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.
Nancy Reagan
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.”
Posted by marc at July 30, 2004 04:38 PM | TrackBackWonder what the hardcore ditto heads and monkeys are going to call her. I wouldn't put beneath them to call her name. Pickin on an old lady....
Posted by: charlie chingas at July 31, 2004 05:37 PMPlease don't forget the late Maureen Reagan who, like Michael, was adopted during the Wyman years. Maureen was ten times the talk show host that Michael ever could be.
Don't suppose you are interested in a retraction by any chance, are you?
"Former first lady Nancy Reagan supports Bush re-election
JEFF WILSON, Associated Press Writer
Tuesday, August 3, 2004"
Perkel is again exposed in yet another set of lies.
Nancy Reagan supports Bush and is considering campaigning for him.
If you buy any of Perkel's lies, you deserve to continue to be spoon fed even more.
Depends on how your read the title. I believe this is more spin. Quote from the article:
' Reagan has limited her public appearances since the death of her husband two months ago. She will not attend the Republican National Convention in New York later this month, but the former first lady hasn't ruled out campaigning for Bush, according to Drake.
"She's taking it one day at a time right now. We'll see," Drake said. "She will certainly want to help but there are no plans right now." '
She hasn't ruled out campaiging for Bush, she will want to help, but there are no plans right now? The whole article contradicts itself. And it's mostly about stem cell research. Yeah the title and what the spokeswoman says, but then that quote i place contradicts that... Bring it on...
Posted by: charlie chingas at August 4, 2004 10:09 AMAh.... not quite Charlie, here is the quote from USA today. She supports W. I certainly dont blame her if she decides not to go to the convention. She just lost her husband, she is frail. NY is going to be a zoo. She can do whatever she wants. God bless Ronald Reagan, God Bless Nancy.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Former first lady Nancy Reagan, who opposes President Bush's policy on limiting embryonic stem cell research, is backing the Republican's re-election bid.
"The campaign is certainly about more than one issue," said spokeswoman Joanne Drake, who described Reagan on Tuesday as in "full and complete support of President Bush's candidacy."
http://usatoday.com/news/politicselections/nation/president/2004-08-03-nancy-reagan-bush_x.htm
hey libster, all you did was send the same info, different link. until i personally here her say i support the president, well, u know the rest. better luck next time..
Posted by: charlie chingas at August 19, 2004 02:15 PMWow, is she a fliflopper. She just married a man that became President, who else is she? Just a spendthrift, a control person that tried constantly to sway her husband. If she had not married him she would just be another old wrinkled B film star sitting in a small rental in Hollywood. She is senile as he was.
Posted by: annie anderson at August 23, 2004 11:07 AM