This lady has just got to go:
The family of a Marine who was killed in Iraq is furious with Lt. Gov. Catherine Baker Knoll for showing up uninvited at his funeral this week, handing out her business card and then saying “our government” is against the war.
Rhonda Goodrich of Indiana, Pa., said yesterday that a funeral was held Tuesday at a church in Carnegie for her brother-in-law, Staff Sgt. Joseph Goodrich, 32.
She said he “died bravely and courageously in Iraq on July 10, serving his country.”
In a phone interview, Goodrich said the funeral service was packed with people “who wanted to tell his family how Joe had impacted their lives.”
Then, suddenly, “one uninvited guest made an appearance, Catherine Baker Knoll.”
She sat down next to a Goodrich family member and, during the distribution of communion, said, “Who are you?” Then she handed the family member one of her business cards, which Goodrich said she still has.
It gets even better, though. Not only is she showing up to funerals uninvited and passing out business cards:
“Our family deserves an apology,” Rhonda Goodrich said. “Here you have a soldier who was killed — dying for his country — in a church full of grieving family members and she shows up uninvited. It made a mockery of Joey’s death.”
What really upset the family, Goodrich said, is that Knoll said, ‘I want you to know our government is against this war,’ ” Goodrich said.
She said she is going to seek an answer from Gov. Ed Rendell’s administration if it opposes the fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.
This is simply hard to believe. And when did the government of Pennsylvania start making foreign policy decisions?
(h/t Red State)
*** Update ***
Looks like this might not be as cut and dried as previously thought. Google Rhonda Goodrich, and the story takes a bizarre twist.
Mike
Hopefully this will get plenty of play in PA so the folks of that State can get rid of this moonbat and completely destroy her political career for all time.
Halffasthero
Holy cow.
smijer
ConservativeD at Red State is absolutely right. This demands apologies all around, and big, fat resignation. That’s a simply horrid showing from a Lt Governor. Inexcusable.
ppGaz
Bizarre, inappropriate, and indefensible. The woman must be crazy.
W.B. Reeves
If the story turns out to be accurate I’ve no doubt that Knoll will be likely to get the boot come election time. Rightly so. I say “If” because the bare facts are that one person is quoted as making the allegation, no response from Knoll has been obtained and no one else at the funeral is cited as corroborating the sister in law’s account.
Why would the sister in law say it if it were’nt so? I’ve no idea, anymore than I have any idea why a politician would make such an idiotic, ambulance-chasing, career ending play. I do wonder why it’s the sister in law who is making the accusation rather than Goodrich’s blood relations. Perhaps they want to avoid the media spotlight.
Like I said, if it turns out to be true, I think Knoll is toast.
Cliff
WB pre-empted me: This story sounds pretty outrageous. But so far, it’s based on one person’s word. I’d be surprised if a Lt. Gov. was politically tonedeaf enough to show up at a funeral uninvited, hand out business cards unasked for, and express anti-war sentiments apropos of nothing.
Until there’s confirmation from someone other than this one person, I’d keep an open mind on what happened. For all we know, another, anti-war family member invited her there and that’s how this whole brouhaha started.
What am I saying. This is not a *Republican* official, where we would want not only more evidence than a single person’s story but indeed a criminal indictment *and* conviction before demanding their resignation.
My duh.
capelza
Google “Rhonda Goodrich of Indiana, Pa”…(thanks to a post at Tacitus)
If Knoll did indeed do what Ms. Goodrich said, then she needs to go. If Ms. Goodrich is using her family’s tragedy for politicl political partisan reasons, that is another, different and bad thing to do.
My condolences to the family either way.
CaseyL
Rhonda Goodrich, Conservative Op. Well, well, well.
Steve
The article quotes exactly one person. I’m not sure how the sister-in-law gets to be 100% sure who was invited. I’d like to hear the other side of the story.
Gary Farber
My first question is this: was this a private funeral to which guests were invited? Or was it a typical memorial service, announced to the public, invited to all?
The latter, after all, is far and away more common the the former.
If it’s the first, obviously Knoll is 100% at fault. The gall to, indeed, crash a private memorial would be awesome.
