Why all the over-the-top mourning for President Ford?

[TigerVols]

Good heavens, the media and the gov't are acting like George Washington died...Flags at half-mast for days, Wall Street shut down -- along with the gov't for an impromptu paid holiday -- on Tuesday, body lying (laying?) in state in an unprecedented two locations in the Capital; the LA Times has run huge front page stories about Ford again and again...Isn't this overkill for a man who was never elected to national office?

Did we do all this for Reagan?

 

[Starman]

Good heavens, the media and the gov't are acting like George Washington died...Flags at half-mast for days, Wall Street shut down -- along with the gov't for an impromptu paid holiday -- on Tuesday, body lying (laying?) in state in an unprecedented two locations in the Capital; the LA Times has run huge front page stories about Ford again and again...Isn't this overkill for a man who was never elected to national office?

Did we do all this for Reagan?

Yeah, about 1,000 times over.

 

[zeke12]

Oh, yeah.

It was way more than this for Reagan.

We might take it over the top, but it's how we honor our leaders.

 

[Double J]

The body is lying in state. In the Capitol with an "o."

And who cares that he was never elected to national office? He was the President of the United States just the same as if he had won all 50 states in the Electoral College in '76.

 

[Football_Bat]

I don't detect over-mourning at all. The established protocol is flags fly at half-staff for 30 days after the passing of any president. Even Nixon got that. (Reagan's was cut short because of the July 4 holiday, IIRC.) As for the LAT, it's a local story for them because he lived in SoCal and the first memorial is in Palm Desert.

 

[Armchair_QB]

Until Reagan's death the only presidents who had passed away in my lifetime were LBJ and Nixon. I was a kid when LBJ died so I don't remember what was done at that time but Nixon, for obvious reasons, did not receive the state funeral that goes with a former president's passing.

For anybody under 40, Reagan's funeral was the first presidential state funeral they've ever seen. This is how we honor our presidents. Carter, Bush, Clinton and Bush will receive the same treatment unless they specify otherwise in their wills.

Along with being a president, Ford was also a congressman, which is why he is lying in state in two locations at the Capitol.

 

[Fenian_Bastard]

Good heavens, the media and the gov't are acting like George Washington died...Flags at half-mast for days, Wall Street shut down -- along with the gov't for an impromptu paid holiday -- on Tuesday, body lying (laying?) in state in an unprecedented two locations in the Capital; the LA Times has run huge front page stories about Ford again and again...Isn't this overkill for a man who was never elected to national office?

Did we do all this for Reagan?

Are you serial?
Reagan's was a weeklong passion play that carried over into the RNC in NYC.
This is a combination of a) the slowest news week of the year, b) the Woodward interview, and c) the sudden recollection that Republican politicians were not always insane.
AQB -- LBJ's was pomp, but very little circumstance and, of course, there was no 24-hour news cycle to feed, but I recall decently sized network coverage. The other ones I remember being covered widely from my youth -- outside of JFK's which was sui generis -- were Eisenhower's and (oddly) Churchill's, which got extensive coverage in the states.

 

[crimsonace]

Nixon could have had the state funeral, but declined in his will (for obvious reasons).

 

[21]

there was no 24-hour news cycle to feed,

Next question?

(Not trivializing the honors due a late president, but in the days of 3 networks and get-up-to-change-the-channel viewing, you wouldn't get 24 hour coverage of this...but hey, still better than more Hillary predictions...)

 

[Fenian_Bastard]

Nixon could have had the state funeral, but declined in his will (for obvious reasons).

Nixon still got the huge coverage and the attendance of all the living Ex's, and a speech from Bill Clinton.

 

[Armchair_QB]

Nixon could have had the state funeral, but declined in his will (for obvious reasons).

Nixon still got the huge coverage and the attendance of all the living Ex's, and a speech from Bill Clinton.

He didn't lie in state in D.C. though. Or if he did I don't remember it.

 

[D-Backs Hack]

In a related development, the first "Watergate was nothing compared to what Bill Clinton put this country through!" letter appeared on my rag's opinion page.

So if you had Friday in the pool, you won!

 

[Fenian_Bastard]

Nixon could have had the state funeral, but declined in his will (for obvious reasons).

Nixon still got the huge coverage and the attendance of all the living Ex's, and a speech from Bill Clinton.

He didn't lie in state in D.C. though. Or if he did I don't remember it.

Nope.
Strictly a Cali thang.
(Jim Rome covers the president's funeral.)

 

[Armchair_QB]

Nixon could have had the state funeral, but declined in his will (for obvious reasons).

Nixon still got the huge coverage and the attendance of all the living Ex's, and a speech from Bill Clinton.

He didn't lie in state in D.C. though. Or if he did I don't remember it.

Nope.
Strictly a Cali thang.
(Jim Rome covers the president's funeral.)

That's what I thought.

 

[Fenian_Bastard]

I'm out.

 

[Armchair_QB]

I'm out.

Of what?

 

[Fenian_Bastard]

...patience with the people running the Executive branch.

 

[Armchair_QB]

I really teed that up for you, didn't I?

Consider it a belated birthday present.

 

[DyePack]

...patience with the people running the Executive branch.

That's news.

Why don't you start a thread about it? That would be new, too.

 

[zeke12]

Ummm, Dye?

People who live in glass DESIGNED houses might not want to throw stones.

Just saying.