No rest for the Clinton-obsessed: Drudge, Limbaugh, Savage suggested that Clintons nodded off during Reagan funeral

Written by Katie Barge

Published

On the day of President Ronald Reagan's funeral, Internet gossip Matt Drudge and radio hosts Rush Limbaugh and Michael Savage made the improbable suggestion that both former President Bill Clinton and Senator Hillary Clinton simultaneously fell asleep during the funeral. Drudge and Limbaugh both posted to their websites on June 11 a still image -- captured from the TV broadcast of Reagan's funeral -- of the Clintons with their eyelids down.

The Drudge Report carried the headline "CLINTONS REST EYES DURING REAGAN EULOGY...," which linked to a frame from C-SPAN's broadcast of Reagan's funeral in which the Clintons' eyes are closed.

Following Limbaugh's live coverage of the funeral, a caller raised the issue with Limbaugh, who then offered the following commentary (subscription only):

CALLER: But during the last half of the current President Bush's talk, the cameras panned over to the Clintons, and they were asleep...

LIMBAUGH: Let's assume, let's say that you're assumption... I mean, I agree with you, but I didn't know that Hillary was asleep. She might have been, but I did notice on two occasions that Bill was... The first time I thought, “Ah, got to cut him some slack. Maybe he's praying here. Maybe he wants to look like he's praying. Maybe he was praying.” But the second time you could see he could barely keep his eyes open. The eyelids were half shut, and he looked about to doze off there.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: I don't know why they fell asleep. I don't know. You're probably thinking, trying to say that Bush was boring and not exciting enough to stay asleep through, could have been a tough night last night. You never know. These things we don't know. They're probably going to deny they were asleep anyway, that they were in deep thought and repose... and all that. But regardless, the impression they left was that they were asleep, and so that's only going to redound negatively to them.

Savage discussed the photo of the Clintons -- as well as a photo of Bill Clinton and Kerry at Reagan's funeral (which Savage posted on his website) -- with a caller during his June 11 radio show:

CALLER: Clinton was sleeping when the president was talking. Sleeping!

SAVAGE: Yeah, there's a picture of him -- him and Hillary napping. I didn't get that one for my website, but we got Kerry laughing at the Reagan funeral, with Clinton standing up there, schmoozing on the outside. Doing a deal.