pay homage to the guy who installed Bush ll, and with him, 9/11, Iraq War, economic downturn.

No tv either for the lying hypocrite Scalia.

This is the perfect opportunity to show he's the leader of the whole country and appointing the best qualified replacement is his constitutional duty. Let the Grumpy Old Party of spoiled brats whine and politicize and anklebite all they want. Obama is the president everywhere he goes and should always play it classy.

I mean, come on, this is the 21st century. You think the Secret Service doesn't have silver bullets for these occasions?

Thank you, Mr. President!

F... them.

... but I've been a bit constipated lately.

-- Mal

I don't live far...

Four out of the past seven funerals for a Supreme Court justice have either had the president or vice president in attendance.

So not like the first time the president hasn't attended a USSC Justice funeral. Of course the Republicans and some in the MSM will attack him for this.

I won't attack him. Just say ad move for the road we are howing

But Scalia was not Chief Justice. VP will be there to represent the Executive Branch. POTUS owes him nothing.

Well except to the country

This just further divisions and for nothing to gain

If anything, his attendance would be seen as hypocritical and inflammatory.

But whatever. It is getting to the point where this slow pace civil war will have to stop or go hot

Civil war references (even a SuperBowl commercial had the audacity to reference it by word) since bush2 stole the office.

the dems, while less guilty, are not completely without guilt on this one.

sorry, people who are far more neutral than you in this, and observe congress and DC for a living do not agree with you. Sorry, tough, but Dems have a smidgen of responsibility on this one. And one way to show they really mean to end this, is attend a fucking funeral.

This has not one thing to do with scalia. but THE OFFICE he represents.

necessary

He has acted like a true professional and they have acted like traitors, period

who said recently that one of his regrets was the deepening partisanship? Oh wait, that was the president.

You want a hot civil war? Because that is where these slow cold civil wars tend to end up at.

for some, is it.

goes a long way in political capital and good will. Not showing up is not going to look good.

The only reason the President, regardless of party, should not show is if the family made such a request, In which case, Josh Ernst should be a good press secretary and tell us.

This is not compromise, you confuse that, for being the adult in the room.

even after they have said they intend to attack America

During the SOTU - held in the Capitol - there is one cabinet member who is kept in a secure offsite location, in case anything bad happens.

I don't know where this memorial will be, but if it is not in a facility as secure as the Capitol, then it is unlikely that they want Biden and Obama, along with the entire Supreme Court and a shitload of Senators in the same place at the same time.

but in this case you are justifying keeping the President out due to terrarists. By the way, in this case it would be more than just one cabinet member staying away from the funeral.

This is just terrible optics... imo, and helps none when you have a POTUS speaking about partisanship. Ok. Sir. take the first step and be the adult in the room. End pf discussion.

I think this is a huge mistake...

Scalia is worthy of only minimal measures of official respect.

Presidents, no matter personal feeings, must put those to the side.

All that extra security, extra news attention, helicopters hovering while trying to hold a funeral mass?

I know Biden's going, but the VP doesn't create quite the stir the POTUS does.

Able was above, and the snipers were quite cuddly too

If the family requested it, fine. Have Josh Ernst tell us in no uncertain terms

. . .with Obama, and if that's any indication of what would have to happen at a family funeral, i'd just as soon he send his condolences and stay home.

Not that anybody in my family would warrant a presidential visit to a funeral, but i can see it being extremely disruptive.

this is not about Obama, or Scalia, but the offices. And when you have Potus speak two weeks ago partisanship... this looks well... partisan.

Obama is doing the right thing. Scalia doesn't deserve any respect from any black person. Neither did Renquist. Despicable racists.

but respect to the office. I know, this is hardly a point that should be made. But I fear in the current age we are to the point that we are indeed close to a hot civil war. I hope you enjoy it. I know I won't

He stopped attending during the Clinton administration and never attended another one.

And he was hardly alone in that regard. Ginsburg has only attended about half (admittedly in some instances health issues prevented her attendance). The great William O Douglas only attended once in his last ten years on the Court. Stevens attended less than 25 percent of the 30 or so SOTU addresses from 1965 until he left the Court. And Byron White attended two out of the last 25 SOTUs during his time on the Court.

Frankly, given what a partisan clap-happy fest the SOTU has become, I think its best that Supreme Court Justices not attend.

They have become completely partisan where one side stands and cheers and the other sits on their hands.

The Supremes should stay far away from that.

yup, sent to Congress in an envelope and that's it.

