I have thoughts on the war.
KING: And what do you think?
REAGAN: And I think we lied our way into the war.
KING: You think it's a mistake?
REAGAN: Absolutely, a terrible mistake. Terrible foreign policy error. We didn't have to do it. It was optional. And we were lied to. The American public was lied to about WMD, the connection between Osama bin Laden and Saddam, which is virtually nonexistent except for fleeting contacts. But they're still trying to pull that one off now, Cheney and all are out there flogging that.
KING: Can I gather from that, that you will not support this president?
REAGAN: No, I won't.
KING: Will you support his opponent?
REAGAN: I will vote for whoever the viable candidate is who can defeat George W. Bush, yes.
KING: So, you might vote for Ralph Nader?
REAGAN: If he were a viable candidate I might.
KING: So the obviously you're going to vote -- what did you think your father would say, if he were here and listening to this?
REAGAN: I don't think he would have gone into Iraq. I think he would have been much more interested in going after Osama bin Laden, who after all planned the 9/11 transactions.
KING: Would he be mad at you for saying, I'm not going to vote for this Republican?
REAGAN: I can't imagine he would be. So long as I was telling the truth he'd be okay with that. And I am. So -- no, I don't think he'd be upset. Again, these are just my personal feelings you've asked, so I'll answer.
KING: You've answered.
REAGAN: I just think it's a terrible mistake. Terrible mistake.
RQOTW: "I'll make sure that our future is defined not by the letters ACLU, but by the letters USA." -- Mitt Romney
Reagan son joins lineup for Democratic National Convention
-
Monday, July 12, 2004
(07-12) 05:30 PDT WASHINGTON (AP) --
Democrats have snagged a high-profile speaker -- and a measure of political one-upmanship -- for this month's convention: Ron Reagan.
The younger son of the late President Reagan will address the Democratic National Convention in Boston about stem cell research.
David Wade, a spokesman for Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry, said Monday that Reagan will have a "prime time" speaking slot during the July 26-29 convention. "Ron Reagan's courageous pleas for stem cell research add a powerful voice to the millions of Americans hoping for cures for their children, for their parents and for their grandparents," Wade said.
Reagan, 46, has been critical of the Bush administration's restriction of federal funding for human embryonic stem cell research and the war in Iraq.
But he said his speech will only deal with the subject of stem cell research, something he and Nancy Reagan have argued could lead to cures for a number of diseases like the Alzheimer's that afflicted the late president. Because the extraction of stem cells destroys day-old embryos, the process is opposed by groups who link it to abortion.
"If they had asked me to say a few words about throwing George Bush out of office, I wouldn't do it," Reagan told The Philadelphia Inquirer. "This gives me a platform to educate people about stem cell research."
-
Monday, July 12, 2004
(07-12) 05:30 PDT WASHINGTON (AP) --
Democrats have snagged a high-profile speaker -- and a measure of political one-upmanship -- for this month's convention: Ron Reagan.
The younger son of the late President Reagan will address the Democratic National Convention in Boston about stem cell research.
David Wade, a spokesman for Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry, said Monday that Reagan will have a "prime time" speaking slot during the July 26-29 convention. "Ron Reagan's courageous pleas for stem cell research add a powerful voice to the millions of Americans hoping for cures for their children, for their parents and for their grandparents," Wade said.
Reagan, 46, has been critical of the Bush administration's restriction of federal funding for human embryonic stem cell research and the war in Iraq.
But he said his speech will only deal with the subject of stem cell research, something he and Nancy Reagan have argued could lead to cures for a number of diseases like the Alzheimer's that afflicted the late president. Because the extraction of stem cells destroys day-old embryos, the process is opposed by groups who link it to abortion.
"If they had asked me to say a few words about throwing George Bush out of office, I wouldn't do it," Reagan told The Philadelphia Inquirer. "This gives me a platform to educate people about stem cell research."