But if it’s the latter, matters become far less clear, since a) such misrepresentation would indicate a starting bias on at least the side of the family, whether or not Knoll may also have engaged in unseemly or worse behavior; and b) makes one wonder if any other of their descriptions are unreliable. Coming to a public memorial service “without an invitation” is, of course, a sign of respect until such possible time as one starts acting like a boor.
I have no idea which is the case here. But I’d want to know before having even a tentative opinion. I have this weird idea about not condemning people if one has only heard a single side.
Do you have any information about whether the funeral was, in fact, public or private, John? Would you say I had a reasonable query and point? I trust you really wouldn’t want people declaring “John Cole has got to go” solely because they read an attack on you which doesn’t even bother to solicit your reponse to distort, and without ever asking you what happened?
Steve
I think she should resign, but only if she committed a crime.
Clever
Something else you might want to know.
If Knoll was looking for a soldier death to make ill-adived political hay out of, you’d think she would have taken the opportunity at that funeral…but I’m not the Lt. Gov so I really don’t know. Would seem a bit pompous to walk into an unknown funearal [was she just “driving by”?] and assume everyone was with you.
That said, Goodrich does seem to have an axe to grind, and anyone representing the Dem. establishment showing up on “her turf” would be seen as political hackery. Were there any other political figures that showed up? Were they invited? Does Goodrich really want to bring her family into a partisan sniping match? Does the office of the Lt. Gov? Way too many questions to ask for me to make a real judgement on what is the most sucky part of this situation.
Could this be completely true as reported? Sure! Hell if I can understand the reasoning behind what our politicians blurt out for political gain…and that goes for both parties.
You can bet this will come up again if Knoll decides to run for any other office…if it doesn’t bite her in the butt before then.
Clever
Crap. Article link makes no sense. I await the requisite ridicule.
I think I should go back to bed.
Bernard Yomtov
Gary makes a good point. Funerals are very seldom by invitation. Who’s going to sit down and make a list and send out invitations? Also, politicians show up at funerals fairly often. Crass, maybe, but far from uncommon. Goodrich’s story is highly suspect, and outrage needs to be put on hold until more is known.
Geek, Esq.
Smells like Parlock.
Jon H
” Who’s going to sit down and make a list and send out invitations?”
With a funeral, there often isn’t a lot of time for that, let alone delivery and response. It’s a bit different with a memorial service, which can take place well after the funeral.
I expect that celebrity memorial services tend to involve invitations, due to the elaborate nature they can take. I’m sure some people aren’t invited but get the details by contacting the person’s agent.
As for this, I’m suspicious of Goodrich. All we have are her claims and a supposed business card in the family’s possession.
The card would be standard procedure if, as I’d expect, the Lt. Gov said “let me know if there’s anything I can do for your family”. They’d need her contact info.
I doubt the Lt. Gov actually said what Goodrich claims. It’s possible she said something which could be twisted into Goodrich’s version. But the way Goodrich reports it, it sounds too impersonal and contrived.
I don’t think the Lt. Gov would say “our government”. It’s vague and kinda weird. In the context of a memorial service, I think she’d say something more personal, such as “The governor and I”, or “many of us at the Capitol”.
Jim Baker
Well you certainly wouldn’t have to worry about George W. Bush showing up to the funeral of a military man. As a matter of fact, Georgie pretty much treats military deaths like some sort of dirty little secret.
John Cole
Jim- The ‘Bush doesn’t go to military funerals’ bullshit was dealt with over two years ago. Bonus points for trying to bring to life a dead meme, though.
Jim Baker
My point remains, John. Lt. Gov Knoll has now attended at least one more Iraq related military funeral than President Bush.
And all the flustered indignation and sputtering in the world will do little to disguise that.
Bob
Hey, Rhonda says that there’s a beer bash at Knoll’s place, with lots of girls, too, and we’re all invited!
That is, Rove may be going to jail, Lee Atwater may be gone to hell, but there’s always another to fill the breach in this war without end.
capelza
Have been thinking about this whole thing. First off, who contacted who in regards to the report in the papers? If the reporter sought out Goodrich, then there must have been some buzz about it somewhere. If Goodrich contacted the press that is another thing altogether.
If Goodrich has exaggerated what Knoll did, then I am inclined to think that, due to her partisan nature, anything that a Democratic Lt. Governor did might have been misconstrued because of that, compounded with grief. That would be a heady double whammy for someone.