It could be released to the media at the same time

It's become a partisan pep rally and the Supremes have no reason to be anywhere near a partisan pep rally.

... I think he should go. If only to show those motherfuckers that he has more class than them.

Also, it would be a big "Fuck you, Fat Tony, I'm still here and you are taking the Big Dirt Nap".

I've always thought Obama's biggest character flaw was NOT being able to say "Fuck You" to the people who truly deserve it.

WWJD.... What would (Lyndon) Johnson do? That fucker almost got me killed, but he sure knew the value of a good "Fuck You."

Nixon attended Earl Warren's funeral even though Warren was anathema to conservatives (remember the "impeach Earl Warren" movement)?

If Nixon could attend Warren's funeral, then Obama should attend Scalia's unless he is expressly and publicly asked not to attend by the family.

And a good man. Scalia was neither.

A sizable portion of the United States thought Scalia was great. A sizable number thought he wasn't. And a sizable number don't know diddly squat about him. The thing is, while the first group might not support Obama, might hate him, he still is the President of all the people, not just those like him or that he likes.

If Obama is going to pay his respects by going to the wake, then the argument that Scalia doesn't deserve the President's respect falls apart.

As for Scalia being an associate justice, he was the senior member of the Court. And one day after the President gives remarks decrying the level of partisanship in the country is not the time to be skipping an opponent's funeral.

Warren wasn't good to right-wingers for the same mirror of a reason. But some look past political differences.

http://bluenationreview.com/justice-scalia-calls-notorious-rbg-almost-always-correct/

Fat Tony didn't pull a Harry Lime.

Only way to be sure.

like in "Charade."

trick to get all our bestest patriots in one place. So he can then swoop in with his Black Panthers Lives Matter goons and lock them all up in the Planned Parenthood ACORN camps.

would be playing golf at the time of the funeral. I hope not. The optics of that would be bad.

three days from now.

And giving a press conference decrying partisanship in DC and then playing golf at the time of the funeral of the senior member of the Court, even one who was your "opponent", sends a very muddled message.

And Obama attended Walter Cronkite's funeral.

Again, he doesn't have to. But as I've said, if you want to be taken seriously when you decry partisanship, you better make it clear that there is good reason for not attending the funeral of an opponent. Otherwise you simply leave yourself open for criticism that you say one thing and do another. It's bad politics, that's all.

The Pickney funeral was held at a sports arena that held 5500 people. The Scalia funeral is being held at a church that holds half that many and that has been used for high profile events attended by the President and/or other dignitaries numerous times and is used to dealing with security. Plus the Pickney funeral was open to the public -first come, first served. The Scalia funeral is invitation only.

And there is no reason that both Obama and Biden can't attend. They both attended Robert Byrd's funeral and undoubtedly Biden was closer to Byrd, having served with him from 1973 to 2010. Obama, who only served with Byrd for around four years, attended as sign of respect for a senior Senator not a close personal friend.

Again the point here is political tone-deafness. The repubs have overreached and have been put on the defensive for being so overtly partisan with respect to the Court. Under the circumstances, the smart political strategy is go above and beyond and attend the funeral. The point is to disarm the opposition. Instead, by skipping the funeral (and leaving the impression he might be golfing instead, whether or not that turns out to be true), Obama has allowed the conversation to change -- something that anyone could foresee happening.

you do not decry partisanship and then duck this funeral. It is not because you respect, or not, the Justice who just passed. It is becuase of the office he represented.

I'm sure the RW is a thousand times more critical than any DUr. The poor guy can't do anything without being criticized.

to impede his leadership Including speaking out in public against his policies and legislative agenda

Fuck Scalia Let the Freepers morn their fake genious

The news produced a thread with 162 posts on FR

Not bad but not epic

Executive ability is deciding quickly and getting somebody else to do the work.

~~~~~~~Earl Nightingale

I applaud Obama's decision.

I couldn't give two shits.

And Bush was out of office for a year.

I don't know, nothing really.
How about going to Scalia's funeral?
Dang it! well, ok.

What would Republicans do? They couldn't impeach him, since it's not a high crime.

Too many not polite folk out there to jeer and yell -- and a few media folk to scream questions.

you just know Obama thought Scalia was a racist asshole

Why should he go to the funeral.

didn't particularly like the son of a bitch.

I don't blame him.

Every time I hear any mention of Scalia's passing, I feel lighthearted and optimistic. He was nasty and hateful.

Why in the world should Obama be expected to honor this vile sack of shit now that he's dead?