Nancy Reagan to Bush: 'We Don't Support Your Re-Election'

[Wakie]

The widow of former President, and Republican icon, Ronald Reagan has told the GOP she wants nothing to do with their upcoming national convention or the re-election campaign of President George W. Bush.
Nancy Reagan turned down numerous invitations to appear at the Republican National Convention and has warned the Bush campaign she will not tolerate any use of her or her late husbands words or images in the President’s re-election effort.

“Mrs. Reagan does not support President Bush’s re-election and neither to most members of the President’s family,” says a spokesman for the former First Lady

Reagan’s son, Ron, spoke at the just-concluded Democratic National Convention and writes in next month’s Esquire magazine that “George W. Bush and his administration have taken normal mendacity to a startling new level far beyond lies of convenience. They traffic in big lies.”

Ron Reagan is joined by his sister Patty in opposing Bush’s re-election effort. Only brother Michael Reagan, a conservative talk show host, supports the President and claims Ron is manipulating his mother.

Unlike the other Reagan children, Michael is not Reagan’s biological child. He was adopted by Reagan during the actor’s first marriage to actress Jane Wyman and often complains that his stepmother, Nancy, likes Ron best.

“He is her favorite,” Michael Reagan told Fox News. “Ron can do no wrong. I mean, basically that's it, Ron can do no wrong.”

Ron, however, claims George W. Bush has destroyed the Republican Party his father helped build.

“My father, acting roles excepted, never pretended to be anyone but himself,” Reagan writes in Esquire. “His Republican Party, furthermore, seems a far cry from the current model, with its cringing obeisance to the religious right.”

The Reagans’ split with Bush and the party centers around stem cell research which many believe can help find a cure for Alzheimer’s, the disease that crippled President Reagan in his final years. Bush and the ultra-conservative wing of the Republican Party oppose use of new stem cells. The Reagans, with the exception of Michael, support such use.

There’s more to the feud than that, however. Nancy Reagan has told close followers she believes Bush and the current Republican leadership have divided America with their extreme views. She has told Republican leaders she wants nothing to do with the party or Bush.

During the week of Reagan’s funeral, the former First Lady “went ballistic” when she learned the Bush campaign was test marketing new ads that used Reagan’s photos and speeches in an effort to show he supported Bush and his re-election. She personally called Republican Party Chief Ed Gillespie to demand the ads be destroyed.

Republican strategists admit the ads were produced but never ran. They were pulled after scoring poorly with focus groups where viewers found them in “poor taste.”

“Mrs. Reagan doesn’t care why the ads were pulled. She just wanted to make sure they never went on the air,” says a spokesman for the First Lady. “She does care about whether or not the memory of President Reagan is used for political purposes.”

http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/publish/article_4935.shtml

[Storebought]

Capital Hill Blue = Democrat Troll Broadsheet

Stu Rothenberg's paper = Legitimate Capital Hill Newspaper.

[Wakie]

Capital Hill Blue = Democrat Troll Broadsheet

Stu Rothenberg's paper = Legitimate Capital Hill Newspaper.

Attack the messenger.

[ATFFL]

Capital Hill Blue = Democrat Troll Broadsheet

Stu Rothenberg's paper = Legitimate Capital Hill Newspaper.

Attack the messenger.

Remember that next time you want to say something about FOX News.

[WalterMitty]

i wish ron reagan jr would shut the f' up.

im tired of this nonsense he goes around spewing..."this isnt the party of my father...blah blah blah"

youre right, ron, unlike oyur father, some republicans dont have a soft spot in their heart for segregation.  bush, unlike your father, didnt kick off his campaign in philadelphia mississippi.

im sick of the reagans.  the reagans never gave a damn about the republican party.  ronald reagan ran against  a good president, gerald ford, and caused a big split in the party that year.  the whole time, reagan was repeating that 'never speak ill of a fellow republican' garbage.  

the reagans only care for themselves.  i never was one of these republicans who worships ronald reagan.

[Akno21]

i never was one of these republicans who worships ronald reagan.

Good for you. You are probably the only one.

[agcatter]

Ron Reagan is an ultra liberal Democrat.  Other than having the good fortune of having Ronald Reagan's name, please tell me what the hell he's ever done in his life to give any weight at all to his opinion.