John Cole
No, that wasn’t your point at all. your point was that Bush doesn’t care about the troops or themilitary, that he is hiding from casualties, and that he is a coward, and your evidence was that he doesn’t attend funerals.
And I shot that nonsense to hell and back, yet you persist. And, in the remote chance that was your point, s -fing what?
Steve
What we can be quite certain of is that if Bush went to a military funeral, no one would dismiss it as a mere political stunt.
Jim Baker
John: It was my point. Bush finds it within himself to send our military people to their deaths in a war predicated on stupidity and baseless lies, but then lacks the guts to face the families of those who paid the ultimate price for his treachery.
Bush, who initiated a war that has resulted in thousands of American military casualties, has not found it within himself to attend a single Iraq related military funeral. If that doesn’t show a lack of concern for our military people and their famililies, I don’t know what does.
Of course, this isn’t to say he hasn’t made some pretty speeches on the topic of our fighting men and women. Certainly there has never been a president more willing to claim for for himself the honor of our military, and he does strike quite a pose. But when it came time for him to back up those sentiments with actual deeds, more often than not he was off golfing or sailing in Kennebunkport.
Al Maviva
Bullshit Steve. Everybody around here certainly would pass it off as a cheap political stunt. Get with the program – the sun could shine out Bush’s heinie, and roughly half the folks around here would insist, with their dying breath, that he’s the evilest man to ever be birthed to woman.
What makes this whole funeral debacle truly ironic that Bush visits Walter Reed and Bethesda to visit wounded troops on a fairly frequent basis – at last count, it was over 25 trips, but that was several months ago, so my number is probably pretty inaccurate by now. Yep, that’s our preznit – scorns the troops so bad, he only visits a couple times a month.
BTW, how many of the folks around here have gone and visited wounded troops at WR or Bethesda, or any of the military hospitals around the country? Anybody here gone to vets hiring fairs and hired a disabled Iraq War vet? Just wondering, ‘cuz I know y’all support the troops.
Steve
I thought the snark would be obvious in my comment.
KC
I don’t know for sure what happened, but if the story is accurate, I’m pretty disgusted by what that woman did.
Bruce from Missouri
Seriously, John, weren’t you at all suspicious when you read the story? It reeked to me of political dirty trick from the very beginning. It was so suspicious to me that I went to Snopes to see if they had it yet.
But even if it isn’t true, Knoll’s career will be forever damaged, and the dirty trick will have worked.
Bruce
Mike Filbert
Regarding the post just above this one: When the editor of the aptly named Right Wing Nuthouse talks about stillettos, he’s referring to his heels.
Mike
“Jim Baker Says:
John: It was my point. Bush finds it within himself to send our military people to their deaths in a war predicated on stupidity and baseless lies, but then lacks the guts to face the families of those who paid the ultimate price for his treachery.
Bush, who initiated a war that has resulted in thousands of American military casualties, has not found it within himself to attend a single Iraq related military funeral. If that doesn’t show a lack of concern for our military people and their famililies, I don’t know what does.
Of course, this isn’t to say he hasn’t made some pretty speeches on the topic of our fighting men and women. Certainly there has never been a president more willing to claim for for himself the honor of our military, and he does strike quite a pose. But when it came time for him to back up those sentiments with actual deeds, more often than not he was off golfing or sailing in Kennebunkport.”
This is idiotic.
So which one should he go to?
All of them? Just the ones near Washington, DC?
Only the ones that vote Republican?
What about the ones he doesn’t go to? Should the parents be miffed? I mean, wasn’t THEIR SON good enough for the President?
And as John has shown Democrats don’t have exactly a stellar reputation in this department either for all the wars they’ve gotten us into.
Sheesh
Jim Baker
Mike: So the issue for you isn’t that so many of our military people have died in a war that was predicated on reasons that turned out to be untrue? But rather the president is just too busy to attend all the funerals for those who died fighting in a war over WMD that did not exist?
You are one sick little dude.
Pan is a non...
This is a woman who got up in arms when Michael Moore made a visit to the local university to show his film because he is a liar and a propagandist…
Okay, that’s her opinion, so fine.
But when Pat Buchannan was invited to offer a conservative counterpoint, she was incensed, and labeled him a democrat in Republican’s clothing.
Okay, that’s just ignorance.
