June 8, 2004
LINCOLNESQUE:
100,000, One by One, Pay Tribute to a President (JOHN M. BRODER and CHARLIE LeDUFF, 6/09/04, NY Times)
They waited through the night in a chilly community college parking lot for the chance to shuffle in silence past the coffin of former President Ronald Reagan at his hilltop library here on Tuesday.One by one by one they came, perhaps 100,000 Americans by the end of the evening, offering tribute to a president they felt they knew. [...]
Because of the large crowds and the traffic, officials extended the planned viewing hours to 10 p.m. from 6 p.m. on Tuesday. Officers began turning away cars arriving at the Moorpark College staging area at 6 p.m. because of the long wait for shuttle buses to the library.
"For the small amount of time that we had to execute and launch this, it has really gone smoothly," said Gary Foster, who served in the Reagan White House in the communications department and was acting as a volunteer press officer at the library this week. "It has been really almost flawless, considering that we're bringing 100,000 people up to a mountaintop with almost no parking."
The Ronald Reagan Freeway, which runs through Simi Valley, was clogged Monday afternoon and evening, with delays of up to four hours. On Tuesday morning, freeway signs and radio traffic reports warned of eight-hour delays in reaching the library. Possibly because of that, traffic on the freeway had diminished by midday and was moving smoothly, though there were still significant backups to reach the college parking lot.
Steve McElliott, 60, of Los Angeles spent the night in the parking lot line, but said the 12-hour trip from his home was no hardship.
"I did it out of respect for the man," Mr. McElliott said. `I voted for him four times,` twice for California governor and twice for president.
He said he met Mr. Reagan in 1976, when he went to the Reagans' house in the Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles to repair his telephone lines. Mr. Reagan was standing in the driveway with a gun, taking aim at some squirrels on the roof that were making a racket. `He told me, 'Don't worry, it's not for you, it's only buckshot,'.` Mr. McElliott said.
Who was the last political leader to elicit this kind of response in death? Ayatollah Khomeini? Posted by Orrin Judd at June 8, 2004 11:50 PM
Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin ?
From the Moscow Times, Mar. 23, '04:
"About 200,000 mourners poured out their grief in a funeral procession for Yassin and the other dead. It was the biggest show of support for a Palestinian leader since Yasser Arafat's triumphant entry into the Gaza Strip in 1994.
"Sharon, start preparing your body bags because [Hamas'] Qassam Brigades will [...] make a funeral in every Israeli street," the crowd chanted.
Eyes burning with tears and rage, mourners reached to touch Yassin's Islamic-flag-draped coffin. The flags of Palestinian factions flapped in the wind in a stark and dusty cemetery.
A barrage of homemade Hamas rockets roared out of Gaza toward Israeli targets..."
Posted by: Michael Herdegen at June 9, 2004 12:18 AMThere you go--only religious leaders.
Posted by: oj at June 9, 2004 12:29 AMThe reported descriptions (confirmed by friends of mine) evoked 'Field of Dreams' . . . stop-and-go headlights as far as the eye could see from both directions on a California freeway.
Posted by: Fred Jacobsen (San Fran) at June 9, 2004 1:51 AMAmericans are as susceptible to worship of cult figures as anyone else,fortunately,we require them to be dead first,then we worship.
Posted by: at June 9, 2004 9:00 AMIn the Capitol Rotunda, Reagan's casket will rest on the same simple pine catafalque that Lincoln's was placed upon.
Posted by: M.Murcek at June 9, 2004 9:46 AMThanks, Mr. Murcek, I was wondering that very same thing. That's the same catafalque that held JFK, Garfield and McKinley, isn't it?
Now, are there going to be six jolly cowboys to carry his coffin and six damsell maidens to bear up his pall? Seems fitting for the old cowboy.
Posted by: Governor Breck at June 9, 2004 10:00 AMThough while going back into Usenet for the first time in months, I found another hotbed of hatred for Reagan:
alt.fan.furry, where proud welfare bums like "MHirtes" and perpetual students like "Timmy Ramone" are having a continous orgasm over Reagan's death.
Posted by: Ken at June 9, 2004 1:00 PMKen:
Apparently MHirtes, lil' Timmy, and the like are unaware that Reagan's death, and the accompanying fanfare and reminiscing, will only serve to remind Americans what they liked about Reagan's years as President, and rouse perhaps dormant ideas and convictions.
In an election year, no less, only a few months from casting votes.
Assuming that MHirtes, lil' Timmy et al. are big Kerry fans, (or big Bush despisers), they'd have been better off if Reagan had instead made a miraculous recovery from Alzheimer's.
Posted by: Michael Herdegen at June 9, 2004 1:30 PMKen:
alt.fan.furry? Yikes! I know just enough about "furries" to know that I don't want to know any more...
Posted by: mike earl at June 9, 2004 1:45 PM