Nancy Says No

Will the only Reagan at a political convention this summer be Ron the younger at the Dem Convention?

Skippy, through a reader, points us to this piece in the New York Daily News:

much to the dismay of the bush campaign, nancy reagan has just said no to appearing at the republican national convention next month.

gop strategists had hoped the former first lady and hollywood actress would make a cameo appearance onstage after a video tribute to her late husband, particularly after her bush-bashing son, ron, agreed to speak at the democratic convention last night…

gop sources, meanwhile, confirmed his mother will not be at their aug. 30-sept. 2 convention - and some speculated her son might be behind the snub.

"i do not expect her at our convention but she knows she is welcome," republican national committee chairman ed gillespie told reporters here yesterday.

"if all of you might just keep in mind for a moment the year that mrs. reagan has had and be a little understanding of that, i think that would be appreciated by the public and, i suspect, by mrs. reagan," gillespie added.

republican officials refrained from publicly criticizing nancy reagan for the no-show. privately, however, some were upset as well as disappointed by the decision, which has been known to the white house for some time.

"i don't think she could have missed the symbolic significance of her son going to their convention and her not going to ours," a senior gop official told the daily news.

a downcast senior gop official confirmed nancy reagan had never committed to appearing at the convention, but was nevertheless dubious of the official explanation…

"the 'not feeling up to it' line is bull----," the official said. "something happened in the last month, and whatever it was was real."

No, I don't think Nancy misses much either. But I don't think - Poppy Bush's tears at the funeral aside - that the Reagans were ever enamored of the Bushes, and certainly not George the Lesser.