Can We Make A Deal

Democrats won’t turn funerals into political rallies, and Republicans won’t bitch about them. I am not sure what planet people are from when they think it is appropriate to attack someone who is attending a service to honor someone. Even the NY Times picked up on this, so this is not some right wing spin machine thing:

But others did not confine their remarks to Mrs. King, nor did they temper them just because Mr. Bush was seated just a few feet behind. The Rev. Joseph Lowery, who spoke at times in rhyme, said, “We know now there were no weapons of mass destruction over there.”

Former President Jimmy Carter, in an apparent allusion to the current President Bush’s eavesdropping program, mentioned the difficulties that Mrs. King and her husband, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., endured as they became the target of secret government wiretapping.

Would it be appropriate, were you attending a ceremony, for the minister to stand up, point at you, and tell everyone in attendance that the deceased hated the way you run your restaurant? And the funny thing is that I didn’t see the funeral, but only saw the Lowery and Carter lowlights on cable news. Why were these showing? Because Republicans control the media? Or because some things are just objectively wrong? Like, say, political trash talk at the pulpit of a funeral.

I know which way I am leaning.

And John Aravosis earns extra slime points for trying to claim this is all about Republican ‘white men telling black leaders their place.’

775 Responses to “Can We Make A Deal”

  1. 1

    unreasonable

    Political speeches at a funeral for a very political lady. And you are shocked? Please, give me a break. Both these speakers were friends of Mrs. King and were speaking about things that were dear to her heart. I imagine she would want it no other way.

  2. 2

    Lines

    Shouldn’t this story be posted at Red State or Protein Wisdom so you don’t get lambasted for being an ass, John?

  3. 3

    John Cole

    Yeah, I remember the scorching stemwinders aimed at Democrats attending reagan’s funeral.

    You people have no class.

  4. 4

    yet another jeff

    Should people change their eulogies because they might hurt the feelings of an attendee? Politics brought up at the funeral of an activist. I’m shocked, I tell you, shocked.

    Would that they looked to Reagan’s funeral as an example of how non-political a funeral for the leader of a cause should be.

  5. 5

    Marcos

    A normal funeral is probably not the best place to get political, but Mrs. King was no normal person. She was highly political and was deeply opposed to many of the things that this administration is guilty of doing. The preacher gave an impassioned speech that Mrs. King would have been proud of.

  6. 6

    yet another jeff

    Jesus, man…the only thing that surprises me is that people are acting surprised. Hell, who couldn’t see the wiretapping thing being brought up a week in advance?

    You can’t give Lowery points for making it all rhyme, at least?

  7. 7

    Ancient Purple

    CSK was a political figure. Every day of her life. She never shyed away from that position. Why should things change in death?

    Despite the conventional wisdom that funerals are supposed to be somber, quiet, organ music filled events, I hope to God that my funeral is a celebration of my life, complete with lively music, laughter, heavy drinking, great food, and people telling all those embarassing, funny stories about me in life.

    CSK’s funeral was a tribute to her and the politics would have pleased her well.

  8. 8

    Faux News

    Yeah, how DARE people speak about poverty, war, and racism at Mrs. King’s funeral? It’s not as if Mrs. King or her husband cared about those things…

  9. 9

    John Cole

    Yeah, how DARE people speak about poverty, war, and racism at Mrs. King’s funeral? It’s not as if Mrs. King or her husband cared about those things…

    You folks remind me of this one at the ‘Straw Man of the Year Contest.’

  10. 10

    CDB

    In her husbands own words:

    “Every now and then I guess we all think realistically about that day when we will be victimized with what is life’s final common denominator—that something we call death. We all think about it. And every now and then I think about my own death, and I think about my own funeral. And I don’t think of it in a morbid sense. Every now and then I ask myself, “What is it that I would want said?” And I leave the word to you this morning. If any of you are around when I have to meet my day, I don’t want a long funeral. And if you get somebody to deliver the eulogy, tell them not to talk too long. Every now and then I wonder what I want them to say. Tell them not to mention that I have a Nobel Peace Prize, that isn’t important. Tell them not to mention that I have three or four hundred other awards, that’s not important. Tell him not to mention where I went to school. I’d like somebody to mention that day, that Martin Luther King, Jr., tried to give his life serving others. I’d like for somebody to say that day, that Martin Luther King, Jr., tried to love somebody. I want you to say that day, that I tried to be right on the war question. I want you to be able to say that day, that I did try, in my life, to clothe those who were naked. I want you to say, on that day, that I did try, in my life, to visit those who were in prison. I want you to say that I tried to love and serve humanity.Yes, if you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice; say that I was a drum major for peace; I was a drum major for righteousness.”

  11. 11

    DJ

    John, I usually find your comments to be well reasoned and grounded in reality. I thought your points on the Willy-Pete news made it clear what was really happening on the ground. I just can’t agree with you on this one. Coretta Scott King and Martin Luther King, Jr. were activist. They were stridently anti-war. They fought for years for equality among races and spoke out against poverty and injustice. This was a funeral to celebrate Coretta Scott King’s life, what her life meant and what she fought for. Would it have been appropriate for them to simply say she was a great woman, a great mother and that’s it?

    On top of all of this, Bush wasn’t even planning to attend the funeral. He was scheduled to speak in New Hampshire yesterday and was planning to send his father in his stead. When he found out the Carters and the Clintons were going, he changed his plans. Coretta’s friends and family were supposed to change their words honoring her because someone she didn’t agree with was going to attend?

    Martin Luther King, Jr. said himself what he’d like said at his funeral, “I’d like somebody to mention that day, that Martin Luther King, Jr., tried to give his life serving others. I’d like for somebody to say that day, that Martin Luther King, Jr., tried to love somebody. I want you to say that day, that I tried to be right on the war question. I want you to be able to say that day, that I did try, in my life, to clothe those who were naked. I want you to say, on that day, that I did try, in my life, to visit those who were in prison. I want you to say that I tried to love and serve humanity.Yes, if you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice; say that I was a drum major for peace; I was a drum major for righteousness.” You think LBJ’s or Nixon’s attendance should have changed that?

  12. 12

    Zifnab

    Yeah, I remember the scorching stemwinders aimed at Democrats attending reagan’s funeral.

    Honestly, I remember Reagan’s funeral and the commemoration of “probably the greatest President in the history of evar!” being replayed for over a week. And when Bush was rolling tanks around Iraq and funneling tax cuts to the wealthy and talking about overhauling Social Security, I remember Reagan’s funeral being the rallying point for every heavy handed neo-con east of California.

    That said, if Maya Angeleu wants to get political at Mrs. King’s funneral – she’s Maya freak’n Angeleu, let her speak. Honestly, I don’t see what Republicans are complaining about. This is the closest our President has ever come to an uncensored, unscripted audience. Perhaps our dear leader could learn that even when black people aren’t drowning in New Orleans, they’re actually worthy of our attention.

  13. 13

    Par R

    I’m not sure why Republicans bother with attending funerals of prominent Dems. More often than not some of the assembled loony Democrats prove yet again that liberalism is the philosophy of the ill-informed, the intemperate, the marginal, and worthless-as-shit.

  14. 14

    Foobar

    What the hell was William Shakespeare thinking when he had Mark Antony demolish Brutus at Caesar’s funeral?

    So tasteless, so tacky. Or simply par for the course for many hundreds of years.

  15. 15

    ppGaz

    This is obviously a troll.

    This is about Republicans finding, and exploiting, another opportunity to trash anyone who disagrees with their king.

    It is exactly that and nothing more.

    I’ve seen exactly one Republican show class about this “story”, and that was George Bush. He took it like a man, and acted bigger than the trash talk, which suprised me, but I give him his props.

    His handlers and mouth-monkeys, of course, can’t rise to that level.

    And then we have the standard John Cole “you DARE to disagree with me” fare here in the thread. In that case you will be chastened with adjectives: Classless! Idiotic, stupid, and the rest of the list, to follow, I’m sure.

  16. 16

    searp

    Um, maybe if the president gave his critics a little face time, like an ordinary politician, they wouldn’t have to tee off on him at a funeral.

    Of course, I also think Coretta would have wanted the funeral she got. Not everything is about W’s image. She stood for peace, justice, poor people and people of color. Is that supposed to be ignored just because it offends someone who attends her funeral?

    W knew what was going to happen, if he didn’t he is REALLY stupid. He wanted this, he got it.

  17. 17

    CDB

    Par R

    Put that mirror down before you hurt yourself.

  18. 18

    Mac Buckets

    You people have no class.

    Ding-ding-ding! Correct! We have a winner! Being out-of-power has made segments (not all) of the Democratic Party sacrifice decorum, class, and propriety whenever they think they can score a political cheapshot against the hated GOP. Hatred is never pretty.

  19. 19

    Stormy70

    Class will tell in all things. This is Wellstone 2.0, and remember how well that turned out for the Democrats.

    I can understand if the service was set up at as a political rally, but this was a funeral service. It was tacky and inappropriate.

  20. 20

    Bob In Pacifica

    This was an “emperor has no clothes” moment. This was the first time in years that the prick (to whom Cole still has some emotional allegiance) actually wasn’t standing in front of a hand-picked group of Republican fawners.

    Yeah, John, talk about “class” at the funeral of Coretta Scott King. All about class for you. People scattered across the South because of the tremendous fuck-up over Katrina while Bush’s buddies thieve away, but let’s not talk about that. The President running a massive illegal spying program shows up at the funeral of people who felt the brunt of illegal government spying, but let’s not talk about it.

    For patriachal bootlickers like John Cole, “class” has always been knowing your place when your betters show up.

  21. 21

    CDB

    Rev. Joseph Lowery was a friend of the family, and what Carter said was the truth. Other than that I didn’t see a whole lot of grandstanding. Perhaps you can inform the uninformed.

  22. 22

    Davebo

    I’m not sure why Republicans bother with attending funerals of prominent Dems.

    It’s called “mooching off the hero”.

    But I agree, I’d prefer that most of today’s republicans avoid the funerals of true American heroes.

  23. 23

    Vladi G

    You folks remind me of this one at the ‘Straw Man of the Year Contest.’

    This from the guy who wrote:

    Would it be appropriate, were you attending a ceremony, for the minister to stand up, point at you, and tell everyone in attendance that the deceased hated the way you run your restaurant?

    This is the stupidest fucking analogy I think I’ve ever heard. If the deceased had spent his/her entire life organizing rallies protesting the way I ran my restaurant, if the deceased had dedicated his/her life to fighting me over the way I ran my restaurant, then maybe, just maybe, I would see it coming.

  24. 24

    ppGaz

    Hatred is never pretty.

    You people are a joke. Pointing out that there were no WMDs is not “hatred.” It’s a fucking fact.

    News flash: Bushmonkeys don’t get to decide where and when facts are “appropriate.”

    I commend you to my first post to the thread. One Republican guy managed to act like a man over this. Try to emulate him.

  25. 25

    Davebo

    Vladi..

    Ouch, that was painful over broadband…

  26. 26

    ppGaz

    Class will tell in all things

    This will surely go into the archives as the most amazing post ever to BJ.

    Stormy talks about “class.”

    Next, Darrell’s lecture on dialectical materialism.

  27. 27

    Stormy70

    Just another way for the Democrats to prove to the country how out of touch and completely tone deaf they are. Keep it coming.

  28. 28

    Blue Neponset

    I don’t have any sympathy for George Bush. It is quite clear to me that he is afraid to face an audience that isn’t full of brain stem Republicans. If he didn’t want to be critisized he should have sent a card instead of going to the funeral of a political activist who vehemently opposed his policies.

    Fair warning to George Bush: If Dubya attends my funeral all my family and friends have my permission to tell him what an asshole they think he is.

  29. 29

    Bob In Pacifica

    ppGaz, “hatred” is now telling the truth. “Love” is lying to the citizens. “Protecting” is invading people’s privacy. “War” is peace.

  30. 30

    Bob In Pacifica

    Stormy, I hear your brother running up the stairs. 2.0.

  31. 31

    p.lukasiak

    What the hell was Bush doing at that funeral anyway? HE was involved in political grandstanding by being there. Christ, the guy is only in the white house because he went to the Supreme Court to prevent the votes of black people in Florida from being counted…..

    Only racist scum would dare criticize those chosen by the King family to speak at Mrs King’s funeral because they happened to say what Mrs King would have wanted said at her funeral.

  32. 32

    Andrew

    You go to funerals with the facts you have, not the facts you want.

    Hmmm. That was a stretch.

  33. 33

    Steve

    Unbelievable that anyone should try to tell the friends and family of the deceased what they can say at a funeral. Just unbelievable.

    The Kings fought their whole lives for an end to racism, an end to poverty, an end to war. Because President Bush invited himself to the funeral, they are supposed to CHANGE THE EULOGY to not offend him?

    The people in attendance at the funeral sure didn’t look offended. If you were offended, you know what, change the channel. Don’t sit there and demand they redo a great woman’s funeral to suit YOUR view of what’s appropriate.

    This is all just a reminder that if MLK were alive today, he would be considered ten times the enemy of America that Michael Moore is. Since he’s not, conservatives whitewash his legacy, act like he was this noble bipartisan hero who only fought for values that all of us believe in, and misuse his name whenever convenient to support one of their causes, like opposition to affirmative action.

    I don’t think I have ever seen anything so disgusting as the way conservatives have tried to score points by attacking the way this funeral was run. If they want to see a more “appropriate” funeral, they can go drop dead themselves.

  34. 34

    Bob In Pacifica

    Steve, don’t you get it? Funerals are supposed to be celebrations of the life and the accomplishments of George Bush.

  35. 35

    ppGaz

    “War” is peace.

    Sounds vaguely familiar …....

    Why is my brain filled with the voices of Kate O’Beirne and Bill Bennett and something called “Mehlman?”

  36. 36

    Par R

    My understanding is that the RNC has already put the first rough cut of a possible television spot together highlighting excerpts from the funeral to illustrate to Americans what utter fools dominate the Democratic party today. This should help bring about the same result as the infamous Wellstone fumeral, wherein the loons of the democratic party showed all of America what real scum looks like.