Patti's the same.  No one gives a sh**t who they support.  Ron said he didn't vote for his own father either time.  So it's supposed to mean something that he isn't supporting this Republican president either?

I think we all know who Ronald Reagan would be supporting right now.  Nothing else matters.

[raggage]

Ron Reagan is an ultra liberal Democrat.  Other than having the good fortune of having Ronald Reagan's name, please tell me what the hell he's ever done in his life to give any weight at all to his opinion.

Patti's the same.  No one gives a sh**t who they support.  Ron said he didn't vote for his own father either time.  So it's supposed to mean something that he isn't supporting this Republican president either?

I think we all know who Ronald Reagan would be supporting right now.  Nothing else matters.

Oh come on. If this were Chelsea Clinton doing the reverse you guys would having a field-day.

[agcatter]

My guess is that under the same circumstances  Chelsea would have much more class  than to pull this kind of garbage.  Most people would.

[dazzleman]

I liked a lot of what Reagan did as president, but I never thought much of his family.  His kids were pretty messed up and it was pretty clear that whatever his political attributes, Ron (and Nancy) Reagan were probably not great parents.

Ron and Patti never supported their own father when he was running for office, so it's not a great surprise that they don't support President Bush.  Patti prided herself on being "sexually and pharmaceutically" adventurous and she changed her name because she was ashamed of her father's politics.

As far as Nancy Reagan goes, I have great admiration for her as a wife, but her only concern ever was Ronald Reagan.  Her position on issues was determined by how they affected Ronnie's approval rating, not what was good for the country.  If a cure could have been found for Reagan's disease that would have required every family in the country to sacrifice their first-born child, Nancy would have been for it, as long as it would have saved Ronnie.

So I don't think it matters all that much to the president whether he has the support of this dysfunctional bunch.

[NHPolitico]

If this were true, this would be frontpage, top of the fold in the NYT.

Mrs. Reagan "supports stem cell research and she supports President Bush," a friend of the 83-year-old former first lady said.

A senior Republican said Ron Reagan's speech to the Democrats was being made with his mother's blessing, even though she support Bush's re-election.

[Starbucks Union Thug HokeyPuck]

Bush has a policy against research that could make sure no one ever has to go through what they did with Ronald Reagan.  You blame them for having some anamosity towards Bush?  

[agcatter]

The animosity toward the Republican point of view has always been there with Ron and Patti long before any controversy over stem cell research.  Again, Ron never ever voted for his father.  

[12th Doctor]

i never was one of these republicans who worships ronald reagan.

That has nothing to do with it.  If Ronald Reagan had been of sound mind before he died, he would not have opposed Bush and would have opposed stem-cell research.  It is Ron and Patti who are the villians (and yes, I stand by that term) not Ronald Reagan.  They have literally hyjacked their father's image to advance goals that he would never approve of and to take possitions that he would never support.  Michael is right, Nacy is being manipulated by them.  They are both far-left brats.  Patti used to go to parties anbd deny that she was her father's child.  Ron did nothing worth noting with his life, so he used his father's name to break into the media.  And now, they wrap themselves in their father's image.  What a crock?

[agcatter]

You nailed it.

[dazzleman]

Exactly right.  Neither one of them ever supported their father politically or his goals.

At one time, Patti professed deep hatred for both her parents.  She made a living writing books trashing them.

Then she woke up one day and realized that her father was an old man with a lot of money, so she "reconciled" with him and the mother who supposedly slapped her around and screamed at her all the time.

Neither one of them would ever have been anything without the Reagan connection.  Would anybody care what either one of them has to say if they weren't Ronald Reagan's children?  I think we know the answer to that.

They are entitled to disagree with their father, but it shows a total lack of any class to make a living off his name while advancing causes with which he did not agree.  If they want to advance their own opinions, they should not use their father's legacy to do so.  They're just spoiled left-wing brats.

At this point, Ron seems far worse than Patti.  She shot her mouth off for so many years and claims she now regrets it, so maybe she learned her lesson and is keeping more quiet.  But Ron is all over the place spouting his uninformed opinions and using twisted logic and revisionist history to morph Ronald Reagan into a liberal.  It's a disgraceful performance.

