Reply #36: Past practice has been for the president to attend one official funeral

[beaconess]

Not EVERY SINGLE state funeral. In fact, attending more than one service would probably give the appearance of grandstanding and not be well-received either by the family or the public.

Bush did not attend all of Reagan's services - like the Ford funeral, he attended only the National Cathedral service, but not the Capitol service.

Nixon had one state funeral, in California. Clinton attended that one.

Lyndon Johnson had two official services in Washington and another funeral in Texas. Nixon attended one of them.

Bush is being very consistent with past practice. Moreover, there's no reason to think that Ford's family is offended - or that they even want Bush at every service. If I were Ford's family, one Bush appearance in this painful time would be more than enough.