  37. 37

    Bob In Pacifica

    Now I get John’s umbrage here. When something happened at the funeral that John found inappropriate, like telling the truth, referees were supposed to come out and flag them.

    Sorry, Cole, every once in a while the game isn’t fixed.

  38. 38

    Alexandra

    Yes, it’s true. Politicizing a funeral isn’t pretty.

    HOWEVER, let’s look at your analogy, John. You say that it would be rude to tell someone their restaurant sucks at a funeral, right? But in the normal course of doing business, you’d be able to discuss whatever problems you had with the food and service at a restaurant you were visiting AT THAT restaurant. And the owner of the restaurant would normally listen to what yo say. Perhaps they wouldn’t agree with you, but they would be respectful. But what if you had a restaurant—the only restaurant in town—where the owner was incredibly disrespectful of more than half the clients who came to the restaurant, and would completely refuse to listen to them. What if they had no choice about where they ate, and were consistently treated like crap while they were there, given dirty food and bad service, while they were forced to watch a few of the owner’s friends being treated like kings? Then, say, what if they wrote letters to the editor of the local paper to complain about this service that were never published. Instead, they get to read glowing reviews of the owner’s wonderful food and service, sparkling personality, and glamorous lifestyle reported over and over again.

    If by chance, they had a chance to meet with the owner of that restaurant in some kind of setting where his flacks weren’t protecting him, wouldn’t they be a little bit justified in complaining?

  39. 39

    kelsey

    Well of course the funeral service looks like a political rally to you, you only watched one minute out of the whole six hour service. Perhaps you should at least watch the whole speach of Rev. Lowery before jumping the gun. He used teh WMD reference to point out the many problems that America has back home, problems that Correta Scott King would most certainly want addressed at her own funeral. And if you didn’t care enough about the funeral to at least watch part of it, why should you care about what was said at the funeral?

  40. 40

    Bob In Pacifica

    Par R, tell us that things are swell in Katrinaland. Tell us that government spying is just okey dokey. Tell us how swell that Iraqi war is going, and all those WMDs that were found, and how the budget looks, and how we’re taking care of our own. Should be a great video.

  41. 41

    Steve

    My understanding is that the RNC has already put the first rough cut of a possible television spot together highlighting excerpts from the funeral to illustrate to Americans what utter fools dominate the Democratic party today.

    Oh, that would sure make the point that a funeral shouldn’t be exploited for political purposes. I’m sure you’re just bullshitting though.

    Conservatives sure are showing their true colors today.

  42. 42

    Par R

    Bob in Pacifica, please tell us what you learned at your last meeting of the local al Qaeda gathering.

  43. 43

    John Cole

    He wasn’t engaging in political grandstanding, as four of the five living Presidents were there to PAY THEIR RESPECTS to the woman.

    Had Bush not been there, you jackasses would be claiming it was proof he was racist.

    The fact that Lowery and one of the other presidents took the opportunity to lash out at someone there to pay their respects is a sign of simply haveing NO CLASS.

    And Bob in Pacifica, GFY for these remarks, you petulant twit. I’d stick my boot up your ass if I had a chance, I am so tired of you internet cowboys coming in here and acting all tough and acting as if I am some sort of evil FREEPER. I don’t know what is funnier- the tough talk you 110lb when soaking wet weenies type out in the comments here, or the fact that you think my relatively mainstream, moderate politics are ‘right wing.’

  44. 44

    carpeicthus

    You’re being pwn3d, John. Hard.

  45. 45

    yet another jeff

    My understanding is that the RNC has already put the first rough cut of a possible television spot together highlighting excerpts from the funeral to illustrate to Americans what utter fools dominate the Democratic party today. This should help bring about the same result as the infamous Wellstone fumeral, wherein the loons of the democratic party showed all of America what real scum looks like.

    Yeah, that’ll show America. Friends of the family at a funeral. I think RNC has a winner here.

  46. 46

    kelsey

    At my last Al Qaeda meeting we all learned a new recipe for hummus. Now while I don’t want to give away the whole recipe I will say that the secret recipe is one cup of terror.

  47. 47

    Stormy70

    Stormy, I hear your brother running up the stairs. 2.0.

    Bob – is this more of your conspiracy theory-type posting, because I don’t know what this means. But kudos for getting me to read one of your posts all the way through. I usually skip them.

    The fact is that this funeral rally makes Dems look unhinged and hate-filled. Oh, wait…

  48. 48

    Bob In Pacifica

    At the last al Qaeda meeting? Oh, Osama warned us not to identify ourselves as the “number two guy in al Qaeda” when we used our home phones to call Kabul. Some of the guys keep forgetting.

    And at the last Klan meeting you guys talk about that new fashion line of hoods and robes?

  49. 49

    Vladi G

    This should help bring about the same result as the infamous Wellstone fumeral, wherein the loons of the democratic party showed all of America what real scum looks like.

    Anyone seen DougJ lately?

  50. 50

    Mr. Grouchypants

    The RNC won’t have to make any tv spots on the funeral. All they have to do is keep complaining enough to keep the story in the news for a while. If they can keep people arguing over the political remarks long enough, those remarks will be all that people remember about the funeral.

    What I don’t understand is why the Democrats would want to politicize a funeral in a way that will probably prove to be politically damaging to them.

  51. 51

    Vladi G

    You’re not an evil Freeper, John. But you are an evil Freeper enabler.

    I’m waiting for the “It’s things like the funeral of CSK that keep me voting Republican” post.

  52. 52

    Olly McPherson

    “The fact that Lowery and one of the other presidents took the opportunity to lash out at someone there to pay their respects is a sign of simply haveing NO CLASS.”

    Someone? Give me a break. That someone is the President of the United States. I think it’s safe to say, given her history, that Mrs. King vehemently disagreed with the direction the nation’s taken in the past six yeasr. But God forbid anyone bring that up at the funeral of a POLITICAL ACTIVIST.

  53. 53

    kelsey

    “The fact that Lowery and one of the other presidents took the opportunity to lash out at someone there to pay their respects is a sign of simply haveing NO CLASS.” JC

    I confused, is pointing out the fact that there were no WMD in Iraq lashing out? Is that why people in the media are scared to bring this up to the president?

  54. 54

    Bob In Pacifica

    Hey, John, stop thinking about sticking things up my ass and get back to the subject.

    You’re right, though. If Bush hadn’t gone to the funeral people would have called him a racist. He went. People called him a racist. Guess what? When you and your buddies prevent people from voting because of the color of their skin you ARE a racist.

  55. 55

    Steve

    Had Bush not been there, you jackasses would be claiming it was proof he was racist.

    The fact that Lowery and one of the other presidents took the opportunity to lash out at someone there to pay their respects is a sign of simply haveing NO CLASS.

    Oh, I get it, it’s rude to oppose the Iraq war in front of George Bush. What the fuck? Are we really more concerned about the feelings of a political figure than the feelings of a dead woman’s friends and family?

    You seem to be assuming Rev. Lowery wouldn’t have said the exact same thing if Bush hadn’t shown up, which seems bizarre.

  56. 56

    SmilingPolitely

    Bush is the anti-thesis for everything Coreta King stood for. Him showing up was a fucking insult to her.

  57. 57

    Pb

    John Cole,

    FYI. It’s her funeral. Not yours. No one has to consult Karl Rove to find out what’s appropriate language for one’s own funeral. Yet. Although apparently that’s what you voted for. Conservative, my ass.

  58. 58

    John Cole

    I’m waiting for the “It’s things like the funeral of CSK that keep me voting Republican” post.

    I am not voting Republican in 2006.

    I am just not voting for you fucking idiots, either. You people don’t have your act together in the least, and you all think you are so different. You aren’t- you are mirror images. You would do everything the Republicans would do to win elections- it is just that your cause is ‘just,’ so that makes it acceptable.

    I will probably vote for every third party candidate on the ballot.

  59. 59

    Pb

    John Cole,

    You would do everything the Republicans would do to win elections- it is just that your cause is ‘just,’ so that makes it acceptable.

    Fuck you. Speak for yourself, asshole. I’d show you an essay I wrote about ends and means if I thought it would do you any good.

  60. 60

    Blue Neponset

    What I don’t understand is why the Democrats would want to politicize a funeral in a way that will probably prove to be politically damaging to them.

    This wasn’t a Cindy Sheehan rally, it was the funeral of a political activist. Should the Democrats have ignored the main goals of Mrs. King’s life because talking about those goals might make Bush uncomfortable? Sometimes it is more politically damaging to roll over and play dead than it is to piss a few people off.

  61. 61

    yet another jeff

    Bob? You’re talking crazy…

    Mr. Grouchypants

    What I don’t understand is why the Democrats would want to politicize a funeral in a way that will probably prove to be politically damaging to them.

    Maybe they just meant what they said…it’s a hypothesis…

    Seems reasonable to think that the funeral would have had the same speeches with or without W.

  62. 62

    Mr Furious

    Thanks for starting this thread, John. It made for some entertaining reading.

    For the record, you are way off base, but that’s as much as I’ll pile on.

  63. 63

    Steve

    John, just curious, did you actually watch the funeral? Or are you just reading the blogs and focusing on the 4 or 5 lines that touched on controversial political issues?

    I say this because I think you have to completely ignore reality to say this funeral was like a “Democratic political rally.”

    You have as much right to exercise a line-item veto over this funeral as you do to determine whether Terri Schiavo should live or die, which is to say, no right at all. When it comes to how a woman’s friends and family choose to mark her passing, that’s simply not anyone else’s business. And shame on the ghoulish Republicans for once again using a woman’s death to try and score political points.

  64. 64

    kelsey

    Heres a compromise, the next time a Republican activist dies that actually did some fucking good for the country, you can point out that there were no WMD in Iraq.

  65. 65

    Jim Allen

    I’m disappointed in you John Cole—not only are you surprised that all the activists at the funeral of a major activist would play nicey-nice just because Bush showed up, you’re surprised that so many people disagree with you.

    That’s Malkin-level stupidity.

  66. 66

    Doctor Gonzo

    Last time I checked, funerals were supposed to be about celebrating the lives of the deceased. They aren’t about how they appear on TV. They aren’t about the attendees. They aren’t about not offending somebody. They are about the PERSON WHO DIED! That’s it.

    If you don’t want to hear about a person’s politics, don’t go to their funeral. It’s that simple. I’m sick to death about Republicans telling people how to hold “proper” funerals. You know who decides what a proper funeral is? The person who is deceased and those closest to him/her. Not politicians.

    It would be a huge insult to the deceased to not make a big deal out of their lives and what they stood for. Should funerals gloss over the lives of the deceased? Only if the deceased want that, I guess. But most people don’t. I know I wouldn’t. My funeral is about my life, not the lives of those that happen to show up.

    Maybe all the funerals you have attended John were quiet, somber affairs, and you don’t see how anybody can have something different. But a lot of people don’t see it that way. When one of my closest friends died at 22, the funeral and memorial service weren’t somber affairs, because he wasn’t. To minimize his spirit would be to minimize his life.

  67. 67

    p.lukasiak

    He wasn’t engaging in political grandstanding, as four of the five living Presidents were there to PAY THEIR RESPECTS to the woman.

    except that Bush never showed the slightest respect for those things which Mrs. King believed in…. he wasn’t there to pay his “respects”, it was political grandstanding.

    What is up with your right-wing racist talking points? This is a President who has NOT gotten behind the reauthorization of the civil rights act. who has POLITICAL HACKS over-ruling the unanimous opinion of Civil Rights Division lawyers on black voting rigths decisions—and who then appoints the same hacks to the FEC.

    Its people like you who demonstrate just how racist the GOP is, and how racism is at the heart of the conservative movement that you embrace.

  68. 68

    Pb

    I watched the eulogy, and it was a great speech. Everyone there seemed to enjoy it, including a one Mr. George W. Bush. The only thing that made the “weapons of mass destruction” line notable was the standing ovation it got from the crowd.

    Then again, this wouldn’t be the first time that someone clapped for not finding weapons of mass destruction, now would it—I suggest you reprimand that joker as well. Apparently John and friends just want to throw a hissy fit to create a political issue over free speech where there should never be one—at a funeral. Sounds like something Fred Phelps would do.

  69. 69

    Ancient Purple

    The fact that Lowery and one of the other presidents took the opportunity to lash out at someone there to pay their respects is a sign of simply haveing NO CLASS.

    I’m sorry. What did Lowery say that was untruthful? Did we find WMD’s after all? Anyone have a link?

    Sorry, John, but you are not the arbitor of what is or is not appropriate at a funeral. CSK was a vocal, political activist. Vocal, political activism at her funeral seems pretty appropriate.

    Look, if your family wants people to wear Steeler colors and cry bitter tears and listen to somber music when you die, then so be it. Those are their wishes and they should be honored.

    Likewise, it was the wishes of CSK’s family and friends that Lowery speak his peace. I think they were in a better position of determining what would be appropriate at CSK’s funeral than you are.

  70. 70

    Vladi G

    Had Bush not been there, you jackasses would be claiming it was proof he was racist.

    Ya know, sometimes when a person actually IS a racist asshole, they’re damned if they do, damned if they don’t. It’s part of the territory. It’s one of the downsides to being a racist asshole. But hey, it’s something they have to deal with.

  71. 71

    SmilingPolitely

    When Cindy Sheehan dies, and you go to her funeral, John, I must warn you: people may say stuff that mind offend your sensibilities.

  72. 72

    Mr. Grouchypants

    Maybe they just meant what they said…it’s a hypothesis…

    And maybe they are just politically tone-deaf.

  73. 73

    John Cole

    My goodness- did the short bus not go to school today?

    Bush was not engaging in political grandstanding, he was fulfilling a duty. He had to be there. As duly elected President, he is not only the Chief Executive Officer of the country and the Commander-In-Chief, he is also the titular figurehead of the country. He went there representing all of us, even if you hate him and did not vote for him.

    That you knuckleheads can’t figure that out, and think it is appropriate to heap crap on George Bush the man for his policies, when he is simply there to pay his respects and serve as the figurehead for the nation, is astounding.

