Taking On Tragedy With Class

To the Dems who say that Pres. Bush is manipulating the message regarding the war, exploiting 9/11 and the servicemen, consider this from the WashTimes about the president's three hours of meetings with families of the fallen prior to his Tuesday Ft. Bragg speech:

Before his speech, as is his custom, the president met for three hours with more than 90 spouses, children and parents of 32 soldiers killed in Operation Iraqi Freedom. The last person he met was Mrs. Owen [whose husband, Staff Sgt. Mike Owen, was killed in action in Iraq last year].

"Even though he'd met with 31 other families prior to me, it was like I was the only one -- I mean, he made me feel special," she told The Washington Times yesterday. "He wanted to know about Mike and about me and if I was OK.

"I did get teary-eyed and he kind of held my hands for a while," she added. "He was very sincere and gave me a kiss on the cheek as he left -- I was a little flabbergasted."

The only other people in the room were two Secret Service agents and a photographer for the White House, which declined to release photos.

Mr. Bush has always barred press coverage of his meetings with family members of fallen soldiers.

Somehow, I can't see President Clinton or John Kerry behaving in such a tasteful manner.