Close-up
Some in GOP wince over Ron Reagan's planned speech

By Faye Fiore
Los Angeles Times

Ron Reagan is aware some will say he is being used.

E-mail this article Print this article Search archive Most read articles Most e-mailed articles

Related stories Threat of terrorism overshadows political parties' summer bashes

Ron Reagan, 46, the former president's younger son, plans to deliver a five- to eight-minute address at the Democratic National Convention to endorse embryonic-stem-cell experiments, research some believe his father would have opposed but which his mother supports.

Affronted Republicans moved to discredit the famously renegade son, who often disagreed with his family's politics and is an outspoken critic of President Bush. "I think his speech is a cute little story for convention coverage, but I don't think it's the sort of thing that will influence any voters," said Gary Bauer, a conservative activist and domestic-policy adviser to President Reagan. Ron Reagan, a registered independent who is critical of both parties, lives in Seattle with Doria, his wife of more than 20 years. He did not respond to requests for an interview but said on MSNBC, for which he is a political commentator, his speech would stick to science and avoid Bush-bashing. "I'm aware that some people will say ... I'm being used by the Democrats. Maybe to some extent that's true. But then, I'm using them, too," he said. Conservatives remember Ron Reagan's affinity for flustering his family, dropping out of Yale in 1976 in a bid to join the Joffrey Ballet, writing articles for Playboy magazine and professing atheism. "He is seen as someone who didn't hesitate to embarrass his family," one conservative leader said. This time, though, the maverick son has his mother's blessing. "She's OK with it," he said last week on MSNBC. "She supports the issue. She's aware, as I am, that there is a political aspect to this, and we need to be careful about that."

The late president's long bout with Alzheimer's, an incapacitating brain disease, helped reconcile the splintered family, which found an unexpected point of concurrence in supporting the research, said former Reagan adviser and family friend Michael Deaver.

Even before Ronald Reagan's death June 5 at 93, Nancy Reagan and her children pressed the urgency of the new science, which involves the destruction of human embryos and faces limits on federal funding imposed by Bush.

Some scientists think the work could lead to treatments for a range of diseases, including Parkinson's, diabetes and Alzheimer's. (Reagan's older son from a previous marriage, Michael, opposes the research.) Republicans sought to invite Nancy Reagan to their convention, but the message came back through family friends that she would decline.

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

E-mail this article

Print this article

Search archive

More nation & world headlines...