The woman is a loud mouthed nutjob, and yet again she’s ‘playing politics’ with tragedy and death.
stickler
the dead giveaway that you need read no farther and can immediately discount virtually anything you’re now reading?
“Hat tip RedState.”
It looks like real humans posting there, but when you look at them close, you see they have no eyes. They’re pod people. Done drunk the Kool-Ade, every last one of ’em.
Mike
“Jim Baker Says:
Mike: So the issue for you isn’t that so many of our military people have died in a war that was predicated on reasons that turned out to be untrue? But rather the president is just too busy to attend all the funerals for those who died fighting in a war over WMD that did not exist?
You are one sick little dude.”
Sigh…where to start?
As former military myself, and the fact that I work with current and ex-military every day, I care very much about military deaths. Plus living in NC, which has had more military deaths than any other state except California, I’m right in the middle of the mourning so to speak. So to accuse me of “not caring” about military deaths is insulting and stupid.
Additionally, you assume that I supported going into Iraq. I did not. I thought it premature, still do. But the President did what he thought was right based on the intelligence available to him, intelligence that was indeed wrong. I know the Left doesn’t care about this, they come from the world view that Bush lied, Rethuglicans are evil etc., which is why I dismiss Liberal opinions so readily. They have no real answers only criticism. Useless actually. That’s not to say there aren’t some smart Democrats trying to actually find solutions, Joseph Biden comes to mind. However, he’s often ridiculed by the blithering idiots over at Kos and such. I guess he’s just not “pure” enough for them. Which is one more reason the Democratic Party needs to get serious about dismissing the Left Wing Fringe of their party into the void where they belong. Then they’ll be able to win elections again, which as long as they have moderately conservative positions, I’d like to see. The Administration HAS in fact made many errors, listening to some more voices wouldn’t hurt them. But advice such as “go to all the funerals you lying bastard and see what you’ve done!” should just be dismissed as nothing more than partisan garbage.
Finally, I’m not some “little dude” typing in some dorm room on a computer that his mama paid for after listening to the silliness spewing from some professor’s pie-hole, but rather a 46 year old ex-sailor with two sons of military age. So yeah, I care about what happens with regard to current and future military operations, and most especially the unfortunately deaths that may occur.
Don’t assume so much, it makes you look stupid.
Al Maviva
Hey, c’mon guys. Even if it’s true, we righty wingnuts deserve to be treated this way. It’s our fault for supporting Bush’s War™ in Iraq and Afghanistan. And the Phillipines. And East Timor. And Sudan. And Algeria. And Egypt. And Pakistan. And Madrid. And London. You see, if it wasn’t for Bush, we wouldn’t be facing a terrorist threat. Bush’s invasion of poor l’il ol’ Iraq, which never did nothin’ to nobody, is what caused all this.
That, and Bush’s support of the Jooooos! I meant to say Zionissssssts! And Oilllll! And Halliburton.
So my lefty friends, basically, if the story is true, she had it coming is how you feel. Right?
Mike
“It looks like real humans posting there, but when you look at them close, you see they have no eyes. They’re pod people. Done drunk the Kool-Ade, every last one of ‘em.”
Are you sure you weren’t looking at Kos/Atrios/DU/WashingtonMonthly?
No difference.
Jim Baker
Mike: Bush, as president, bears responsibility for the decisions he’s made, especially one as momentous as taking this country to war. Saying that this Iraq catastrophe isn’t Bush’s fault because of faulty intelligence remains as inane an excuse today as it was when it was first trotted out as an attempt to explain away the uncomfortable perceptions that arose when it was discovered the WMD we’d heard so very much about just didn’t exist.
Besides, I thought that excuse had become inoperative. Don’t the current Orwellianisms have something to do with having to fight them there so we don’t have to fight them here?
Of course, these pithy half-truths change so often it must be hard to keep up.
The buck stops at the desk of the president, Mike. And like all functioning adults he is expected to take responsibility for his actions. That President Bush and his followers spend so much time and effort attempting to find others to take the blame for faults that belong to the POTUS speaks volumes about the dishonesty that is at the core of this administration.
So how is it again that this president has gone to fewer military funerals than Catherine Baker Knoll? Nearly 1,800 military people have met their deaths in a war over something that didn’t exist. You’d think he’d find a way to get his incompetent ass to at least one, right?
