posted July 30, 2004 06:59 PM              

By TERESA HAMPTON & WILLIAM D. McTAVISH
Jul 30, 2004, 08:12

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

(just sharing news)

Love,
Rainbow

posted July 30, 2004 07:29 PM            

Ronald Reagan would vote for George W. Bush. There is not a chance in hell Ronnie would ever vote for a fraud like John Kerry. Just my opinion but I can "feel" it in my bones.

Insider Report: Ron Reagan Missing

Saturday, July 24, 2004
Ron Reagan Jr. Missing at USS Reagan Home Porting

Ron Reagan “Jr.” was a no show at this Saturday’s home porting for the USS Ronald Reagan in San Diego.

Nancy, his mother was there for the important event. And so was Michael Reagan, the eldest son of President Reagan, and Michael’s lovely wife Colleen.
''Although the last six weeks have been difficult, and today is very bittersweet, I'm so honored to be here as the USS Ronald Reagan comes into home port,'' Nancy Reagan said in her first public appearance since her husband's burial. ''In my heart, I know he is looking down on us today and smiling.''
Ronald Reagan was especially proud that this ship – the navy’s newest and mightiest nuclear carrier – had been named after him.

No doubt, President Reagan would have been disappointed that neither his son Ron or daughter Patti Davis bothered to show up at the ceremony. In fact, Ron was busy cavorting with Democrats in Boston this weekend.

As the media hails young Ron’s upcoming speech to the Democratic convention, it is important to note that Ron not only failed to show at the home porting, he and Patti never attended the earlier Commissioning ceremony and the Christening of the USS Reagan – events not only attended by Nancy and Michael – but by President Bush and Vice President Cheney.

Perhaps this time Ron Jr. had an excuse – he was preparing for his big speech before the group his father turned his back on more than four decades ago.

posted August 02, 2004 06:45 PM            

So much for Capital Hill Blue

Phil Brennan, NewsMax.com
Tuesday, Aug. 3, 2004

In a statement made Monday to NewsMax.com, Nancy Reagan said she was strongly endorsing President Bush's re-election and rejected a published Internet report that she was not backing his run for a second term.

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.”

Published reports have suggested that Mrs. Reagan was unhappy with President Bush for his opposition to taxpayer-funded stem cell research that kills human embryos, which Mrs. Reagan has supported after her husband’s long bout with Alzheimer’s disease.
Mrs. Reagan’s son Ron spoke last week at the Democratic National Convention. He indicated that his mother supported his speech and that she was unhappy with the Bush administration for its stand on embryonic stem cell research.

Ron Reagan gave an implicit endorsement to the Kerry-Edwards ticket, which supports taxpayer funding of that type of research, when he told his national audience, “Whatever else you do come Nov. 2, I urge you, please, cast a vote for embryonic stem cell research.”

Drake, however, noted in her statement on behalf of Mrs. Reagan, “I think everyone would understand that while she may not agree with the president on every issue, this campaign is more than just one issue – it’s about leadership, and she believes that President Bush is the right man for the job.”

Mrs. Reagan’s statement came on the heels of a report published Friday on the Web site capitolhillblue.com.

That story, headlined "Nancy Reagan to Bush: 'We Don't Support Your Re-Election,'" quoted a “spokesman” for Mrs. Reagan as telling the site, "Mrs. Reagan does not support President Bush’s re-election and neither do most members of the President’s family."

Drake also denied the Web site’s claim that Mrs. Reagan told Republican leaders she wanted nothing to do with the party or President Bush, or that she "went ballistic" when she learned the Bush campaign was test marketing ads that used Reagan’s photos and speeches in an effort to show he supported Bush and his re-election.

Capitolhillblue.com also claimed that Mrs. Reagan called Republican Party chief Ed Gillespie to demand the ads be destroyed.

“The quote that appeared in Capitol Hill Blue is incorrect,” Drake said on behalf of Mrs. Reagan. “Further, I do not know where the information came from [indicating that] the former first lady went ballistic when she read the Bush campaign was test marketing new ads. She did not speak to Ed Gillespie on the telephone and demand the ads be destroyed ...”

posted August 02, 2004 07:47 PM              

Jwhop! How is a dumb person like me, supposed to know where to go to get accurate news on the internet??? That newsmax place where you always go, right?

Y'know I'm gonna 'fess up to you, that I'm a "Johnny come lately" to this whole political scene...so I'm kinda brave charging in here with all these "heavy weight" intellectuals, who write so well, and speak so well, (think so well), and who are no doubt holding all kinds of college degrees....(I think it's my Mars in the first house...makes me kinda inpulsive/daring/Aries-like....)

It will probably surprise you to know that I've only voted three times in my life....I did it the first time I was old enough to vote.....and then in the last two presidential elections.......there was a big space in between when I was too involved in my personal life to care a heck of a whole lot who was running the country or how they were running it...(yeah, that's pretty selfish and maybe kinda stewpid!)

My oldest son who has a Master's Degree, majored in Political Science and it was he who actually picqued my interest in it and got me involved for which I am really thankful. However, I am still "fairly new" at this and I hain't got no degrees at all! Fact is I'm lucky to be holding a high school diploma (considering I dropped out of high school at age l6).....I did drum up the ambition to go back for that there diploma tho. So ya gotta ya gotta love me for "Rushing in where Angels fear to tread."....Okay Jose? eeer I mean Ricky?

Anywayz (as they say now days), I'm prolly gonna goof up once't in a while, but ya gotta give me credit for bravery....

posted August 02, 2004 10:54 PM              

My favorite information site is www.drudgereport.com I know a lot of political officials use that place. It has minute to minute update, it's also very exclusive. It's not partisan, so that makes it very good.

posted August 03, 2004 12:41 PM            

Can you "prove" the cow DIDN'T jump over the Moon?

Can you "prove" John Kerry is NOT an agent of a foreign power?

posted August 03, 2004 02:38 PM              

But I'll go along.

Bush is a dull-witted, religious fanatic-type pawn.

Please disprove.

MIchael Reagan is a petty, insecure, jealous little man.

posted August 03, 2004 03:28 PM            

Enjoy your errand/journey and I'll save a nice dram of Drambouie for you when you return.

posted August 03, 2004 05:25 PM              

I won't let you get lost. We'll leave breadcrumbs on the trail. No worries.

BTW I believe with all my heart that the cow did jump over the moon. If you are truly contemplating the meaning of the Universe this is a fine place to start.
I am open to the possibility that Sen Kerry is the agent of a foreign power. Whether or not he is aware of this I can't say and I admit it would be much harder to prove.

posted August 03, 2004 07:27 PM            

So, you will protect me and see that I don't get lost on our journey? Bread crumbs are a good idea but I think we would soon have a flock of birds, chipmunks and other critters eating them as fast as we drop them. OK, I'll try to be brave.

As for Kerry, actual proof he is an agent of a foreign power would be hard to come by short of a confession. It can be inferred from the range and scope of his actions over the years which taken as a whole paint the picture. There are lots of people in jail, convicted of crime with circumstantial evidence that was far less strong than the case I could make against Kerry.