    George Bush has no reason to grandstand. Particularly not with the black community, who have shown they are not going to vote for him. Regardless, BUSH IS NOT RUNNING FOR ANYTHING. HE IS DONE. HE IS ALMOST A LAME DUCK. HE WILL RETIRE A PERFECT 2-0 IN THE BIG GAME.

    Someone earlier wrote that they are waiting for me to say this kind of stuff is why I vote Republican. It isn’t. But this kind of stuff is why I don’t vote more frequently for Democrats. You people are insane. You sound as hysterical and stupid as the Falwell people who were pushing tapes that Clinton had murdered dozens of people.

  74. 74

    John Cole

    Ya know, sometimes when a person actually IS a racist asshole, they’re damned if they do, damned if they don’t. It’s part of the territory. It’s one of the downsides to being a racist asshole. But hey, it’s something they have to deal with.

    So now Bush is racist?

    You people. Are you all just TRYING to make Michelle Malkin and Powerline look sane? because they do, compared to some of you. And you all know what I thnk of their crazy politics.

  75. 75

    p.lukasiak

    They aren’t about not offending somebody. They are about the PERSON WHO DIED! That’s it.

    precisely.

    Given who Mrs King was, and what she believed in, I think that if anything she would be disappointed that the funeral was not more political—- She would have wanted more of an effort made to energize and enlist people to get behind those causes in which Mrs. King believed.

    Only a white racist would think that if Mrs. King had the opportunity to speak publicly to Bush that she would not have excorciated him in no uncertain terms. And only a white racist would object to those speaking at her funeral saying to Bush what she would have said herself.

  76. 76

    yet another jeff

    What is the tone they are deaf to in this case?

  77. 77

    Jim Allen

    Maybe next time a prominent activist dies, Congress can go into emergency session to pass legislation barring any political speechifying at the funeral. I’m sure Bush would even be willing to cut short his vacation to sign it.

    I mean, they must know better than the family how end-of-life decisions should be made, right?

  78. 78

    Armando

    John:

    Whether I agree with you or not, the fact is Republicans simply do not have the moral standing on civil rights issues to critique this.

    This is one where you’ll just have to take the hit.

    Bitching about it makes it worse – for Republicans.

  79. 79

    John Cole

    Given who Mrs King was, and what she believed in, I think that if anything she would be disappointed that the funeral was not more political—- She would have wanted more of an effort made to energize and enlist people to get behind those causes in which Mrs. King believed.

    Lukasiak reading Coretta’s mind from the grave. I will remember this the next time you join me in mocking Malkin for her ‘Terri wants to LIVE!’ posts.

  80. 80

    Olly McPherson

    Somehow I don’t feel like we’re coming off as the insance ones here…

  81. 81

    Vladi G

    So now Bush is racist?

    What do you call someone who’s political strategy is to purge eligible voters from the voter rolls in a way that will overwhelmingly impact black voters? What do you call someone who push polls in a Southern state claiming his opponent has fathered a black child out of wedlock? Is there a better term for it?

  82. 82

    Bob In Pacifica

    p.lukasiak, thank you. The GOP is racist. Being the party of plutocrats, racism is but one of their many tools which they use to screw over the 98.5% of Americans who get screwed over. But it is an effective tool for them.

    I always am suspicious of people who toss around the word “class” but claim there’s no “class war” going on. It’s not that I’m poor, it’s that I haven’t learned how to behave in the presence of my betters.

    Oh, and p.l., thanks for all the heavy lifting over in Tom Maguire’s fantasyland. If I ever come down with a painful disease I want to smoke whatever those folks are using. It must be mighty good weed.

  83. 83

    Mr. Grouchypants

    The tone caused by the feedback from the Wellstone funeral.

  84. 84

    Olly McPherson

    Oops—insane.

  85. 85

    gratefulcub

    Are her kids pissed by the statements? The rest of her family? If not, then whatever they said was fine. It was her funeral, and her family knew her best. If they think she would have wanted a political statement made, then it was fine. If they believe that someone hijacked the funeral for political purposes, then it was wrong.

    If Bush doesn’t want to be beat up a little, he should know better than to show up at a civil rights leader’s funeral, and sit at center stage. I am not calling him a racist in any way, but his policies and beliefs are not compatible with hers.

    It was her funeral, and if she and her family felt comfortable with it being used as a political tool against Bush, then that is exactly what should have happened. We don’t get to tell others how to use their funerals.

  86. 86

    p.lukasiak

    Bush was not engaging in political grandstanding, he was fulfilling a duty. He had to be there.

    Really? I guess thats in the part of Article II of the constitution that they are keeping secret from us—the same part that authorizes warrantless domestic wiretaps, engaging in wars of agression, and appointing racists like Alito to the Supreme Court….

  87. 87

    ChristieS

    I watched quite a bit of the funeral, and I have to admit that my opinion on it is divided. I loved the speeches but on a personal level, I was uncomfortable watching 43 get smacked, however much I feel he deserved it. I would have preferred him not to have been there.

    I felt embarrassed for him and sorry for him that his first venture into non-handpicked venues turned out to be such a painful one.

    I have a high sympathy quotient, though.

  88. 88

    srv

    The fact that Lowery and one of the other presidents took the opportunity to lash out at someone there to pay their respects is a sign of simply haveing NO CLASS.

    Yes, you are so right. I’m sure the last thing CSK would have wanted anyone to talk about was our leadership, the war and wiretapping. She must be spinning in her grave over that. She would have no doubt been offended that anyone would be offended.

  89. 89

    John Cole

    I always am suspicious of people who toss around the word “class” but claim there’s no “class war” going on. It’s not that I’m poor, it’s that I haven’t learned how to behave in the presence of my betters.

    Jesus, Bob.

    Class as in tact, not class as in actual social standing.

    I was right. You are an idiot.

  90. 90

    Matt

    Sorry John, I disagree, Coretta and MLK would have wanted someone to say something controversial after all we’ve got a budget that the consoler in chief submitted that dramatically cuts social programs in favor of defense spending. They would have been against that and would not have sat quietly (oh and Laura Bush looked like a soul stealing robot during lowry’s speech).
    Respect is all well and good but I don’t think GW has earned it from the black activist community.

  91. 91

    gratefulcub

    What do you call someone who’s political strategy is to purge eligible voters from the voter rolls in a way that will overwhelmingly impact black voters? What do you call someone who push polls in a Southern state claiming his opponent has fathered a black child out of wedlock? Is there a better term for it?

    Someone that will do anything to win. If push polls claiming McCain was jewish, white, dressed in drag, whatever, they would have done it. It just so happens that racist talk works, so they use it.

  92. 92

    kelsey

    Perhaps the speakers at the service should not have also talked about poverty in America seeing as how GW is cutting down on government spending for lower income people. Or is that okay with you, John?

  93. 93

    p.lukasiak

    Class as in tact, not class as in actual social standing.

    you have a lot of nerve, accusing bob of being stupid while making this statement.

    Here’s a clue, John. The idea of “class” as “tact” is derived specifically from the concept of the “upper classes” having superior manners and breeding. And “breeding” is used deliberately in this context, because “class” has always had a racist component to it.

  94. 94

    John Cole

    GW is cutting down on government spending for lower income people. Or is that okay with you, John?

    I think he should be cutting spending on ALL people.

  95. 95

    gratefulcub

    Don’t you think that her kids has a hand in picking the speakers? Don’t you think that she has some influence in that decision as well? (she was elderly, and had been told she was terminal) Don’t you think that the content of the speeches may have been known to the family before the event?

    Again, if you didn’t like what was said, fine, but it wasn’t someone hijacking CSK’s funeral to make a statement. She and her family used the funeral to make one last statement. If you want to be pissed and lay some blame, put the blame where it belongs, CSK and her family.

    Personally, I won’t care what you think about any statement I use my funeral to make.

  96. 96

    gratefulcub

    Maybe she was just still pissed off by George hijacking MLK day in Memphis a few years back. When she was alive, she swallowed her pride and showed respect for the office. Why continue that charade now?

  97. 97

    Doctor Gonzo

    I also fail to see how this shows how crazy Democrats are. Was this a political rally? Was CSK a former Democratic Senator, President, Congresswoman? Was she at one point head of the party?

    Or was this just a funeral where the people who are closest to the deceased get to decide how to celebrate her life? As far as I’m concerned, anything goes at a funeral. It’s the last big, community way to celebrate a person’s life.

    Like I said, there are a lot of people who believe that funerals should be all wearing black and crying and being somber. Obviously, CSK’s friends and family aren’t those people. Neither am I. If anything other than a stereotypical funeral bothers you, don’t go! And don’t watch it on TV! And don’t tar people who want to celebrate and nitpick and pontificate and politic as “Democrats” just because you don’t think it’s proper.

  98. 98

    Jill

    The Kings have stood against almost everything this Administration stands for. Of course this would be pointed out at the funeral of the woman who carried on the work of her husband who happened to be a great force for change (for the better)in this country. Their whole lives were political. They were also illegally eavesdropped on and with Bush trying to again illegally eavesdrop on Americans it is very relevant to remember some of those inconvenient facts. As someone once said, the facts are biased against Bush, too bad.

  99. 99

    Stormy70

    As somene here in Texas supporting Katrina victims who are still in paid hotel rooms, and whose Republican friends are still donating and volunteering to help them, shut up about racism. It makes you look petty and stupid. Katrina is no longer a viable political issue in the rest of the country. But race pimps will try to keep it going so they can feed at the money trough. And ignorant Democrats will buy into it, since they can’t see beyond their own Bush Derangement Syndrome.

    This makes Dems look bad politically once again, but I guess I am thankful that today’s Democrats are too stupid to see it.

  100. 100

    kelsey

    “I think he should be cutting spending on ALL people.”

    I’m glad that is what you think, but you didn’t answer my question. I have another question for you. Corretta Scott King protested the aparteid government in South Africa. Would it have been wrong to bring this up at the service if say, Dick Cheney went in Bush’s place? Thank’s for not answering my question in advance.

  101. 101

    Vladi G

    Gonna answer my question, John?

  102. 102

    Bob In Pacifica

    John, in your world “class” is the tact of not telling the President his policies hurt poor Americans.

    The informal meaning of “class” as proper behavior arises directly out of the meaning of “class” as someone of an upper class, one who has been schooled in etiquette and other social graces necessary to perform in the court of the nobility.

    So, chump, when you talk about class out of one side of your mouth, ignore issues of class on the other, and don’t understand the derivation of the fucking word, YOU don’t get it.

    By the way, wanting to stick a boot up my ass is class in the brown-shirt crowd, but it doesn’t advance your argument.

  103. 103

    SmilingPolitely

    applause

  104. 104

    Bob In Pacifica

    “I think he should be cutting spending on ALL people.”-John Cole.

    You see, that’s how the ass-half of the Republican-Libertarian shell game works.

    Rip off the country for the benefit of the rich, and then cut spending on everyone, whether they’re billionaires or starving.

    Ah, Grover Norquist!

  105. 105

    Pb

    Stormy,

    Racism isn’t just a political issue, and it didn’t start or end with Katrina. And no, people won’t “shut up about racism”, nor should they. However, thank you (and your friends) for helping the Katrina victims—I think far too many people who aren’t close to this don’t realize how much help they still need, five months later.

  106. 106

    Krista

    Are her kids pissed by the statements? The rest of her family? If not, then whatever they said was fine. It was her funeral, and her family knew her best. If they think she would have wanted a political statement made, then it was fine. If they believe that someone hijacked the funeral for political purposes, then it was wrong.

    I agree with that completely. I’m not going to try to guess at Bush’s motives for going there. I don’t know the man. Maybe it was political posturing, maybe he thought it was the right thing to do, maybe he was there for the post-funeral buffet. I don’t know. But I presume that CSK’s family would have previewed the eulogy. So if they were cool with it, and felt that it was a fitting tribute, then that should be the end of it. It’s nobody else’s damned business to decide if it was appropriate or not.

  107. 107

    John Cole

    So, chump, when you talk about class out of one side of your mouth, ignore issues of class on the other, and don’t understand the derivation of the fucking word, YOU don’t get it.

    By the way, wanting to stick a boot up my ass is class in the brown-shirt crowd, but it doesn’t advance your argument.

    You really are a piece of work. Of course I understand that the colloquial term ‘class’ is derived from class standing, but that is not what the colloquial means. I was quite clearly talking about tact, decency, and manners, and you inject social standing into the discussion. No one is too poor or too uneducated to have manners, just as no one is too poor to pick up their yard.

    And the boot reference was to your calling me a bootlicker, jackass.

    Vladi- What question?

  108. 108

    richard

    My wife’s comment: “It was Coretta King, not Larry King. What did Bush think they were going to talk about?”
    The Kings spent their lives opposing the kinds of divisive and destructive politics that Bush personifies. It would have been an insult to them not to have spoken out at an occasion that was a celebration of Coretta King’s beliefs and work. There’s no credible argument that propriety should be supreme at a public occasion like this, given that occasion’s subject. She spent her life in a defiant, oppositional, public role and the faux-outcry on the right is a transparent attempt to silence her in death.

  109. 109

    John Cole

    I agree with that completely. I’m not going to try to guess at Bush’s motives for going there.

    Umm. He is is the POTUS and the titular figurehead for the entire nation. We don’t have Prince Charles to dispatch to every funeral.

  110. 110

    John

    It makes you look petty and stupid. Katrina is no longer a viable political issue in the rest of the country.

    Stormy,

    Exactly how done deaf do you have to be to call a group “petty and stupid” and immediately proceed to treat a large class of displaced Americans as counters in a cheap game?

    Just sayin’ is all.

  111. 111

    M. Scott Eiland

    And the winner of the Most Idiotic Moonbat Meme of the Year for the FIFTH year running is. . .?

    “You can’t tell us how to mourn!”

    One has to be glad that the lunatics burning down embassies right now aren’t claiming to be mourning (Mohammed, presumably—Cindy Sheehan proves that there’s no time limit on the licensing of deranged behavior by the professioner lefty mourner), or they’d have a whole new group of overt supporters.

