Staff Sgt. Joseph Goodrich of Indiana, PA died on July 10, 2005, fighting for his country in Iraq. He is a hero, and as such he and his family deserve to be treated with the utmost respect. That is why the actions of Pennsylvania Lt. Governor Catherine Baker Knoll are particularly egregious.

Now put yourself in the place of the Goodrich family. You have lost a family member. You are at the funeral in a church full of mourners. And then someone you don't even know shows up at the church and plunks down among the family. I'll let Rhonda Goodrich, Staff Sgt. Goodrich's sister-in-law, pick up the narrative.

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.

"Knoll felt this was an appropriate time to campaign and impose her will on us," Goodrich said. "I am amazed and disgusted Knoll finds a Marine funeral a prime place to campaign."

Goodrich said she is positive that Knoll was not invited to the funeral, which was jammed with Marines in dress uniform and police officers, because the fallen Marine had been a policeman in McKeesport and Indiana County.

"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.

Yeah, you read that right -- during the funeral for one of our honored war dead, this arrogant BITCH of a politician had the audacity to look a member of the family in the eye say "I want you to know our government is against this war."

I'm sorry -- I've never been a big believer in having politicians at funerals unless they are friends of thedeceased, the family or are otherwise invited guests. They certainly should not be showing up in any sort of "official capacity" without clearing it in advance with the family. And no one at a funeral should do or say anything to add to the distress or the grief of the surviving family. There are other times and places for that.

But that is what Lt. Governor Knoll did. She showed up uninvited. She dishonored the deceased hero. She deeply hurt and offended the family.This woman needs to be driven from office by the people of Pennsylvania and loyal Americans everywhere -- whether they be supporters or opponents of the war in Iraq. Some things are simply beyond the pale. Dishonoring a dead Marine and distressing his family falls into that category, and must be reason to end her career.

Further commentary on this issue from Blackfive, Large Bill Pontificates, Pennywit, Media Lies, The Indepundit, and Michelle Malkin (who even quoted me!)

Posted by: Greg at 03:33 PM | Comments (12) | Add Comment
Post contains 554 words, total size 4 kb.

1 Greg I agree,rude witch can't behave herself no better than that she deserves to run out of office actually the old fashioned way via a mob of angry tax payers.this modern way of doing politics doesn't work!it is a proven failure!one way would be to get her out of office but my personal favorite is for her to be run out with a stick or a pipe.

Posted by: Lisa Gilliam at Sat Jul 23 17:45:14 2005 (ynXtq)

2 Couldn't agree more. How dare she. How DARE she?

Dishonring someone from my hometown (Indiana, PA) while she was at it, too. Let's run Jabba the Hutt (Gov. Rendell, who looks like aforementioned Star Wars character) and his minion out of Harrisburg.

Posted by: B. Minich, PI at Sat Jul 23 19:52:44 2005 (XX1SF)

3 Sounds like she's been taking lessons in etiquette from DailyKos.

Posted by: marcus at Sat Jul 23 21:18:49 2005 (mq+EB)

4 I'm out here in Iraq with the 3d Battalion, 25th Marines, SSgt Goodrich's unit. I can't articulate the disgust and the revulsion I feel upon reading this news.

As a Marine Corps officer, it is unethical for me to express political opinions, but my opinion of this sorry excuse for a human being has nothing to do with politics. After seeing dozens of my fellow Marines in my battalion get killed these past few months, I always felt that at the very least that these men were being honorably brought back to their families and laid to rest with as much dignity as our nation could afford to provide.

This woman has misrepresented our government, and poorly represents the state of Pennsylvania. If Pennsylvanians have any self-respect at all, they will take whatever legal methods are available and toss her out of office immediately.

Posted by: Mike Rentner at Sat Jul 23 22:48:49 2005 (ru0sP)

5 More proof, as if any were needed, that the Dems are becoming completely unhinged. And as they continue to slander Rove, Tancredo and Roberts, they will remain silent about her, as they did about Durbin, Dean and Reid.

Posted by: Jim O'Sullivan at Sun Jul 24 01:19:00 2005 (ywZa8)

6 This is exactly what happens when desperation rears its ugly head in trying to hold onto Democratic powers by doing the most ridiculous, most abusive, and the most asinine actions. She gets the Howard Dean Award.

Posted by: mcconnell at Sun Jul 24 03:38:51 2005 (2J8V4)

7 Don't count on Dem moonbats being run out of Pennsylvania.

The Democrats own the labor unions and the bloated urban/state public employees. Resistance is futile.

I lived in Pittsburgh for a few years where the Dems drove the city to near bankrupcy and still overwhelmingly got re-elected. PA is one of the most corrupt states in the nation - just look at the Turnpike Commission for starters.

I wish the story had ended with someone at the funeral decking this hag.

Posted by: onecent at Sun Jul 24 06:48:46 2005 (i5+jM)

8 onecent - have to concur about Pittsburgh - why they kept electing Murphy until he wanted to leave himself is beyond me.

Philly is even worse, and they outvote the rest of the state.

However, Rendell isn't invincible - I think he can be defeated with the right candidate. Just not sure who that will be (though Lynn Swann would be interesting - being a former Steeler could be enough to get him the Pittsburgh vote, though that would turn off most Philly fans. )

Posted by: B. Minich, PI at Sun Jul 24 16:52:47 2005 (ChDjf)

9 I thought politicians go to military funerals all the time? You guys make it sound like she got on the podium and insulted the family. Could it be that she actually took the time to attend a funeral of a Marine and to pay her respects? Do you need an invitation to go to a funeral? If so, why the hell do you need obituaries? I don't get it.

Posted by: ChenZhen at Sun Jul 24 21:29:32 2005 (tRstH)

10 Politicians go to funerals when they're invited.

And they don't campaign and hand out cards.

And for Pete's sake, they don't tell family members that their loved one died doing something that they don't support! And claim that the entire "government" doesn't support the reason why he died.

Get a clue, Chen Zhen

Posted by: Mike Rentner at Sun Jul 24 22:54:47 2005 (ru0sP)

11 Chen -- i think I address that point in my post. Let me repeat what I said.

I'm sorry -- I've never been a big believer in having politicians at funerals unless they are friends of the deceased, the family or are otherwise invited guests. They certainly should not be showing up in any sort of "official capacity" without clearing it in advance with the family. And no one at a funeral should do or say anything to add to the distress or the grief of the surviving family. There are other times and places for that.

Politicians/celebrities at a funeral take the focus off the deceased, and so making an appearance is inappropriate unless there is a relationship o prior clearance. Clearly thiswas not the case here -- and there was clearly no intent to honor the deceased. What's more, this woman's conduct was not acceptable -- it would be like going to the funeral of a slain narcotics officer and saying "I oppose the war on drugs"; or the funeral of this poor girl missing in Aruba and telling relatives "she would still be alive if she hadn't been out acting like a slut".

In short, it is conduct that was the problem.

Posted by: Rhymes With Right at Mon Jul 25 02:15:21 2005 (xtWQW)

12 I agree with Onecent, someone should have knocked this insensitive bitch on her ass. Her showing up at the funeral shows a total lack of class, handing out her card and telling the family "our government disagrees with the war" is a slap in the FACE. If I lived in PA. I would make it my mission to have her but ousted from office and run out of town on a rail.

Posted by: rick in texas at Mon Jul 25 07:16:07 2005 (QR3qh)

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