Not Your Sweetie

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JUDY WOODRUFF'S INSIDE POLITICS
I
ys until the election, this is INSIDE POLITICS, the place for campaign news.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WOODRUFF: Ron Reagan, the son of the late president and former first lady, Nancy Reagan, has never shied away from controversy. He raised eyebrows at the former president's funeral in california by speaking critically of politicians who he said wear their faith on their sleeves in order to gain political advantage. Well, earlier today, in a wide-ranging conversation, I talked with Ron Reagan, and I started by asking his opinion about the enormous public outpouring in reaction to his father's death.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
Reagan: Well, obviously, a lot of it was just affection for him. So I give some credit to my father. I think also that the funeral came at a moment where it sort of caught the crest of a wave of dissatisfaction and dismay in this country over where some of our government's policies are, particularly involving Iraq.
I mean, you've seen the pictures from Abu Ghraib. We've heard about the memos seeking to, you know, end run the Geneva Convention around torture. And I think that the public was just hungry for somebody that they could feel, you know, unalloyed respect for, a good man. And that was my father.
I think a lot of people don't feel so good about their government right now. And with some justification, I must say.
WOODRUFF: What is it that -- is it the war that bothers you the most, or what? I mean, about what's going on right now.
REAGAN: Well, there are plenty of things to -- to bother anybody, I think. I don't think that any American feels sanguine about seeing their country trying to devise ways to torture enemy combatants. We may not like these people, they may be the enemy, but America is not supposed to be a torturing nation.
So that -- that bothers me. It shames this country. And doing it, and seeking to justify it, endangers the lives of men and women who are over there in Iraq and Afghanistan right now.
There are reasons we signed on to the Geneva Convention, and, you know, the treaties involving torture. We don't want our own people to be tortured. We want to hold the moral high ground that way. And so this has been very disturbing these last few weeks. WOODRUFF: Was it hard for you to be around? I mean, you have been critical of president's policies, President Bush. Was it hard for you to be around him on the day of your father's funeral?
REAGAN: No, not in particular. I -- that -- those days, that week, was for me about my father. It wasn't about anybody else.
So, no, it's not hard for me to be around him. I may not agree with his policies. But I have no personal animus towards him. I don't know the man. He might have found it hard to be around me, I'm not sure.
(LAUGHTER)
WOODRUFF: Well, he -- you know, the people around George W. Bush have compared him to your father. Many of them have said he's much closer to your father than he is to his own father in terms of his politics. What do you think about that?
REAGAN: Well, if you want to make political comparisons, I suppose that's fair enough. They both have an interest in cutting taxes. Although my father realized at a certain point his tax cuts weren't working, and he raised taxes again.
I don't think my father would have gone into Iraq because it was an unnecessary and optional war. We still haven't been told by this government why they were actually doing it, although I'm sure they do have their reasons.
I bridle the comparisons between the two men as men, because from what I've seen, at least -- and again, I don't know Mr. Bush personally -- but from what I've seen, they're just two very different people.
WOODRUFF: The Reverend Jerry Falwell was quoted a couple of days ago, a few days ago, as saying your father really -- or rather that -- yes, that your father served as, you know, as a mentor to George W. Bush, that George W. Bush was a protege.
REAGAN: No, that's not true. My father really didn't know George W. Bush from Adam. He met him, of course. He was the son of his vice president.
WOODRUFF: I want to ask you something about what you said at your father's burial service in California at the library. You started out by saying, "Dad was also a deeply unabashedly religious man." And then here's what you said.
REAGAN: ... but he never made the fatal mistake of so many politicians, wearing his faith on his sleeve to gain political advantage.
WOODRUFF: A lot of people thought you were referring to George W. Bush. Were you?
REAGAN: There was only one person I had on my mind when I delivered that eulogy, and that was my father. I hadn't been watching much TV after that. And -- and so a couple of days later, people told me that this, you know, little storm had erupted in Washington of people saying that I was talking about George W. Bush.
And I didn't really understand it at first. I hadn't mentioned him, of course, by name. I was talking about my father's faith, what it was, and what it was not, which was a political tool in his mind.
Now, people close to Mr. Bush assumed that I must be talking about him. And since they know him better than I do, perhaps I was and I just didn't realize it. I thought that was all very telling, frankly.
WOODRUFF: Do you think they were upset about it? Did -- were people -- did people let you know they were upset about it?
REAGAN: Oh, I heard from other people that there were folks that were saying some -- some things that weren't terribly flattering. But I don't really worry about that. Again, my only concern was doing right by my father. And I hope I did that. You know, I -- the last thing I had on my mind, believe me, was George W. Bush.
WOODRUFF: You have said, Ron Reagan, that you are not a Republican. Were you ever a Republican?
REAGAN: No, I've never joined any political party and have no plans to do so. I'm fully Independent.
WOODRUFF: Why not? Why not be a Republican?
REAGAN: Well, I couldn't join a party that, frankly, tolerates members who are bigots for one thing. Homophobes, racists. You know, there's no way I could be a part of a party like that. Just no way.
WOODRUFF: You've also said, I think, that you did not vote for George W. Bush in 2000. You haven't made secret of that. What are you going to do this year?
REAGAN: I'll vote for the viable candidate who is capable of unseating George W. Bush.
WOODRUFF: And presumably, that's John Kerry.
REAGAN: That's how it looks right now, yes.
WOODRUFF: So John Kerry? I mean...
REAGAN: Well, he would be the viable candidate, yes.
WOODRUFF: What -- what do you think -- I mean, have you talked to your mother about this? Does she -- what does she say about it?
REAGAN: Well, we don't talk about politics all that much, particularly electoral politics. We talk about stem cell research, for instance, embryonic stem cell research, which she's very involved in and I think will continue to be very involved in. This is something she takes very seriously, something I take very seriously, too. And it's shameful this administration has played politics with an issue that is -- you know, this could be the biggest medical breakthrough in history. This could be bigger than antibiotics.
This administration is pandering to the most ignorant segment of our society for votes and throwing up roadblocks to this sort of research. It's absolutely shameful.