  112. 112

    ET

    It was her funereral and frankly she could have had it the way she and her family wanted it. If they wanted it political or not was their perrogative. When you die you and your family get it the way you want to. The funeral was about her and her life not about others and what they want.

    Sure I think it was a little over the top and it would not have been the way I would have planned her funeral if I was a family member but I’m not, so I have no right at all to get worked up over it.

    Heck many people would find the jazz funderals tacky. All that music and celebrating is quite dignified for such a “solemn” occasion.

  113. 113

    kelsey

    Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t Dick Cheney vote against the MLK holiday? If he did, then does that mean that the speakers at the service could not have brought up the day without offending Cheney?

  114. 114

    John

    Umm. He is is the POTUS and the titular figurehead for the entire nation. We don’t have Prince Charles to dispatch to every funeral.

    I didn’t read the motive question as “I have no idea why he went” but instead as “It’s none of my business why he went there, plus it’s immaterial.”

  115. 115

    Doctor Gonzo

    And the winner of the Most Idiotic Moonbat Meme of the Year for the FIFTH year running is. . .?

    Um, yes, because when religious fundamentalists burn embassies and kill people it is completely analogous to a funeral eulogy.

    Just a heads up, M. Scott Eiland: you probably won’t like my funeral, so if talking about a deceased person’s true beliefs bothers you, please don’t attend.

  116. 116

    Pb

    M. Scott Eiland,

    Are you serious? Either that was the worst spoof I’ve ever seen, or the dumbest comment I’ve ever seen, and I’d like to know which one it is.

  117. 117

    Bob In Pacifica

    Yeah, bootlicker: one who worships the powerful. That often seems to inform your opinions. One who threatens to stick a boot up someone else’s ass: loser of an argument.

    And yes, you still don’t get it about class.

  118. 118

    SeesThroughIt

    Since he’s not, conservatives whitewash his legacy

    Oh, they aren’t just trying to whitewash his legacy, Steve. Some are now trying to claim that MLK’s legacy is a conservative one. Seriously. Up is down, night is day, and MLK has a conservative legacy. It’s right up there with the recent attempts to claim that Hitler was a leftist.

  119. 119

    Steve

    Bush was not engaging in political grandstanding, he was fulfilling a duty. He had to be there. As duly elected President, he is not only the Chief Executive Officer of the country and the Commander-In-Chief, he is also the titular figurehead of the country. He went there representing all of us, even if you hate him and did not vote for him.

    Oh, he had to be there.

    Did Lyndon Johnson go to MLK’s funeral? No, he sure didn’t.

    But I have a feeling they would have talked about the Vietnam War whether he did or didn’t, because the anti-war cause was something MLK believed in very strongly.

    I think John understands by now that he has no case on the merits, though, because he’s now turned to cherry-picking some of the more over-the-top comments and saying, “See! This is why I will never vote for you guys!” That’s always the last line of defense.

    I’m glad John saw through all the BS with Terri Schiavo but I’m disappointed he doesn’t understand this is more of the same. A bunch of shameless conservatives pick a few lines out of a funeral service that went on for hours and had dozens of speakers, wave them around as evidence of how bad Democrats are, and he lets himself get sucked right into the faux outrage.

    40 years ago conservatives used to attack the leaders of the civil rights movement for raising their issues in inappropriate ways. Not much has changed.

  120. 120

    yet another jeff

    And the winner of the Most Idiotic Moonbat Meme of the Year for the FIFTH year running is. . .?

    “You can’t tell us how to mourn!”

    One has to be glad that the lunatics burning down embassies right now aren’t claiming to be mourning (Mohammed, presumably—Cindy Sheehan proves that there’s no time limit on the licensing of deranged behavior by the professioner lefty mourner), or they’d have a whole new group of overt supporters.

    “You can’t tell us how to mourn” has won for 5 years? Are you trying to win the coveted Straw Man award?

    John is usually reasonable, even when wrong, but you’re just the flip side of Bob in Pacifica.

    If the family is cool with it, then that’s that.

  121. 121

    Blue Neponset

    And the winner of the Most Idiotic Moonbat Meme of the Year for the FIFTH year running is. . .?

    Uh oh, the funs over everyone M. Scott Eiland showed up.

  122. 122

    ImJohnGalt

    Given that his VP voted against making MLK day a national holiday, it doesn’t surprise me that those in attendance, many of whom had devoted their entire lives to advancing the cause of civil rights, might be a bit antagonistic to the current administration.

    That said, didn’t former FBI director Sessions make a few comments about wiretapping? Why isn’t he being castigated? Because he’s white?

    As I saw written elsewhere, Bush is looking for a purple heart from a self inflicted political wound, here.

  123. 123

    srv

    Since DougJ isn’t here:

    Carter bringing up JFK/RFK’s wiretapping of MLK and CSK was completely classless and offensive to Kennedy family members present. After all they have done, to be reminded again of what happens when administrations have no oversight.

  124. 124

    unreasonable

    I’m curious, John Cole. If it turns out that Mrs. King wanted her funeral used as a vehicle for reinforcing her beliefs, and she asked her friends to speak out for what she saw as wrongs and injustices—would you think she had no class?

  125. 125

    Bob In Pacifica

    yet another Jeff, I’m sure the usually reasonable John appreciates your gratuitous shot. I’d like to stick around, but the sun is up here on the California coast, so I’m going to take a walk up in the hills.

  126. 126

    kelsey

    So John, if Cheney went could the speakers still have brought up King’s work to end the aparteid in South Africa and her husband’s holiday even though Cheney opposed her? Or are we just mad because current events came up that King worked against? I’m just asking.

  127. 127

    John

    John,

    You called the comments “political trash talk”. Why?

    MLK and CSK were political, yes? Did they or did they not spend their lives standing up for equality, the poor, the dowtrodden and against the abuses of government?

    Could you imagine CSK herself talking about the “weapons of mass distraction” or discussing what it is like to be wiretapped by the government? I can. So why is it inappropriate for those close to her to talk about them? Is it because Bush was in attendance?

    I thought he handled himself with dignity, in what must have been a profoundly uncomfortable situation for him, but the funeral was not about him. It was about CSK, and her life, and her beliefs. I heard nothing yesterday that struck me as anything I wouldn’t have her her say.

  128. 128

    MI

    Unbelievable that anyone should try to tell the friends and family of the deceased what they can say at a funeral. Just unbelievable.

    The Kings fought their whole lives for an end to racism, an end to poverty, an end to war. Because President Bush invited himself to the funeral, they are supposed to CHANGE THE EULOGY to not offend him?

    The people in attendance at the funeral sure didn’t look offended. If you were offended, you know what, change the channel. Don’t sit there and demand they redo a great woman’s funeral to suit YOUR view of what’s appropriate.

    This is all just a reminder that if MLK were alive today, he would be considered ten times the enemy of America that Michael Moore is. Since he’s not, conservatives whitewash his legacy, act like he was this noble bipartisan hero who only fought for values that all of us believe in, and misuse his name whenever convenient to support one of their causes, like opposition to affirmative action.

    I don’t think I have ever seen anything so disgusting as the way conservatives have tried to score points by attacking the way this funeral was run. If they want to see a more “appropriate” funeral, they can go drop dead themselves.

    a-freakin-men. 98% of the time I make an effort to be civil and “moderate” in my tone here, not just because it’s polite but because (don’t laugh) I think it’s what’s good for the country. But since no one is perfect and we’re allowed to lose it once is a while, let me just say that goddamn I hate these fucking people.

  129. 129

    Krista

    Umm. He is is the POTUS and the titular figurehead for the entire nation. We don’t have Prince Charles to dispatch to every funeral.

    I didn’t read the motive question as “I have no idea why he went” but instead as “It’s none of my business why he went there, plus it’s immaterial.”

    You read it right. Don’t know the man’s inner workings. He might have wanted to go, he might have been told to go for his image. Don’t know. Don’t care. Doesn’t matter. If the family’s cool with what was said, then that’s all that matters to me. When I die, if my family decides that I would have wanted a naked midget to dance on a table while calling God a complete prick, then nobody else should have anything to say about it.

    Actually…now that I think about it, I would like that.

  130. 130

    t. jasper parnell

    Mr Cole says:

    Yeah, I remember the scorching stemwinders aimed at Democrats attending reagan’s funeral.

    You people have no class.

    Surely there is a difference between an American president, who represent everyone left right and center, and the political activist?

    Surely as well, you cannot mean to suggest the occastion of President Reagan’s death was not used to remind all an sundry of his accomplishments in a manner complimentary to them and derogatory to those who rejected them.

    Why the near-endless replaying of Mr. Reagan’s “Tutu? So So,” quote was in and of itself a reminder of his political position and the sosoness of those who stood opposite of him. Granted, it was paraded as evidence of his wit, but surely other non-partisan examples might have been selected.

    I find it odd, as well, that Mr. Cole refers to some “you people” as having no class. Do you intend here commentators on this site who disagree with you? In which case, are you not equating class with agreement with your positions? Or are the “you people” those at the funeral who classlessly “politicized” the funeeral of a political activist? If the latter, can you provide an example of such a funeral that does not have politcal overtones, as I just mentioned, Mr. Reagan’s funeral did have political overtones, his son Ron’s remarks just leapt to mind.

  131. 131

    yet another jeff

    Gratuitous shot? Oh no, that was most essential to the plot, I assure you.

    I saw nothing wrong with what was said, nor anything wrong with how W. handled himself. The new meme, however is rather classless. The classy thing to do if you find someone’s actions classless is to rise above it.

  132. 132

    Vladi G

    just as no one is too poor to pick up their yard.

    Well, the people who are too poor to own property are too poor to pick up their yard.

    Vladi- What question?

    I want to know what you call someone who takes affirmative steps to purge legal voters from the voter rolls knowing that the manner in which it is done will have heavily disproportionate effect on black voters. I want to know what you call someone who push polls in a Southern state claiming their opponent has fathered an illegitimate black child.

    You said Bush wasn’t racist. So I want to know what term you use to describe someone who does the above if “racist” isn’t it.

  133. 133

    ImJohnGalt

    If only the Republicans had stepped in and prevented Mrs. King from dying with an act of Congress, none of us would even be talking about this.

  134. 134

    gratefulcub

    HE HAD TO GO. Really, Bush had to go to the funeral. If he hadn’t, it would have been a huge story about his disrespect for the black community. He wasn’t grandstanding, or using it for politics. He had to go. He didn’t want to be there any more than they wanted him to be there. It was a bite the bullet moment for W. He had to go, and he had to be in a room where others were speaking and they weren’t hand picked for a ‘town hall format’. Unfortunate for him.

    But, even though he was there, it was still her funeral. And she and her family used it just like they wanted to, as is their right. She was a woman that fought against all odds her entire life, and when things looked the darkest, she kept fighting. Why is anyone surprised that she kept fighting, even at her funeral.

  135. 135

    p.lukasiak

    Shorter John Cole….

    That uppitty Negro Reverend Lowery didn’t know his place in front of important white folk like President Bush… Those black people just don’t know how to act when white people honor them with their presence.

  136. 136

    Zifnab

    The sad thing is when people get all huffed up after watching five minutes of excerpts on FOX News while listening to an hour of whining by “analysts”.

    Perhaps if you sat through the full two hour eulogy on CSPAN or PBS you have room to talk. But so far, all I’ve seen is parroting of the party line with the old “how dare Democrats politize a civil rights leader’s funneral”, “how dare those black people forget what they owe the Republican party”, and my favorite “How dare Democrats claim to be pro-civil rights”.

    So many “How dare you’s”, it would be nice if the talking heads channeled that furry into doing something productive.

  137. 137

    Bob In Pacifica

    Class act: illegal domestic spying, started BEFORE 9/11.

    Judging from what I saw on the news, the new meme is “How dare they?”

  138. 138

    gratefulcub

    Shorter John Cole….

    That uppitty Negro Reverend Lowery didn’t know his place in front of important white folk like President Bush… Those black people just don’t know how to act when white people honor them with their presence.

    I’m embarrassed to be on your side.

  139. 139

    Blue Neponset

    p.lukasiak,

    That uppitty Negro Reverend Lowery didn’t know his place in front of important white folk like President Bush… Those black people just don’t know how to act when white people honor them with their presence.

    That comment is way out of line. If you believe John thinks like that why the hell do you participate on his blog?

  140. 140

    Bob In Pacifica

    “p.lukasiak Says:

    Shorter John Cole….

    That uppitty Negro Reverend Lowery didn’t know his place in front of important white folk like President Bush… Those black people just don’t know how to act when white people honor them with their presence.”

    Ah, but p., that’s CLASS! ‘Scuse me, I gotta go pick up the yard Before Mr. Cole gets angry.

  141. 141

    Doctor Gonzo

    What about the flip side? What if it was a funeral for somebody who believed very strongly in the war in Iraq and their eulogy talked about John Doe strongly believed in the war and wanted to see its goals fulfilled? Would those comments be offensive to any anti-war people in the crowd? Would this be politicizing the funeral?

    No, it wouldn’t. Like I said, anything goes at a funeral. People have just as much a right to make their funeral a big bash for Bush if they wanted to. I don’t care. It’s not my business.

  142. 142

    M. Scott Eiland

    “You can’t tell us how to mourn” has won for 5 years? Are you trying to win the coveted Straw Man award?

    It’s a tenacious competitor, as well as being really, well, idiotic:

    2002: “Republicans stole the election in MN by telling us how to mourn!”

    2003-2004: Nostalgic whining by lefties in blog comments sections about how Republicans stole the 2002 Senate election in MN by “telling people how to mourn.” Even in diluted form, the meme remains deeply idiotic.

    2005: CINDY! “She’s mourning—you don’t have a right to criticize her.”

    2006: Five years and running strong! “Of course it’s appropriate to take shots at a sitting president when he’s there to pay respects to the life of a noted civil rights leader—it’s a shame we didn’t think of doing this when Rosa Parks passed on!”

  143. 143

    Pb

    gratefulcub,

    HE HAD TO GO. Really, Bush had to go to the funeral. If he hadn’t, it would have been a huge story about his disrespect for the black community.

