Rob Reiner, as he appeared on “All In the Family.”
The senseless murder of actor/director Rob Reiner, apparently by his son Nick, is some of the worst news of the year.
I met Rob Reiner on two occasions.
The first time I met him was when I was a “Deaniac” during the run for President of Dr. Howard Dean, back in the “sleepless summer” of 2004. Dean was an unsuccessful candidate for the Democratic nomination in the 2004 presidential election. Later, Howard Dean’s implementation of the fifty-state strategy as head of the DNC is credited with the Democratic victories in the 2006 and 2008 elections. Afterward, he became a political commentator and consultant to McKenna Long & Aldridge, a law and lobbying firm.
Because I paid for a large ad in our local newspaper (the Quad City Times), advertising Howard Dean’s upcoming appearance at Davenport’s West High School (ad approved by the Des Moines Dean headquarters), I was introduced to Rob Reiner, who was also pulling for Howard Dean and was present at a rally in the capital city of Des Moines. Reiner gave me a warm hug. We shook hands and exchanged a few pleasantries. He was warm and gregarious, like a large teddy bear. A “huggy” kind of person, as you might expect from his television appearances as Michael ‘Meathead” Stivic in “All In the Family.”
Later, in Chicago in 2014, Rob Reiner showed up to promote “And So It Goes.” I was part of the Press at the showing of “And So It Goes.” He was just as warm and friendly and gregarious when I met him on the Red Carpet for that film. I mentioned our previous meeting in connection with the Howard Dean campaign, then 10 years prior, so obviously not someone he would remember (Ha!)
And So It Goes is a 2014 American comedy drama film directed by Rob Reiner and written by Mark Andrus. The film, which stars Michael Douglas, Diane Keaton and Sterling Jerins, was released on July 25, 2014. It received mostly negative reviews from critics, and performed modestly at the box office. The film was the second collaboration between Reiner and Douglas, after The American President (1995). This film was also Frances Sternhagen‘s final feature film role before her death on November 27, 2023.[4]
MY IMPRESSIONS
Reiner was like a sweet, cuddly, out-going teddy bear. The idea of Rob Reiner and his wife being stabbed to death by their own son is heinous and tragic. What is even more tragic is the response from Donald J. Trump, who had to make it all about him and said (among other totally inexcusable things), “I wasn’t a fan of his at all. He was a deranged person.” Rep. Don Bacon (R, Nebraska) commented that this remark about the tragic death of Rob Reiner was “something you’d expect from a drunk guy at a bar. Can the president be presidential?”
The answer is, “No. DJT cannot be presidential. He needs to BEE GONE, as soon as possible.
