So much for that

I didn't watch a single minute of the Reagan ceremonies. All that state-funeral stuff is probably useful when a President dies in office, because people are dealing with the shock. But when a guy dies of Alzheimer's, everyone's dealt with him dying a long time before he actually goes. Therefore the extensive coverage -- not "wall to wall" like this guy complains, but extensive enough -- was simply the Republicans showing off. Fox news, of course, jacked off on the casket all week long; most other news outlets had at least a token number of stories reminding people that Reagan had not actually, when president, been universally loved.

Of course, Reagan's death couldn't have happened at a better time. The absolute worst time, of course, would have been right before the Democratic Convention -- instead of the Democrats getting a free ride for a week, they would have had to share screen space with the funeral. Now that would have been a media disaster. Second worst time would have been anytime during the two months before the election.

But in early June, we get it out of the way. Kerry loses a week, but has plenty of time to make it up. It didn't overshadow the reports from the 9/11 commission or the committee investigating Abu Ghraib, both of which are due out this summer. In short, nobody will be thinking about Reagan by the time the Democrats meet in Boston.