    I don’t see why he had to go. Heck, he isn’t even trying to get re-elected now, not that you’d know it from his recent SOTU/bad poll numbers tour. Couldn’t he just have had a scheduling conflict or something?

    That having been said, I’m glad he showed up, and appeared to have a good time, unlike some people currently whining about it who weren’t even there.

  144. 144

    Edmund Dantes

    CARLSON: It’s not hard to hear that [your remarks] and not draw the obvious conclusion that that’s an attack on President Bush, which of course is your right to do, and I think completely fair. But again, it seemed very uncomfortable to say something like that in a funeral with the president right there. It seemed like bad manners.

    LOWERY: Well, I don’t think so. I certainly didn’t intend for it to be bad manners. I did intend for it to — to call attention to the fact that Mrs. King spoke truth to power. And here was an opportunity to demonstrate how she spoke truth to power about this war and about all wars.

    And I think that, in the context of the faith, out of which the movement grows, we have always opposed war. We’ve always fought poverty. And we base our — our argument on — on the faith, on the fact that Jesus taught us. He identified with the poor. “I was hungry; you didn’t feed me. I was naked; you didn’t clothe me. I was in prison; you didn’t see about me.” He talked about war. He talked about he who lives by the sword.

    So I’m comfortable with the fact that I was reflecting on Mrs. King’s tenacity against war, her determination to witness against war and to speak truth to power.

    Rest of it is here

  145. 145

    M. Scott Eiland

    That comment is way out of line. If you believe John thinks like that why the hell do you participate on his blog?

    I’m still trying to figure out why John participates in this blog these days. It’s a lot easier to understand why people take swings at a nice inviting pinata than why the pinata, when given a choice, wouldn’t pack up his paper mache and move on.

  146. 146

    MI

    p.lukasiak, obviously that’s not what John believes, but it is what he’s saying, he just doesn’t realize it. It’s kind of like his post a few days ago about how smokers don’t realize how much they stink. Guys like John don’t have any actual malice in their heart in regards to race/class issues, they just don’t….get it.

    I didn’t get the WP in Fallujah shit, so I deferred to the experts and backed John as he rightfully called out ignorant people howling about chemical weapons and war crimes. Well this is a version of that, you don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about, so shut the fuck up and let the people who knew Coretta Scott King conduct her funeral the way they see fit.

  147. 147

    Edmund Dantes

    Link failed for some reason.

    Try here

    http://thinkprogress.org/2006/.....-responds/

  148. 148

    Mr Furious

    Didn’t Bush spend his MLK Day last year recess-appointing two racist judges to the federal bench?

    Fuck him.

    This was a lose/lose for him—if he attends, he might be exposed to some hostility, if he doesn’t he opens himself up for criticism—boo fucking hoo. That’s part of the job. Considering he spends the other 364 days of the year surrounded by nothing but yes-men and sycophants, he can suck it up for an hour or two.

  149. 149

    yet another jeff

    M Scott,

    I think maybe you’re reaching just a tad.

  150. 150

    John Cole

    That uppitty Negro Reverend Lowery didn’t know his place in front of important white folk like President Bush… Those black people just don’t know how to act when white people honor them with their presence.

    And thus it is with the left-wing race pimps. I have not been bashful about my contempt for the homophobes and the racists who do tend to vote Republican, but these folks like Lukasiak who use race for their own political gain are just as disgusting.

    I discussed I think it was classless for Lowery and Carter to make political harangues at a funeral, and all of a sudden, to the race pimps, this is about me telling ‘uppity negroes’ what to do. I thought Clinton was the first black president, not Carter.

    But the race hucksters like Lukasiak know they have to do this- if the African-American community leaves the Democratic, umm, plantation, if you will, the fragile coalition that has kept the Democrats hovering at around 49% of the electorate will be destroyed.

    In order to do so, whenever race can be exploited, it is. And thus, degenerate scum like Lukasiak do their best to tar people like me as racist. And I have no way to defend myself, other than engaging in silly exercises like listing my black friends. How degrading for me and them.

    Fuck you, P. Lukasiak.

  151. 151

    MI

    As far as the second tier argument going on about whether Bush should or shouldn’t have been there. Just my initial gut reaction tells me it’s appropriate he attended. I don’t think he was there as “President Bush” I think he was there as just a “President.” Kind of like acknowledging that her life’s work (you know, what they shouldn’t have brought up at her funeral) garnered the appearance of a President. That’s my take anyway.

  152. 152

    Brian

    Sure, John. You have a deal. We won’t bitch about opportunistic and tasteless grandstanding at funerals when it stops happening. No cause….no effect.

    And Bob in Pacifica?....Go to hell, please. I don’t appreciate your “GOP is racist” comment. I doubt you care that I don’t appreciate it. But that sort of sweeping generalization and ad hominem is synonymous with the Left, so while I am not surprised you participate in that sort of lazy intellectualism, you won’t get away with it. If I saw you in person, I’d knock your teeth out.

  153. 153

    Blue Neponset

    I’m still trying to figure out why John participates in this blog these days. It’s a lot easier to understand why people take swings at a nice inviting pinata than why the pinata, when given a choice, wouldn’t pack up his paper mache and move on.

    LOL, have you ever said anything nice about anyone? Who besides M. Scott Eiland lives up to your high standards?

  154. 154

    Lines

    Ooooh, look at big man Brian.

    Hey Brian, I’d take you up on that challenge. And I don’t particularly think you’d enjoy the experience.

    So shut up and sit down

  155. 155

    MI

    John, you’re going to give me a heart attack here, seriously. She dedicated her life to being a social and political activist. How can her celebrate her life without talking about social and political activism? It’s what defined her public person.

  156. 156

    Vladi G

    But that sort of sweeping generalization and ad hominem is synonymous with the Left

    Am I the only person who finds it hilarious that Brian makes a sweeping generalization about “the Left” in order to complain about their sweeping generalizations?

  157. 157

    MI

    Alright we’re getting way away from the point now, but..

    But that sort of sweeping generalization and ad hominem is synonymous with the Left

    This kind of thing makes me want to tear my hair out. On what planet do you live where sweeping generalizations and ad hominem attacks are unique to one political persuasion?

    People on the right call us unpatriotic, terrorist sympathizes who hate America. We call you on the right, fascist, theocon racists who hate poor people. We’re all wrong, we’re all full of shit, we’re all hurting America. For the love of God in heaven, stop with this “the left” nonsense, even if for the sake of my hair!

  158. 158

    ppGaz

    You people don’t have your act together

    Several days now of this. “You people” are idiots. Stupid. Classless. Clueless. Don’t have your act together. I’m misunderstood. How dare you disagree with me? etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc

    Honestly, all snark and kidding aside, you are in a rut of basically showing the majority of your commentariat no respect. News flash, John: People are not just a bunch of derogatory adjectives just because they don’t agree with you.

    Would it fucking kill you to once in a while stand back from your favorite opinion and consider the possibility that there might be other viewpoints?

    Ah, never mind. Waste of breath here.

  159. 159

    Steve

    I don’t think it’s fair to say the Republican Party is racist, any more than you could accurately say the Democratic Party is not racist. Both parties have a history, and if you’re going to generalize about the institution, you don’t get to ignore that history.

    But the conservative movement has consistently been opposed to the cause of racial and economic equality. That’s a generalization I will gladly make. It doesn’t mean all conservatives are racist – when a white guy doesn’t want to lose his job to a black guy, it’s not necessarily because he believes the black guy is inferior, it’s more that he wants the job.

    But it’s a fact that the conservative movement has always been on the opposite side of every issue Coretta Scott King spent her life fighting for. No wonder the movement conservatives are out in force trying to shout down her friends and family for bringing up those issues.

  160. 160

    yet another jeff

    Nope, Vladi…that was pretty funny.

  161. 161

    Faux News

    Had Bush not been there, you jackasses would be claiming it was proof he was racist.

    WOW! Now you are a the Miss Cleo of the blogs! You can predeict the future!

    You are nothing but a shrill, pathetic, boot licking toady of the Republican Party. Stop hiding behind your so called “Libertarian” status. You are no libertarian.

    You and Stormy should have a long water boarding session. It would make you both feel better and calm you down.

  162. 162

    Bob In Pacifica

    For Brian,

    GOP: kicks African Americans off voter rolls to get Bush elected. Uses racist push polls to get Bush past the SC primary. Cuts government funds that proportionally aid poor people of color as well as poor white people. Bush DOJ appointees support the Delay reapportionment in Texas which adversely affects minorities. Katrina, both before and after. Bush DOJ appointees supporting the motor voter bill in Georgia which will further weed black people from the voter rolls. Cheney. And on.

    I’m glad you don’t appreciate the “GOP is racist” comment. That suggests that you are not totally devoid of the most basic levels of human decency and are offended when your participation in a racist organization calls into question your beliefs. That’s good. Now do something about it, like wake up.

  163. 163

    kelsey

    John, I don’t think you are a racist, but I wish you would answer my question. If Cheney was there should the speakers have brought up King’s work against the apartheid in South Africa and her husband’s holiday even though he worked against her, or do you just care about current events? Like I said, I don’t think you are a racist, maybe just a hypocrite.

  164. 164

    yet another jeff

    Damn, but that “uppity” thing is horrifying and embarrassing. Do any people that matter still think that way, or are people just accused of it? P. Lukasiak won’t make me vote for Republican…but dude…don’t say shit like that. That ain’t right.

  165. 165

    Laura

    Unbelievable that anyone should try to tell the friends and family of the deceased what they can say at a funeral. Just unbelievable.

    The Kings fought their whole lives for an end to racism, an end to poverty, an end to war. Because President Bush invited himself to the funeral, they are supposed to CHANGE THE EULOGY to not offend him?

    The people in attendance at the funeral sure didn’t look offended. If you were offended, you know what, change the channel. Don’t sit there and demand they redo a great woman’s funeral to suit YOUR view of what’s appropriate.

    This is all just a reminder that if MLK were alive today, he would be considered ten times the enemy of America that Michael Moore is. Since he’s not, conservatives whitewash his legacy, act like he was this noble bipartisan hero who only fought for values that all of us believe in, and misuse his name whenever convenient to support one of their causes, like opposition to affirmative action.

    I don’t think I have ever seen anything so disgusting as the way conservatives have tried to score points by attacking the way this funeral was run. If they want to see a more “appropriate” funeral, they can go drop dead themselves.

    This is all that needs to be said.

  166. 166

    Bob In Pacifica

    Like I said earlier, John Cole likes his funerals going according to the script, just like his Super Bowls.

  167. 167

    Blue Neponset

    I think Professor Bainbridge got it right:

    The blogosphere is buzzing with reactions to the criticisms Rev. Joseph Lowery and ex-President Jimmy Carter launched at President Bush during the Coretta Scott King funeral. My take? First off, it’s hardly surprising that the funeral of a political figure turns political. Second, it’s hardly surprising that a Republican President is criticized by far-left speakers at the funeral of a figure closely associated with the Democratic Party. Third, Bush should have known it was coming, since avoiding situations like this presumably is why he’s ducked appearing at NAACP conventions. Fourth, many of those bloggers criticizing Lowery and Carter for speaking truth to power were the same ones praising Powerline’s Paul Mirengoff for posing tough questions to Senators Kennedy and Durbin.

  168. 168

    John Cole

    If Cheney was there should the speakers have brought up King’s work against the apartheid in South Africa and her husband’s holiday even though he worked against her, or do you just care about current events? Like I said, I don’t think you are a racist, maybe just a hypocrite.

    I don’t think Cheney ‘supported’ Apartheid, so much as he was more concerned about the larger Communist issue of the time. Suffice it to say, I think we all would agree that he was on the wrong side of the issue, despite his weak, comedowns since and his justification of the position. I still don;t think he ‘supported’ apartheid, though.

    Regardless, this is irrelevant. Cheney wasn’t at the funeral, they didn’t discuss apartheid, and it has nothing to do with the issue at hand.

  169. 169

    jg

    There are people who believe a first step in righting this country is to send the blacks back to africa and the mexicans back across the border then seal the border. These people see the republican party as the one that’ll accomplish this. These people are against welfare because it keeps lazy minorities lazy, its a waste of their tax dollars to support crack habits.

    There are people who don’t like minorities, jews, muslims, europeans, japanese, hispanics or gays and trust me these people vote republican for the most part. They see like minded individuals in that party.

    The republican party isn’t racist but it attracts them.

  170. 170

    ppGaz

    The greatest danger to democracy is that the President of the United States might have to go to a black funeral and listen to people say things he doesn’t want to hear.

    God bless the Republican Party for standing up for what’s right, and standing up for the dignity of black funerals!

  171. 171

    John Cole

    Fourth, many of those bloggers criticizing Lowery and Carter for speaking truth to power were the same ones praising Powerline’s Paul Mirengoff for posing tough questions to Senators Kennedy and Durbin.

    A.) I don’t think I have ever praised Mirengoff regarding anything (or Kennedy, for that matter, although I have defended Durbin).

    B.) What funeral was Mirengoff at when he used the lecturn to harangue Kennedy and Durbin from the lectern with ‘tough questions.’

  172. 172

    John Cole

    The greatest danger to democracy

    New strawman of the year contender.

  173. 173

    p.lukasiak

    p.lukasiak, obviously that’s not what John believes, but it is what he’s saying, he just doesn’t realize it. It’s kind of like his post a few days ago about how smokers don’t realize how much they stink. Guys like John don’t have any actual malice in their heart in regards to race/class issues, they just don’t….get it.

    Maybe its not what John wants to believe, and maybe its not “malice” in his heart, but lets face it. John is agressive in his “not getting it” especially on racial issues. This is a “class” issue—Bush is part of the white, male, political class that (in John’s world) blacks must suck-up to in public. To John, Bush was “honoring” Mrs. King, and when a important white man like Bush honors a black woman, well, that’s all that’s important.

    Her life, her,/i> legacy, and her beliefs are secondary. The white man shows up, and the concerns of the black woman whose life was being honored no longer mattered.

    Maybe its not malice—but it is ignorance arising out of bigotry.

  174. 174

    Par R

    Mr. Furious says: “Didn’t Bush spend his MLK Day last year recess-appointing two racist judges to the federal bench?

