RSU,
“Many consider him a great president, but there are news stories out there that ought not be bumped so that news stations can show every freaking minute of the processions.”
New stories, such as? We have innumerable news stations. It may be fair to say there isn’t enough news to go around to fill them all.
And besides, you should have watched the LBJ state funeral offered up on C-SPAN. Though there wasn’t the multitude of media we have now, the event was just as prominent.
Again, supply and demand rule here. Were people watching the processions? Did people want to watch the events on television or participate in person? Damn right they did, and the media followed suit.
“However irrelevant that little comment is, my point was that the Bush campaign will, I suspect, attempt to capitalize off Reagan’s death.”
And my point was that Democrats would do the same if in a similar position. In fact, given the Democratic party’s continued flirtations with shrillness and polarization, I suspect that they’d put any Republican capitalization of Reagan’s passing to shame - witness Wellstone’s funeral.
“Winning one for the Gipper” in 2004 wouldn’t be exploitation of a dead man - it shows his impact even beyond his death. When a statesman dies, people rediscover what they admired about the individual - and so they may become even more enthusiastic about getting other people to vote. The untimely death of JFK had a similar effect.
Btw, Reagan is buried and we are back to normal. Maybe now we can get some good journalism going now that Reagan has been interred - perhaps some of those oppressed stories, like a full report on the MTV Movie Awards.