NEWS DECEMBER 04, 2018 Commentary: Media reactions to Bush's death reflect a lack of basic respect

[WestVirginiaRebel]

The Blaze

It didn't take long after the passing of former President George H.W. Bush for some media organizations to begin pointing out the flaws of his life and legacy.

The Associated Press, hours after news of Bush's passing broke, posted a tweet that omitted Bush's military service but notably emphasized the fact that he was voted out of office after one term amid a struggling economy. The organization later deleted and apologized for the tweet.

The next day, New York Magazine took the opportunity of Bush's death to update and republish a Nov. 14, 2017 article titled "Beware the Bush Family Image-Rehab Machine." The magazine tweeted the article out Saturday with the succinct caption "The case against George H.W. Bush."

And Sunday, HuffPost published "The Media is Erasing George H.W. Bush's Catastrophic Harm to LGBTQ People."

My opposition to these examples is not that I don't respect and support the rights of the authors to express these opinions. I don't believe they should pretend to agree with or even like Bush just because he recently died.

I do, however, maintain a (possibly naive) view that when someone dies, you show them some respect by either saying something kind or comforting, or refraining from saying anything if you don't have anything good to say. The news of a former president's death shouldn't send you to your computer to publish your best takedown of his life.

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The media just can't help themselves...