    “Fuck him.”

    Obviously, we have in Mr. Furious the very epitome of an individual with no class…no brains…no prospects…no hope whatsoever. One wonders why such a person doesn’t just overdose and be done with it. It’s quite clear that society would be better of without such useless scum.

  175. 175

    Richard Bottoms

    A political speech at the funeral of a political woman. What a shock. Bush had to go, to do otherwise would have damaged what little credibility Republicans have with the black community. (Hey 3% voting for you is better than 0%).

    Having been black 51 years as of four days ago, this IS how we act at funerals. We wail, and cry and get all hyperbolic.

    That’s just us.

    If the smirking chimp had to get a little uncomfortable under the collar, well TFB.

    As for John, no he is not a racist, and I am glad has the guts to acknoledge the homophobic and thinly veiled appeals made with the code words of the Republican party.

    On this subject however, he is just wrong. When a political activist dies, their passing is used to further their beliefs. From Ghandi to Kennedy, it’s no surprise.

  176. 176

    ppGaz

    Who knew that George Bush had more class than his apologista spin-monkeys? The guy went in there, took his lumps, and acted like a gracious leader.

    I didn’t know he had that in him. But I did know that that his blogmonkeys didn’t have it in them. I see them and their “work” every fucking day.

    If I were George Bush, the first thing I would do today is fire all of my advisors and spinmonkeys and hire some people with class and balls. I’d say look, stop trying to protect me from the people. I’m the president of all the people, and I don’t want a bunch of hyenas working for me who will cry “foul” every time the people get to be heard in front of me.

    With that attitude, he could have his approval rating back in the 60’s by this time next year.

  177. 177

    ppGaz

    New strawman of the year contender.

    Have you totally lost it? It was sarcasm, you moron.

    Jesus, you need to shut this thing down for a week and get drunk and get laid.

  178. 178

    MI

    p.lukasiak, I don’t know how long you’ve been reading this site, but that’s not John at all. What you’re describing certainly exists, but not here IMO.

  179. 179

    Doctor Gonzo

    Was the “harangue” something besides the crack about not finding WMDs? Was Bush mentioned by name by anybody? I didn’t see the funeral so I don’t know.

  180. 180

    p.lukasiak

    Cole wrote:

    I don’t think Cheney ‘supported’ Apartheid, so much as he was more concerned about the larger Communist issue of the time.

    see? Christ, the guy is even acting as an apologist for supporters of apartheid now! Cheney voted against imposing sanctions on the apartheid regime of South Africa, and “fear of communism” doesn’t cut it as an excuse for refusing to sanctions the racist South African government.

  181. 181

    ppGaz

    Was Bush mentioned by name

    No.

    Didn’t see all of it, but no, he was not mentioned in regard to the WMDs.

    Came pretty close though with the mention of wiretaps. That’s about as topical as it gets.

    Now keep in mind that you are talking about a president who JOKED about not finding WMDs, even as people were getting their legs blown off over there in a war ginned up over WMDs. Joked about it. So, you want to consider that when you hear these fucking morons over here using the word “class.” They wouldn’t know “class” if you shoved it up their asses.

  182. 182

    kelsey

    “Regardless, this is irrelevant. Cheney wasn’t at the funeral, they didn’t discuss apartheid, and it has nothing to do with the issue at hand.”

    I know Cheney wasn’t at the funeral, I was asking you to use you as a hypothetical. It is not uncommon for the VP to be sent to these things as the substitute figurehead. Use your imagination. Secondly, the fact that you think they didn’t discuss apartheid shows that you probably only watched one minute of the whole service. But thanks again for responding by not answering my question.

  183. 183

    Stormy70

    In sum, Bush got dissed to his face in public. BFD. He’s a big boy and ought to be able to take it. Indeed, if I were in Bush’s shoes right now, I’d be pretty happy about it. Just as the Wellstone funeral fired up the GOP base in 2004, this episode has fired up Bush’s base. In other words, this is a win-win for Bush. He gets some credit from moderates for showing up and gets lots of support from the base for being insulted. Given how rocky Bush’s standing is these days, maybe he ought to seek out opportunities to be publicly criticized.

    The rest of the Bainbridge quote. The Dems look stupid politically once again. Even the NY TImes sees the problem in the feckless Democratic party.
    I do like Nancy Pelosi’s plan of continuing to offer “nothing” as the party platform. Go Nancy.

  184. 184

    p.lukasiak

    p.lukasiak, I don’t know how long you’ve been reading this site, but that’s not John at all. What you’re describing certainly exists, but not here IMO.

    Check out the number of posts John has done about Al Sharpton. Compare it to the number of posts about Coretta Scott King, or Julian Bond, or Bill Grey or any number of mainstream black civil rights leaders.

    ....then get back to me.

  185. 185

    Stormy70

    see? Christ, the guy is even acting as an apologist for supporters of apartheid now! Cheney voted against imposing sanctions on the apartheid regime of South Africa, and “fear of communism” doesn’t cut it as an excuse for refusing to sanctions the racist South African government.

    Shouldn’t you be at the Kinkos with the next batch of conspiracy memos. Calling Dan Rather, stat.

  186. 186

    ppGaz

    Bush got dissed to his face in public. BFD. He’s a big boy and ought to be able to take it.

    Well, the beauty part is, he did take it. Took it like a man and acted leader-like and uncharacteristically big.

    Unlike his groveling monkeys and monkettes.

  187. 187

    jg

    Poor Bush. He just can’t go anywhere in peace. Then again if you spend the first five years of your presidency avoiding having to face the people you’re fucking with it will blow up when they get a chance.

  188. 188

    kelsey

    BTW, Wasn’t “concern of communism” the reason Trent Lott gave after he praised the presidental run of Stromm Thurmond? I guess the fear of communsim made people do some pretty racist shit back in the day.

  189. 189

    p.lukasiak

    Well, the beauty part is, he did take it. Took it like a man and acted leader-like and uncharacteristically big.

    uh, the fact that he sat there isn’t exactly a reason for high praise…. remember, this is the guy who couldn’t figure out what to do when he was told “America is under attack” on 9-11, so he just sat there.

    In other words “not doing anything” isn’t a sign of “leadership” on Bush’s part, because he doesn’t know the difference between the right time to do something, and the right time to do nothing.

  190. 190

    SeesThroughIt

    I don’t think it’s fair to say the Republican Party is racist, any more than you could accurately say the Democratic Party is not racist. Both parties have a history, and if you’re going to generalize about the institution, you don’t get to ignore that history.

    But the conservative movement has consistently been opposed to the cause of racial and economic equality. That’s a generalization I will gladly make. It doesn’t mean all conservatives are racist – when a white guy doesn’t want to lose his job to a black guy, it’s not necessarily because he believes the black guy is inferior, it’s more that he wants the job.

    But it’s a fact that the conservative movement has always been on the opposite side of every issue Coretta Scott King spent her life fighting for. No wonder the movement conservatives are out in force trying to shout down her friends and family for bringing up those issues.

    A-fucking-men, Steve. That’s exactly it.

    As for Bush, I don’t think he’s racist in the straightforward “I don’t like Black people” sort of way, but he is largely as Steve describes above. First of all, Black people are disproportionally poor in this country, and poor people do not matter to Bush, as he has proven at every opportunity with his policies. Second of all, even if they aren’t poor, Blacks generally don’t vote Republican, so that’s yet another reason for Bush to not care. It’s not that he’s an all-out racist, it’s just that he doesn’t care about people who aren’t going to vote for him and/or contribute to him monetarily.

    Or, as Ice Cube put it more succinctly, “Blacks are too fuckin’ broke to be Republican.”

    As for plukasiak…that was embarassing. There are real and very serious problems regarding racial inequality in this country today, and that sort of tripe only hurts the cause of trying to right those problems.

  191. 191

    Steve

    Who knew that George Bush had more class than his apologista spin-monkeys? The guy went in there, took his lumps, and acted like a gracious leader.

    Well, no kidding. All this conservative hysteria kinda obscures the point that George W. Bush is a big enough man to hear a line about WMDs without bursting into tears. As far as dissent goes, as far as things Dr. and Mrs. King said while they were alive, this was positively mild. And yet, from the reaction, you’d think they dragged Bush into the church and then accused him of eating babies.

    If there is one way we can be true to the memory of a great American like Mrs. King, it is to use her funeral as an opportunity to remind our political leaders of their obligations as men and as Christians. If you think George Bush is a good man, if you think he is a good Christian, if you think he cares about the poor, then it’s important to remind him of the power he has and urge him to reflect on whether he’s really doing all he can to help the plight of the downtrodden in this country. If he has any kind of Christian humility I hope he reflected on that issue last night. And I don’t see anything wrong with that at all.

    And the message is for Democrats too, by the way. In case you missed it, Rev. Lowery didn’t get up there and urge everyone to vote for Democrats because they walk on water. Some Democrats, like Jimmy Carter, have truly dedicated themselves to helping people; others are simply politicians who just want the votes. And I think, when 90% of African-Americans consistently vote for Democrats, you can do two things. You can either take it for granted or you can understand the awesome responsibility that comes with a race of people basically placing their trust in you. I hope some Democrats reflected on these things last night as well.

  192. 192

    John Cole

    Maybe its not what John wants to believe, and maybe its not “malice” in his heart, but lets face it. John is agressive in his “not getting it” especially on racial issues. This is a “class” issue—Bush is part of the white, male, political class that (in John’s world) blacks must suck-up to in public. To John, Bush was “honoring” Mrs. King, and when a important white man like Bush honors a black woman, well, that’s all that’s important.

    Hey- asshole. You are making this about race (and not in the way Coretta Scott or martin Luther king would be proud of). I thought Carter and Lowery were wrong, because it was the inappropriate forum to launch political attacks. Not because Lowery is black- note how you keep conveniently ignoring Carter’s race.

  193. 193

    Stormy70

    Actually, he took it like a man, doesn’t mean the rest of us can’t call a classless act what it is.

    Jimmy Carter?! History’s greatest monster. He of all people should shut his effing piehole. Or do we have to bring up the fact that he enabled Iran to become the great theocracy it is today. Thank God for Reagan. Carter, never met a dictator that he didn’t suck up to. He makes people remember how great the Democrats were at combatting terrorism in the name of Islam. Kiss up to them a little more.

  194. 194

    ppGaz

    uh, the fact that he sat there isn’t exactly a reason for high praise

    Well, people can try to watch the whole thing and judge for themselves. I imagine CSPAN will rebroadcast it.

    He looked good. He was gracious.

    Watch it and draw your own conclusions.

  195. 195

    Krista

    Obviously, we have in Mr. Furious the very epitome of an individual with no class…no brains…no prospects…no hope whatsoever. One wonders why such a person doesn’t just overdose and be done with it. It’s quite clear that society would be better of without such useless scum.

    Fortunately, it’s not up to you to decide who’s useful to society. And that kind of talk is distinctly creepy…in a messianic, serial-killer kind of way. Just letting you know.

  196. 196

    p.lukasiak

    BTW, Wasn’t “concern of communism” the reason Trent Lott gave after he praised the presidental run of Stromm Thurmond? I guess the fear of communsim made people do some pretty racist shit back in the day.

    yeah, in fact, it was “fear of communism” that motivated J Edgar Hoover to engage in illegal wiretaps aimed at the civil rights movement. It was “fear of communism” that was used by racists throughout the south as a reason for continued segegation (indeed, many of the leaders of the civil rights movement did have socialist impulses—and who could blame them, given how John’s wonderful “free markets” had sustained slavery and racism for two hundred years…..)

  197. 197

    Richard Bottoms

    Meanwhile at Redstate.org:

    davemason2k

    Bush should take back New Orleans money and force these aholes to come begging for it.

    I saw clips of Clinton and some brown preacher. Clinton made reference to his wife’s impending presidency (which hurt my heart and brought rousing cheers from the audience) and the preacher criticized President Bush for spending money on defense and lying (though he didn’t use that word – just implied it) about weapons of mass destruction when there are still poor people in America.

    I don’t know who he is. I saw a clip showing a part of his ‘eulogy’ where he discussed Bush lying about the weapons of mass destruction, spending money on the war when there is poverty at home and left the room.

    I watch several of the brown preachers on TV. T.D Jakes, E.V. Hill, Creflo (and especially Taffi) Dollar, etc. I am interested in what preachers say, no matter their skin color. But I only have so many minutes in my life. I see no benefit to wasting any of them on a man who would use a funeral to make political trash talk.

    “some brown preacher”

    How very…. 1950s.

    That crowd looked to be heavily Afro-American, and with their response and their applause, they showed themselves to be the same—no class!

    Dubya’s falling all over himself to speak at this “memorial”, in the meantime he phones it in to the pro-life rally in D.C.

    http://www.redstate.com/story/2006/2/7/203823/5583

  198. 198

    John

    Jimmy Carter?! History’s greatest monster. He of all people should shut his effing piehole. Or do we have to bring up the fact that he enabled Iran to become the great theocracy it is today.

    OK, now I know Stormy is a troll. Thanks for clearing that up. Just as a tip, try to keep the scenario plausible if you wish to be successful at trolling.

  199. 199

    ppGaz

    Jimmy Carter?! History’s greatest monster

    Unusual for you to be drunk so early in the day, isn’t it?

    “Stormy: History’s greatest horse’s ass.”

  200. 200

    Doctor Gonzo

    If it was just the WMDs crack, that hardly qualifies as a “political attack.” Wow, some people are thin-skinned.

  201. 201

    jg

    Jimmy Carter?! History’s greatest monster. He of all people should shut his effing piehole. Or do we have to bring up the fact that he enabled Iran to become the great theocracy it is today. Thank God for Reagan. Carter, never met a dictator that he didn’t suck up to. He makes people remember how great the Democrats were at combatting terrorism in the name of Islam. Kiss up to them a little more.

    Good Lord! Where the hell did you get your education? Carter caused the Iranian revolution? Are you mad? Is there anything in the world that can’t be spun to you as a way of showing the dems can’t handle terrorism? You are such a tool. Its easy to stay in power with folks like you as supporters. You believe everything they say. I bet you think the Soviet Union collapsed because Reagan bankrupted them via the arms race.

