http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=584&e=1&u=/nm/20040607/pl_nm/reagan_bush
_eulogy_dc
Well, here's the first of what undoubtedly will be many efforts to use the positive vibes most Americans feel about Reagan to counter the increasing case of the willies with which Chimp-in-Chief has infected the people.
It should be interesting to watch (though undoubtedly stomach-turning as well). Reagan and Clinton were great Empathizers-in-Chief who had the gift of making people feel personally connected; Bush is more than occasionally incoherent and in a lifetime of having others do for him. So I don't know if he's equipped to pull this off.
I'm sure Rove imagines this as the great symbolic moment of inheritance, in which the modern incarnation of Reagan takes the crown from the dead king's head and places it atop his own. But Reagan made his political career by sellilng hope; Bush sells fear and selfishness. I'm not sure that crown will fit.
Oh yeah, one other thing: in terms of politicizing death, this makes the Wellstone memorial look like utter nothing. What did you expect from this crowd?