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Originally Posted by PaulS

I think he should attend. But others disagree.

But Ed Whelan, the president of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, who once clerked for Justice Scalia and shares the same faith, said that Mr. Obama made the right decision. Mr. Whelan emphasized that traditional Catholic funerals are deeply religious affairs during which even eulogies are discouraged.

“For Catholics, a funeral Mass is first and foremost a funeral, not an event of state,” Mr. Whelan said.

Michael Moreland, a law professor at Villanova University who is Catholic and was on the White House staff of Mr. Bush, said both sides had valid points.

The event on Friday at the Supreme Court is the more appropriate place for a presidential visit, he said, but Mr. Obama’s attendance at the funeral “could have been a nice occasion for reducing polarization of D.C.’s political culture.”

It doesn't really matter. Obama could pull Jimmy from the well and Buck would claim he just did it for the photo op.