  202. 202

    p.lukasiak

    Hey- asshole. You are making this about race (and not in the way Coretta Scott or martin Luther king would be proud of).

    excuse me, but someone whose primary expression of concern on “civil rights” issues is posting about what an idiot Al Sharpton is shouldn’t be lecturing anyone on what Dr. and Mrs King would be proud of….

  203. 203

    Kate

    Just happened to troll onto this site via realclearpoltics.com

    I know now why we conservatives are winning.

    You guys are crazy.

  204. 204

    ppGaz

    This thread is number 12 in a series: “C’Mon, you motherfuckers, I double dog dare you to call me a racist!” by John Cole.

    Total troll from the get-go.

    But I have to give the props, it gins up the page views.

    And as we all know, it’s all about the page views!!

    RIGHT, MAH BROTHERS AND SISTERS?

    ROTFLMAO.

  205. 205

    MI

    Steve, you need your own blog, for real.

    he doesn’t care about people who aren’t going to vote for him and/or contribute to him monetarily.

    In fairness, that sounds like every politician ever.

  206. 206

    jaime

    All this talk about Racism…It’s not like Bush stumped for votes at Bob Jones University or had anyone in his administration who voted against a holiday for CSK’s husband or anything.

  207. 207

    SmilingPolitely

    Spot the Simpsons’s quote: “He’s History’s Greatest Monster(Jimmy Carter)”

    Do I win anything?

  208. 208

    Don Surber

    We all grieve in our own way, John. Rev. Lowery was eloquent and in the context of Mrs. King, appropriate. You walk alone in knocking Lowery.

  209. 209

    Otto Man

    I’m sorry I came late to the discussion, and at the risk of piling on, I’ve got to agree with the others here that I think you’re wrong on this, John.

    I already wrote a post about this last night at my place, but the upshot of my argument is:

    Coretta Scott King devoted her life to taking strong, principled stands against what she regarded as unncessary and costly wars—first Vietnam and, later, Iraq. Through her own speeches and the work of the King Center, she’s been a leading figure in the peace movement for the past forty years. And importantly, she framed her continued involvement in antiwar activism as a way to honor and remember her husband’s legacy. Why shouldn’t her family and friends be allowed to do the same for her memory?

    Personally, I found the sight of Kate O’Beirne lecturing the Kings on how they should mourn their mother to be just repulsive. Especially since she’s a contributor for the National Review—a magazine that justified segregation and praised white southerners as the “advanced race” the same year that MLK and Lowery founded the SCLC. Yeah, I’m sure the Kings would love to get her input. She’s been on their side for so, so long.

  210. 210

    MI

    You know what this thread needs? DougJ. Otherwise we might all go mad.

  211. 211

    ppGaz

    “You guys are crazy”

    Half of the country is bamboozled into declaring “culture war” on the other half … and you get this.

    Well guess what? You got your war, and you are not winning it. You are just ahead in the first quarter. The game is not over.

    You rightwing motherf__kers are going down! Count on it. Take it to the bank. You couldn’t defeat us with a million marching bighaired women from Texas plus another million Darrells and his King of the Hill alley-dwellers.

  212. 212

    Richard Bottoms

    Well said:

    Clearly, some people have never attended an African-American funeral. We often refer to them as “homegoings,” and funerals in our community are celebrations of life. We do not mourn a person’s death, we celebrate their life and what they stood for. We celebrate their legacy and, in some cases, vow to carry on their work. The people who are complaining the loudest probably haven’t bothered to attend a funeral of an African-American, especially one as loved and admired as Coretta Scott King.

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/.....15296.html

    When somebody dies we negroes get sll out of pocket.

    Word.

  213. 213

    jaime

    And I could have sworn I heard Tammy Bruce complain about “uppity black people who don’t know how to act right”. I have no idea how racism is even brought up in situations like these.

    Seriously my favorite right wing tact is the swift boating of MLK himself. Jimmy Carter brings up the wiretapping of the Kings and the rightie pundits justify with “Did you know MLK had affairs??!” Disgusting.

  214. 214

    Vladi G

    We all grieve in our own way, John. Rev. Lowery was eloquent and in the context of Mrs. King, appropriate. You walk alone in knocking Lowery.

    This is the first, and probably last thing every written by Don Surber that I think isn’t complete nonsense.

  215. 215

    Otto Man

    Jimmy Carter?! History’s greatest monster

    In fairness to Stormy, that’s actually a Simpsons quote, which was used to mock the bad rep Carter’s gotten. Of course, much like “cheese-eating surrender monkeys” it seems to have been hijacked from the show’s intent.

  216. 216

    Vladi G

    And happy birthday, Richard.

  217. 217

    ppGaz

    I found the sight of Kate O’Beirne lecturing the Kings on how they should mourn their mother to be just repulsive

    It was hilarious. Even Matthews was just pulling her chain. She looked practically hysterical.

  218. 218

    Steve

    Don Surber Says:

    We all grieve in our own way, John. Rev. Lowery was eloquent and in the context of Mrs. King, appropriate. You walk alone in knocking Lowery.

    If this doesn’t cause John to pause for a moment and reflect, I’m not sure what will.

  219. 219

    Stormy70

    Yes, the Democrats do a great job running things for the poor. Just check all the inner cities who are governed by Democrats. Businesses and successful people cannot wait to flee to the suburbs where the living is actually good.

    Most of the Katrina victims are not going back to New Orleans, because they have seen that they will have better opportunities in Texas. They like the fact that they can actually own a really nice home, and send their kids to a clean school. They also have a state government that won’t steal them blind. God bless the LA dem machine.

  220. 220

    Richard Bottoms

    GW just got a chance to see how we act when “y’all” aren’t around.

  221. 221

    Stormy70

    Spot the Simpsons’s quote: “He’s History’s Greatest Monster(Jimmy Carter)”

    Do I win anything?

    You win in the knowledge that you actually have a sense of humor, whereas most on here are too OUTRAGED to ever lighten up for half a minute.

    It’s funny because it’s true. ;)

  222. 222

    Otto Man

    Yes, the Democrats do a great job running things for the poor. Just check all the inner cities who are governed by Democrats. Businesses and successful people cannot wait to flee to the suburbs where the living is actually good.

    Typing those last two sentences back to back should’ve made your head explode, Stormy.

    Have you ever thought that maybe there’s a connection between the white flight of middle-class folks to the suburbs and the decline of central cities that have been deprived of the bulk of their local tax revenues on the one hand and then have to spend more to deal with the poor left behind on the other?

  223. 223

    yet another jeff

    Stupid stubby fingers.

  224. 224

    Pb

    Yes, Stormy, it’s really distressing the way that poor cities can’t seem to provide for themselves. I wonder how that works, exactly. Property tax? Nah, must be Democrats. Anyhow, I hope they do get a warm welcome in Texas. Not too warm, though.

  225. 225

    Mike S

    If you don’t want to be called out for being on the opposite side of everything the deceased stood for, then don’t go to their funeral.

    Stick to going places where anyone who disagrees with you is kicked out and/or arrested.

  226. 226

    ppGaz

    whereas most on here

    Most on here are never sure when you are drunk or sober. Serious or kidding. And just to make it more interesting, it’s not clear that you are sure either.

    Fun for all!

  227. 227

    Brian

    Bob, and anyone else like him…..

    Every time the GOP tries to reach out to the minority community, they get this kind of shit like Bush got yesterday. In 2000, Bush campaign tried to reach out to the NAACP, and all they got was an ad campaign that Bush was behind the killing of James Byrd, and all because Bush had the temerity to be against hate-crime laws. Well, the guys who committed that crime were tried and sentenced to life, which puts the lie to the necessity for hate-crime laws, but never mind, because Bush and the GOP are racists, right?

    You’re wrong, Bob. Dead wrong. We’ve known for a long time that the rhetoric of the Left is empty, opportunistic, tactless, dishonest, and divisive, and now, thanks to the Internet and to public weariness with Leftist tactics, you’re being exposed for what you are. The old meme doesn’t work any more. The Left has always been about name calling and bumper-sticker politics. While it practiced such vacuous political sloganeering that panders to brain-dead minority elements ready to be led by loud-mouthed shakedown artists, the Right was honing ideas. Now, the ideas are winning out, and all you’re left with are your slogans and slurs.

    You’re exposed.

  228. 228

    jaime

    Yes, the Democrats do a great job running things for the poor. Just check all the inner cities who are governed by Democrats.

    Ya ever drive through Mississippi? How’re the Republicans treating the poor folk? You ever been to a dirt poor neighborhood in Alabama or Arkansas? I’d take South Central L.A. or the South Bronx any day.

  229. 229

    Pb

    Brian,

    We’ve known for a long time that the rhetoric of the Left is empty, opportunistic, tactless, dishonest, and divisive

    Hilarious. At least I know left from right.

  230. 230

    Mac Buckets

    Had Bush not been there, you jackasses would be claiming it was proof he was racist.

    The only certainty in life is that Democrats will whine like six-year-old girls at everything a Republican does. They’ll whine when he doesn’t go to funerals, except for the ones he goes to, in which case they’ll whine that he went. That’s their electoral strategy, in lieu of actual ideas, and it’s worked out pretty well for them so far.

  231. 231

    SeesThroughIt

    Or do we have to bring up the fact that he enabled Iran to become the great theocracy it is today.

    If you want to bring up that fact, I suppose you also want to have a long and detailed discussion about how Ollie North—you know, Reagan’s guy?—made sure Iran had plenty of weapons, hmmm? Maybe we should have Ollie come back to the government as an advisor—after all, few people know the inner workings of how to arm terrorists as well as Ollie does.

    That redstate thread is disturbing in and of itself but also disturbing because it is not in the least bit surprising.

    As for this:

    he doesn’t care about people who aren’t going to vote for him and/or contribute to him monetarily.

    In fairness, that sounds like every politician ever.

    Yes, it definitely sounds like every politician ever. No question about that. It’s just that this dynamic plays itself out in many different ways, and this is one way in which it plays out for Bush.

  232. 232

    Joe

    awwww come on John, dont fault Carter that much. I am sure he took advice to slam Bush at the funeral from his daughter Amy. After all she was an expert on nuclear proliferation in 1980, and look where that got him. Jimmy Carter remains a bitter man from his landslide defeat 25 years ago. He undoubtedly is the worst President in modern times and his goal now is to prove Bush is instead…...Unfortunately for him, his verbal lashing at a funeral demonstrates his continued poor judgment and will only further establish his legacy as the worst…...In many ways thanks to ole “Jimbo” the world is what it is today, a potential burning inferno. Due to his weakness and cowardice towards Iran in 1980, radical islamists have no fear….....Thanks for the memories Jimmy, shoo now

  233. 233

    Richard Bottoms

    Ya ever drive through Mississippi?

    Hell, I wouldn’t even want to fly OVER Mississippi.

    Yes, it certainly is preferable to live in a shack in Alabama than be in a city with mass transit, more than Wal-Mart wages, and the best libraries in the world.

  234. 234

    Pooh

    I’m beginning to think that John is contractually obligated to make one “hornet’s nest” post per day to fill his PJM traffic stats requirement.

  235. 235

    jaime

    In 2000, Bush campaign tried to reach out to the NAACP,

    In 2000 Bush reached out to Bob Jones University and their wonderful brand of segregation. He also reached out to the people who were appalled…APPALLED at John McCain’s illegitimate black baby.

    The GOP reaches out to the black community with an empty hand. They make the somewhat truthful argument that Democrats take advantadge of their loyalty, but what do they offer in return? What do they see in the GOP “big tent”? A sea of white faces and a few strategically positioned blacks (see the 1996 and 2000 GOP convention).

    Now in defending the President and his actions the right are actually going and attacking MLK himself. Wiretapping him was a good thing because he was a commie philanderer. Talk about zero class.

  236. 236

    ImJohnGalt

    You want to reach out to the minority community? Run and elect a few minorities. Or, try enacting some legislation that actually improves their lives. Then you can go have your photo-ops without them casually mentioning the things you’ve done that haven’t helped their cause.

    I really don’t get it. Bush and his administration use their bully pulpit every time they get in front of the cameras to bash Democrats. They say we need to change our tone, and watch what we say, without fear of reprisal or the press running those clips and commenting how unfair it is for 4 days straight.

    So when a preacher who has dedicated his life to civil rights, and who has known the deceased and her views for most of his life gets up in front of a real pulpit at the funeral of an activist, and points out a few things that Mrs. King was probably against, the bedwetters on the right fan themselves and can barely keep from fainting from the lack of manners?

    Mrs. Alito cries on cue, and the press can’t stop talking about how mean the democrats are. What happened to Coulter saying that the NY Times should have been blown up? You keep saying that Democrats whine and bitch, but it seems to me that Republicans have perfected it, to the point that all they have to do is cry “foul!”, and the press will not only award 2 free throws, but T-up the Democrat and send him off the court.

    Give me a break. I don’t get how you can be so incensed at these two comments out of 6 hours of remembrance. Get over yourself John – hasn’t Cindy Sheehan done something recently that can distract you from having to not vote Republican?

  237. 237

    Richard Bottoms

    Every time the GOP tries to reach out to the minority community, they get this kind of shit like Bush got yesterday.

    I know. We’re just plain ungrateful. We all know the Republicans have such great respect and love for Martin Luther King.

    The kicker for me was the national holiday for the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., which Reagan signed into law in 1983. When asked point-blank whether he thought King was a communist sympathizer, Reagan responded with a smug answer that told black America all it needed to know about the guy proclaiming “morning in America”:

    “We’ll know in about 35 years, won’t we?” He was referring to sealed FBI wiretaps that purportedly contain explosive information about King’s personal habits.

    http://www.jsonline.com/news/m.....235033.asp

  238. 238

    The Other Steve

    Let’s see…

    A prominent leader of group struggling for political change dies, who happens to be the wife of one of the most prominent leaders of political change in the 20th century. And the word “Prominent” doesn’t even properly describe it. The King name will go down in history next to the names of Washington, Jefferson, Hamilton, Lincoln, Roosevelt.

