WWW- Ronald Reagan’s son harshly criticized the Bush White House for invoking religion and his father’s name to justify the Iraq war and scoffed, “They’re no Ronald Reagans.”
Ron Reagan, the late President’s son, unloaded on President Bush and his advisers to NBC’s Chris Matthews in an interview that aired last night on “Dateline.”
Reagan was asked about the ambiguous comments he made at his father’s funeral, criticizing politicians who wear their faith on their sleeves.
“What I find interesting about it is that everybody assumes that I must be talking about George W. Bush, which I find fascinating and somewhat telling. If the shoe fits . . .,” Reagan said.
“I think he’s used religion to make his case for – for a lot of things, including Iraq,” he said later.
Reagan said he also resented White House efforts to draw parallels between Reagan and Bush.
“I would observe that my father never felt the need to wrap himself in anybody else’s mantle. He never felt the need to pretend to be anybody else. . . .
“This is their administration. This is their war. If they can’t stand on their own two feet, well, they’re no Ronald .Reagans, that’s for sure,” he fumed.
Reagan lashed out at Bush’s refusal to expand the use of embryonic cell research.
“For the federal government, for this administration, to stand in its way just to pander to people who, well-meaning as they may be, are, I think, ignorant of the facts, is just unconscionable to me,” he said.
“There’s no downside to this. There’s no real moral problem here. We’re talking about cells in a petri dish, not creatures with brains and spinal cords and fingers and toes.”
White House spokeswoman Jeanie Mamo avoided a confrontation, saying, “The President was honored to be asked to give the eulogy at President Reagan’s funeral last week and his thoughts and prayers remain with Mrs. .Reagan and the family.”
On stem cell research, she said Bush “continues to believe strongly that we should not cross a fundamental moral line by funding or encouraging the destruction of human embryos.”