I would also add that it shows no class to bring up political differences with anybody at a funeral, publicly.  That is the height of tackiness, and it was done by Princess Diana's brother and Ron Reagan.

[CARLHAYDEN]

Bush has a policy against research that could make sure no one ever has to go through what they did with Ronald Reagan.  You blame them for having some anamosity towards Bush?  

If you check out the facts, you will see that Bush supports stem cell research, but opposes abortion to achieve that result.

Abortion is NOT necessary for stem cell research, and it is ongoing with federal funding right now.

The truth is that Jr. supports abortion (his father opposed it) and has misled his mother into believing that Bush opposes stem cell research, which is false.

[raggage]

i never was one of these republicans who worships ronald reagan.

Ron did nothing worth noting with his life, so he used his father's name to break into the media.  And now, they wrap themselves in their father's image.  What a crock?

And Bush II hasn't???

[Citizen James]

i never was one of these republicans who worships ronald reagan.

Ron did nothing worth noting with his life, so he used his father's name to break into the media.  And now, they wrap themselves in their father's image.  What a crock?

And Bush II hasn't???

Another example of the apple falling very far from the tree.   Bush Sr. was a pragmatic moderate who wasn't particularly liked by the 'religious right' which is the core of W's. support.

Does anyone think W. would have even had a chance in the primaries (much less the election), if it wasn't for his famous name and father?    

I honestly don't think so.  He couldn't even have gotten into Yale without his family connections.   (a quality state college quite possibly, but certainly not the ultra-competitive Yale).

[dazzleman]

i never was one of these republicans who worships ronald reagan.

Ron did nothing worth noting with his life, so he used his father's name to break into the media.  And now, they wrap themselves in their father's image.  What a crock?

And Bush II hasn't???

Another example of the apple falling very far from the tree.   Bush Sr. was a pragmatic moderate who wasn't particularly liked by the 'religious right' which is the core of W's. support.

Does anyone think W. would have even had a chance in the primaries (much less the election), if it wasn't for his famous name and father?    

I honestly don't think so.  He couldn't even have gotten into Yale without his family connections.   (a quality state college quite possibly, but certainly not the ultra-competitive Yale).

And would the drug-addicted kids of Robert Kennedy, who were kicked out of multiple private schools, have gotten into Harvard without their family connections?

I don't support "legacies" but let's not pretend that this happens only with the Bush family.  I have a sneaking suspicion that Al Gore had a little extra help with his college admissions too, as well as many others.

[Storebought]

Just as I suspected: This CaptialBlue "article" is total bullsh**t. Furthermore, Capital Blue isn't even a newspaper--it's closest equivalent is the French Le Canard Enchaine, a parody paper.

After I spent an hour scouring sources well known to take the pulse of GOP infighting, I have not found ONE other article corroborating this one, not even on Drudge.

Even worse than the outright lie, namely slandering Nancy Reagan, is the fact some GOPers---too many GOPers here--accepted the lie prima facie.

[NHPolitico]

Joanne Drake, the chief of staff for former President Ronald Reagan’s office in Los Angeles, said in a statement on behalf of the former first lady, “Mrs. Reagan supports President Bush’s re-election 150 percent.”

[Wakie]

Joanne Drake, the chief of staff for former President Ronald Reagan’s office in Los Angeles, said in a statement on behalf of the former first lady, “Mrs. Reagan supports President Bush’s re-election 150 percent.”

Source?

[TheWildCard]

Joanne Drake, the chief of staff for former President Ronald Reagan’s office in Los Angeles, said in a statement on behalf of the former first lady, “Mrs. Reagan supports President Bush’s re-election 150 percent.”

Source?

NewsMax... And after looking at CHB I'd say NewsMax might be a bit more reliable than CHB

[12th Doctor]

i never was one of these republicans who worships ronald reagan.

Ron did nothing worth noting with his life, so he used his father's name to break into the media.  And now, they wrap themselves in their father's image.  What a crock?

And Bush II hasn't???

W. at least went into legit business.  Ron Reagan went from theater dancing to a reporter.  What a leap.