Mike
Jim Baker Says:
Mike: Bush, as president, bears responsibility for the decisions he’s made, especially one as momentous as taking this country to war. Saying that this Iraq catastrophe isn’t Bush’s fault because of faulty intelligence remains as inane an excuse today as it was when it was first trotted out as an attempt to explain away the uncomfortable perceptions that arose when it was discovered the WMD we’d heard so very much about just didn’t exist.
Jim I never said that, I said I think he made mistake based on faulty intelligence. He’s in charge, of course he bears responsibility. Just as FDR did for Pearl Harbor and the disaster in North Africa, as Kennedy did for the Bay of Pigs, as Lincoln did early in the war when the North was loosing battles left and right until be found a couple of Generals called Grant and Sherman. I also said the administration has made many mistakes and should do a better job consulting with Democrats.
What part of any of the above did you have a problem with?
Rick
“Catastrophe?” Ha! There Jim’s problem right there: got-it-backwards hyperbole.
Cordially…
Rhonda Goodrich
There is No bizzare twist to this story…If you do some futher research, which I find you have not… The press had talked with My mother-in law, and our aunt.My mother in law is 70 years old. The family has been talking with press since the death of my brother in law Joe. I stepped up as a spokes person for the family so they did not have to deal with this on top of dealing with the loss of their youngest son.
To ASSUME I had political motives is as much an outrage as CBK’s behavior.What I was involved in during the election was helping college republicans get their voice heard. When IUP invited Michael Moore to speak and denied the students Ann Coulter , I felt it was a very UNBALANCED debate.You can spin this story anyway you like.This not a republican, demorcrat issue. It is an issue on an eleceted official insenseitive behavior. Other officals came to the funeral, paid their respects and left. CBK turned this funeral into a press op for herself
Bootm line is CBK came to a hero’s funeral , gave political opinions, ran for TV cameras, and totally ignored the feelings of my family
Also the press seems to harping on the “uninvited” guest.We did not care CBK showed up. We cared at her behavior.
Mr.Cole before you voice your thoughts you should check ALL the facts.
John Cole
Assuming this is Rhonda I am responding to- I think reserving an opinion is ‘checking all the facts’ before ‘voicing my opinion.’
Rhonda Goodrich
Mr Cole,
If you would like I will email you the address of family members to “verify” anything you need. I will be on Fox news this afternoon to clarify all the facts you desire. If there is anyhting you want to know email Martha Macallum with questions you would like her to ask. If this was Lie or political move Don’t you think out of all the several press’s that printed the story would of “uncovered ” something.The pittsburgh Post gazzette admits they lean left.Believe me they called family members to verify. Email Mark Talbon (reporeter who did the article)and ask him how many family members he talked with…
Sharon
To answer a question earlier addressed –
Rhonda wrote to the Post Gazette to get the story out.
As for Knoll – No good deed goes unpunished. Do you have business cards? If so, how often have you handed them out to a friend, stranger – anyone – and told the person to call you? It’s something that we do all the time. The fact that she has been to more than 20 funerals shows that she’s a caring person. The immediate family isn’t talking – just some in-law who has protested against democrats on numerous occasions.
Good job on getting your name out, Rhonda – but also, it’s been nice hearing the press talking some trash about you today. I sympathize with the death in your family, but you’re now playing a political game.
Rhonda Goodrich
“The immediate family isn’t talking – just some in-law ”
If you would like “Immediate” family who is talking please visit SSGT Goodrich’s website.(The link is below)
“The fact that she has been to more than 20 funerals shows that she’s a caring person. ”
Caring, yes, never one word to the family of condolense or assistance, But she made sure she went to the TV camera.Very caring
“but also, it’s been nice hearing the press talking some trash about you today. I sympathize with the death in your family, but ”
Your about as sympathetic as Knoll.Please see
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/search/s_357054.html
Link to Immediate family’s website ….http://home.earthlink.net/~goodrich2/blog.htm
One last note Sharon, I don’t know how things are in your world. But believe it or not, even when you marry into a family, that family can become as close as blood family.Joey was my little brother for 11 years I’ve been in this family. he will always be my little brother in my haert.
So I suggest you shut your pie hole on things you know nothing about
Rhonda Goodrich
Thats SSGT GOODRICH”S BROTHERS WEBSITE