Democrats at Funerals: A History of Bad Manners

It should come as no surprise that Democrats at the King funeral have such poor manners. After all, there is a history of inappropriate behavior by Democrats at funerals.

I repost this example from the July edition of Mike's America:

The sheer arrogance of liberals nevers fails to amaze me! We all know that most of them are against the war in Iraq, or a broader sense, oppose just about anything and everything that President Bush supports as effective means in the war on terror (or anything else for that matter).

But for a Pennsylvania statewide elected official to crash a funeral and tell family members that her state government is opposed to the war, basically telling them that their brother, their son, their father, their uncle died in vain has to be the height of arrogance on a new scale.

All I can say to my readers in Pennsylvania is that you are making elected officials in my former home state of Ohio look good by comparison.

Thanks to J.R. at Talk Show American for bringing this to my attention.

From the Pittsburgh Post Gazette: The family of a Marine who was killed in Iraq is furious with Lt. Gov. Catherine Baker Knoll for showing up uninvited at his funeral this week, handing out her business card and then saying 'our government' is against the war according to Rhonda Goodrich of Indiana, Pa. The funeral for her brother-in-law, Staff Sgt. Joseph Goodrich, 32, was held Tuesday at a church in Carnegie She said he 'died bravely and courageously in Iraq on July 10, serving his country.'

In a phone interview, Goodrich said the funeral service was packed with people 'who wanted to tell his family how Joe had impacted their lives.' Then, suddenly, 'one uninvited guest made an appearance, Catherine Baker Knoll.'

She sat down next to a Goodrich family member and, during the distribution of communion, said, 'Who are you?' Then she handed the family member one of her business cards, which Goodrich said she still has.

'Knoll felt this was an appropriate time to campaign and impose her will on us,' Goodrich said. 'I am amazed and disgusted Knoll finds a Marine funeral a prime place to campaign.' Goodrich said she is positive that Knoll was not invited to the funeral,
which was jammed with Marines in dress uniform and police officers, because the fallen Marine had been a policeman in McKeesport and Indiana County.

"Our family deserves an apology," Rhonda Goodrich said. "Here you have a soldier who was killed -- dying for his country -- in a church full of grieving family members and she shows up uninvited. It made a mockery of Joey's death."

What really upset the family, Goodrich said, is that Knoll said, 'I want you to know our government is against this war,' " Goodrich said.

She said she is going to seek an answer from Gov. Ed Rendell's administration if it opposes the fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.

As might be expected, the original story generated quite a bit of heat on Pennsylvania Lt. Governor Knoll, who, along with Governor Rendell seemed to bend over backwards to apologize. Knoll claimed that passing out her business cards was not campaigning, but family members wondered why the Lt. Governor was holding television interviews outside the funeral home. Knoll even admitted that she had attended (you mean CRASHED) "dozens of funerals to offer my sympathy and condolences." In response to her claim that an offer of her business card was meant as a willingness to help the family at a difficult time, a family member had this to say:

"If she wanted to offer the family help, why didn't she go talk to Joey's wife Amy or his parents?" Rhonda Goodrich said. "She handed a card and introduced herself just like a politician handing out fliers." Rhonda Goodrich said Knoll's action showed "a big lack of judgment" and said she should apologize to the Marines also.

As is standard practice for Democrats, who don't apologize for their behavior, merely if you were offended by it, the next step is to suggest that your offense is politically motivated. The Post Gazette is only too happy to help by pointing out that Goodrich is (hold onto your seat)....
A REPUBLICAN!

The Gazette gave FIVE PARAGRAPHS of emphasis to that angle of the story. When was the last time you saw similar identification of a liberal?

The original story never mentions Lt. Gov. Knoll's party identification. The follow-up story only mentions it once in connection with questions over the family's motive.

The message here is that we can completely dismiss the offense of this public official as this controversy is just another example of the vast right wing conspiracy.

Readers are invited to share their thoughts directly with Lt. Governor Knoll by emailing her: lieutenant-governor@state.pa.us. You may also wish to drop the Post Gazette a note to question their slanted reporting on the political affiliation of this bereaved family. Report Tom Barnes: tbarnes@post-gazette.com and Jerome Sherman: jsherman@post-gazette.com.

And as expected: Should anyone dare to complain about the conduct of a Democrat at a funeral, the story line will be the political motivation of those who complain rather than the offensive behavior.

Chalk up another difference between the conduct, style and tone between Republicans and Democrats!