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Falwell Funeral Fails to Draw Top Republicans
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ShareMay 22, 2007 2:52 PM
ABC News' Steven Portnoy Reports: Republican presidential campaigns raced to express their candidates' sympathies for the death of Rev. Jerry Falwell a week ago Tuesday, but not one could fit Falwell's funeral into their candidate's schedule.
While former Virginia governor and Sen. George Allen R-Va., came to pay his respects with his wife, the most prominent current Republican office holder in attendance at the Thomas Road Baptist Church was probably Virginia's attorney general, Bob McDonnell.
The White House sent Tim Goeglein, Special Assistant to the President and Deputy Director of Public Liaison, a mid-level aide who deals on behalf of the White House with special interest groups.
Goeglein, who said he last spoke with Falwell a month and a half ago, called the former Moral Majority leader a "great friend of this administration" and "a force of nature."
"On behalf of all of us in the Bush-Cheney White House, please know that we are holding you up in prayer, that we hold the Falwell family in very high regard," Goeglein said. "I have to say that in all my time in the White House, I have never met a man who loved God and country more than Jerry Falwell."
Goeglein ended his remarks by noting that he had recently informed Falwell of his lasting impact on the Bush administration.
"I was very pleased and honored to tell Jerry that Liberty University had come to the White House, that young men and women whom he had trained up had joined us as interns and staff. So, a man of vision has seen a vision fulfilled," Goeglein said.
The White House aide offered no explanation for Mr. Bush's absence. The president had no public events on his schedule Tuesday.
President Bush's image was notably missing from a photo montage of past Republican chief executives with whom Falwell had met. Mourners saw the reverend with Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush. That last photograph was followed by a shot of Falwell on the set of Fox News' "Hannity and Colmes."
May 22, 2007 in White House | Permalink | User Comments (11)
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The top Republicans can miss this funeral - but they won't win in 2008 without the grass roots conservative support represented by Falwell. True - Falwell had many faults - but he represented what the majority of Americans believe about many concerns within our country. I'm thinking that this may get dormant conservatives to become active to fill this void - maybe me.
Posted by: SarahAmanda | May 22, 2007 4:37:21 PM
Republicans, like secular leaders in Arab countries, have always used Christian zealouts in this country without taking their religious views all that seriously.
Good thing, that.
Posted by: Doug | May 22, 2007 4:45:31 PM
Rev. Falwell preached the truth from a Bible written by God through men. If you don't agree with Rev. Falwell, take it up with God. Rev. Falwell didn't write the rules, God did.
Posted by: Janell | May 22, 2007 5:33:01 PM
Rev. Falwell preached the truth from a Bible written by God through men. If you don't agree with Rev. Falwell, take it up with God. Rev. Falwell didn't write the rules, God did.
Posted by: Janell | May 22, 2007 5:34:09 PM
Why not talk about the 15,000 who did attend todays funeral? Why not talk about the good that this man did for our country? Jerry was a good father, husband, and friend.
Posted by: rememberourfriend | May 22, 2007 7:13:32 PM
ABC has a error in this story. They say that George Bush's photo was not included in a photo montage of people that Jerry Falwell had met. Indeed his photo was included several times. I was at the funeral. THE PHOTO MISSING WAS OF JERRY WITH JIMMY CARTER (whom he did meet with)BUT OF COURSE THE PURE HEARTED CARTER DID SAY THAT HE WOULD NOT MIND IF JERRY WENT TO HELL. Guess he was sore because Jerry helped Reagan beat Mr. Carter.
Posted by: rememberourfriend | May 22, 2007 7:19:09 PM
We should remember Jerry's sermon in 1958: God made blacks to serve whites.
Posted by: Jim Jordan | May 22, 2007 7:51:08 PM
"Rev. Falwell preached the truth from a Bible written by God through men. If you don't agree with Rev. Falwell, take it up with God. Rev. Falwell didn't write the rules, God did."
No, Rev. Falwell preached the truth according to Rev. Falwell. Anything that contradicted his very un-Christ-like agenda, even the Bible itself, he just ignored. The "good" Reverend was not about saving souls, he was about imposing his personal will on America and pretending that his will and God's were one and the same.
Posted by: Cal | May 23, 2007 3:16:08 AM
Talk about the good this man did? What good. That the people that Jesus would have most likely embraced, he created a movement against.
Good ridance to a public menace.
Posted by: Vet_SK | May 23, 2007 11:40:07 AM
"but he represented what the majority of Americans believe about many concerns within our country."
And that is exactly why this country is sliding down the tubes. His brand of "morality" was founded on bigotry and hatred.
Posted by: Bo Vandy | May 24, 2007 11:26:31 AM
Enjoy the hell.
Posted by: nal | May 24, 2007 1:06:00 PM
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