    And you’re SHOCKED! SHOCKED! that something political was said.

    Get a grip. I’m tired of fucking whiners.

    I mean what did you fucking expect? It’s commendable that Bush went down there. That shows a certain level of bravery.

    Whining does not. Whining shows your just a pussy who won’t stand behind all the bullshit you’ve spewed in the past when people confront you with it.

    I’m tired of fucking whiners.

  239. 239

    Mac Buckets

    Funny how George HW Bush managed to get through his whole speech at Reagan’s funeral without noting what a disaster of lefty, mealy-mouthed impotence the presidency of attendee Jimmy Carter was, and how much Reagan aspired to be the anti-Carter. Gosh, that rant would’ve been perfectly appropriate at a funeral, too, according to the loony leftians!

    The difference? One side has class and decorum, and knows when to shut their whine-holes, and the Donks have come unhinged by their loss of power.

  240. 240

    Pb

    Mac Buckets,

    The only certainty in life is that Democrats will whine like six-year-old girls at everything a Republican does.

    You’re projecting again. Hilarious, especially considering your past record here, and this very diary. You’ve got balls, Mac, I’ll give you that.

  241. 241

    Mac Buckets

    A prominent leader of group struggling for political change dies

    If they are still “struggling for political change” after 40 years, it should be clear that they’ve been betting on the wrong (Rich White Democrat) horse!

  242. 242

    jaime

    There are two routes the baby righties can take, attack the blacks as evidenced in the wonderful Red State Nugget:

    You evidently did live during the civil right era.
    There was nothing peaceful about it.

    If the truth be told, it was an extortion scam to enrich themselves. Mrs. King carried on this tradition. Anytime you wanted to use anything that was MLK, Jr. you had to pay Mrs. King.

    or you can attack Jimmy Carter. The smarter ones are choosing the Carter path. You can do both as idiots like Tammy Bruce have proven.

  243. 243

    Mac Buckets

    You’re projecting again. Hilarious, especially considering your past record here, and this very diary.

    Do you ever add anything of value, Pb, or is it all just vague, minor-league personal snark? I tell you what, when you add anything to a conversation, I’ll let you know.

  244. 244

    Bob In Pacifica

    Regarding Carter and the hostages, ask Judge Silberman about having a secret little lunch with the Iranians back in the summer of 1980. And ask Ollie and the boys about Iran-contra. In a Republican world, if you commit a crime for them, you are revered.

    As for rhetoric, I believe Brian thinks some rhetoric, or at least talking points, are empty because he does not want to understand them. The concept of equal justice is empty rhetoric to those who don’t want to think about it, for example.

    And who was the guy wanting to exterminate Mr. Furious because his life has no value? I find that rhetoric full of meaning.

  245. 245

    ImJohnGalt

    Rove: We need to distract from the NSA hearings, corporate-owned media and right-wing blogosphere!
    Bedwetters: Yes Sir! We’re on it sir!

  246. 246

    Bob In Pacifica

    Mac Buckets, you’re a Republican, right? Or the States Rights Party?

  247. 247

    jg

    Funny how George HW Bush managed to get through his whole speech at Reagan’s funeral without noting what a disaster of lefty, mealy-mouthed impotence the presidency of attendee Jimmy Carter was, and how much Reagan aspired to be the anti-Carter. Gosh, that rant would’ve been perfectly appropriate at a funeral, too, according to the loony leftians!

    If Reagan had died while Clinton was in office are you saying no one would take a shot at Clinton?

  248. 248

    Jane Finch

    The President’s attendance itself was political. Do you really think that the remarks weren’t approved by the family beforehand?

  249. 249

    Richard Bottoms

    “We’ll know in about 35 years, won’t we?” He was referring to sealed FBI wiretaps that purportedly contain explosive information about King’s personal habits.

    http://www.jsonline.com/news/m.....235033.asp

    That right there is when Reagan lost the black vote for the Republican party. That is, any hope of gaining ground.

    Bush did it again way before Katrina. It was the day he set foot at Bob Jones University..

    See many of you think we aren’t making an irrational, child-like choice to dispise the Republican party, despite the fact that the Democratic party isn’t doing a lot better for us.

    It’s a perfectly rational choice. We simply don’t believe your conversion to color blind, all men are equal, MLK’s our hero rhetoric.

    We’ll just wait to see who is first to swing by old BJU and waffle on the Confederate flag in 2007-2008.

  250. 250

    Ancient Purple

    The difference? One side has class and decorum, and knows when to shut their whine-holes, and the Donks have come unhinged by their loss of power.

    You mean the class and decorum Cheney showed on the floor of the Senate by telling a member of the Senate to go Cheney himself?

    That class and decorum?

  251. 251

    Hank

    Are all these lefties who cling to the there-were-no-WMDs mantra going to apologize when it turns out there really were (even though that was only one of several justifications for the invasion)? I guess nobody’s been reading the bombshell (though hardly surprising) revelations about how Saddam smuggled planeloads of chemical weapons out of the country using civilian aircraft and hid them in Syria. Congress is reviewing the smoking-gun material right now (Saddam’s private documents recovered from Iraq), and this story is only going to grow, no matter how much the MSM would like it to go away. Look for it in the coming months to start getting real attention, instead of the occasional Investor’s Business Daily story or blog editorial.

    Why do I expect no apology will be forthcoming, in any event?

  252. 252

    SeesThroughIt

    The GOP reaches out to the black community with an empty hand. They make the somewhat truthful argument that Democrats take advantadge of their loyalty, but what do they offer in return? What do they see in the GOP “big tent”? A sea of white faces and a few strategically positioned blacks (see the 1996 and 2000 GOP convention).

    Oh, those strategically positioned Blacks are vastly important. Just ask Frank Luntz, the man behind Bush’s Potemkin Village “town hall meetings.” Samantha Bee did:

    LUNTZ: To me, the most important component of a successful town hall is the visual. It’s the backdrop.

    BEE (voiceover): And at a fake town hall, that backdrop includes the people.

    LUNTZ (to Bee, while they watch video of a town hall meeting): There he’s got an African-American, he’s got an Asian, there’s your female he’s got. It’s one of everybody. It’s almost like the rainbow, uh, wedding line.

    It must be gratifying for Blacks to know how important they are to the current Republican party…as window dressing.

    And really, the GOP only got around to apologizing for the Southern Strategy—you know, the one where the GOP decided that pandering to white racist Southerners was more important than actually advocating equality for all like our country is supposed to offer—last year, and even then, it was a total non-apology of the “I’m sorry if my actions hurt anybody” type. All around right-wing blogs today, ‘wingers are completely distorting the message of Dr. and Mrs. King in an effort to cover up for the GOP’s lousy track record when it comes to minority relations. They’re claiming that now that Blacks can vote and the civil rights era is over, everything is hunky-dory for Blacks now. So it’s easy to see why these so-called attempts to “reach out” to Blacks is often seen by the target audience as not just an empty hand, but a fake one as well.

  253. 253

    Mac Buckets

    Run and elect a few minorities.

    So the Dems can call them Uncle Toms and House N*****s, as they always do (talk to JC Watts—who in his short career achieved a higher place than any Democrat black Congressman—about this sometime, if you get the chance)? Now why on earth would more blacks Republicans choose not to run?

    Or, try enacting some legislation that actually improves their lives.

    Like school vouchers? Tell us why Dems don’t want vouchers, which would greatly benefit inner city blacks, and which always poll highly among blacks?

    Also, I was unaware that GOP legislation always includes “except for blacks” language. Thanks for the highly insightful post, you minor league race pimp!

  254. 254

    Pb

    Mac Buckets,

    Do you ever add anything of value, Pb, or is it all just vague, minor-league personal snark?

    In your case, no. All the value I add to a conversation never gets past your reality filter, so where you are concerned, I generally choose not to waste my time. I assume you didn’t follow any of the three links in my previous posts on this thread alone, and I suggest that you don’t, lest you contract factococcus.

    I tell you what, when you add anything to a conversation, I’ll let you know.

    Please do, it’ll be a helpful check to let me know when I might be mistaken in my views.

  255. 255

    Mac Buckets

    If Reagan had died while Clinton was in office are you saying no one would take a shot at Clinton?

    Of course, they would not have.

  256. 256

    Paddy O'Shea

    So funny to hear the right whining up a big old storm this morning. Bush got the big fuck you he deserved, and the assholes are besides themselves with horror.

    Too bad they never felt this level of concern for the victims of Katrina when the Hero of New Orleans turned his back.

    Goodbye New Orleans. Hello New Branson.

  257. 257

    Mac Buckets

    You mean the class and decorum Cheney showed on the floor of the Senate by telling a member of the Senate to go Cheney himself?

    Unmiked in a personal conversation vs. miked and televised at a funeral.

    Yeah, those are the same, you straw-grasper.

  258. 258

    Mr Furious

    You win in the knowledge that you actually have a sense of humor, whereas most on here are too OUTRAGED to ever lighten up for half a minute.

    Stormy, even useless, brainless, classless, prospectless scum like me that is sooo angry I can’t see straight and should just overdose and die, got the joke there and appreciated it.

    Thanks for getting my back, Krista, and Par R? No, fuck you.

  259. 259

    ppGaz

    I don’t get how you can be so

    The whole thread is a troll. Phony. It’s similar to the concept of setting fire to ants and watching them writhe.

    There’s nothing here to get.

  260. 260

    Mac Buckets

    I assume you didn’t follow any of the three links in my previous posts on this thread alone, and I suggest that you don’t, lest you contract factococcus.

    You don’t seem to links when posting to me—to me, it’s just, “you’re a poopyhead!” stuff. Unimpressive. I await our next valuable exchange.

  261. 261

    ppGaz

    at a funeral.

    Har! Italics, even. Wow. You are really full of it today. You guys are going to teach the world about class and decorum now?

    Give it up Mac. You’re better than this bullshit thread.

  262. 262

    csmats

    You Bush-haters are really funny! So much hate and anger that you can’t even bring yourself to acknowledge proper, polite behavior at a funereal. Meanwhile you’ve lost the last three national elections in 00, 02, and 04 that by all rights you should have won, and things aren’t looking so good for you in 06. Stop the hate, America isn’t buying it. Thanks for the laughs though!

  263. 263
  264. 264

    Perry Como

    Mr. Cole is 100% correct on this. Funerals are no place to do political grandstanding. Mrs. King would be ashamed at the viscious and hateful speech that was bandied about at her memorial. Look at the kind of vitriol that Democrats spew at funerals:

    They have something to say to a federal government that has compromised with the undemocratic practices of southern Dixiecrats (Yeah) and the blatant hypocrisy of right-wing northern Republicans. (Speak) They have something to say to every Negro (Yeah) who has passively accepted the evil system of segregation and who has stood on the sidelines in a mighty struggle for justice.

    What kind of disrespectful person would dare say something like that at a eulogy? Mrs. King would not approve.

  265. 265

    Richard Bottoms

    So the Dems can call them Uncle Toms and House N*****s, as they always do (talk to JC Watts—who in his short career achieved a higher place than any Democrat black Congressman—about this sometime, if you get the chance)?

    You mean this JC Watts?

    On June 10, 1997, J.C. Watts issued a press release in his home state. Under the headline “The Most Cherished Title­Dad,” Watts extolled the responsibilities of fatherhood. The then-39-year-old legislator had learned the importance of paternal values more than 20 years earlier. While still in his teens the future recipient of the Christian Coalition’s Friend of the Family Award had sired two out-of-wedlock children with two different women.

    http://www.tylwythteg.com/enemies/Watts.html

    Please, we’ll decide who speaks for us. However much it breaks your heart, JC Watts ain’t it. He is an Uncle Tom, saying what the right wants to hear and living off it.

    I won’t tell Catholics who to pick as Pope and you don’t tell me who to pick as a black leader.

  266. 266

    Joe

    So funny to hear the right whining up a big old storm this morning. Bush got the big fuck you he deserved, and the assholes are besides themselves with horror.

    Paddy dear, the big “fuck you was not from the majority of the black congregation who gave him a standing ovation and was totally gracious. It came from Jimmy Carter, peanut farmer and white boy…..who grew up to become a thorn in America’s side.

  267. 267

    jaime

    What happened to the GOP? They used to be the bid bad terror warriors who had liberals cowed. Super Macho men. In the last six months they’ve turned into a bunch of whiny cowards. “Waaaa. They’re saying mean things about my daddy. Waaaa”

    Punch a bully in the nose…

  268. 268

    Lines

    And Nero Fiddles while Rome burns.

    Stop this fucking faux-outrage and look around. As of yesterday, Congress has determined that Bush is King, that he has unfettered powers, and you people are busy getting taunted my the intellectual giants of Mac Buckets and Brian?

    This whole hoopla is a Repuglican driven noise machine and the Democrats are playing right into their hands by creating a shouting match over it.

    I can’t believe you people, will you still stand there arguing when your hair is afire?

  269. 269

    Pb

    ppGaz,

    I agree, but I can’t take credit for ‘factococcus’—I saw it on The Colbert Report a while back.

    Mac Buckets,

    I even gave you a couple of links to read in our last discussion regarding “nation-building”. The fact that you apparently never noticed them only further reinforces my point. Poopyhead. :)

  270. 270

    Ancient Purple

    Unmiked in a personal conversation vs. miked and televised at a funeral.

    Yeah, those are the same, you straw-grasper.

    Lowery stating a fact regarding WMDs was so classless, but telling someone to f- himself is excusable because he wasn’t miked?

    So, is the air on your planet pink or purple?

  271. 271

    ToM

    The point of this funeral ceremony was to honor CSK. When the DEMs use it as a opportunity to score cheap political points it detracts from the occasion. This solemn celebration in honor of CSK was pissed on by the DEMS. It was disrespectful to the King family.

  272. 272

    Richard Bottoms

    Like school vouchers? Tell us why Dems don’t want vouchers, which would greatly benefit inner city blacks, and which always poll highly among blacks?

    Because school vouchers are pushed by people who dispise the public school system and would be happy to see the fedral government spend $0 on education.

    Get this through your head: We don’t trust Republicans and shows in %96 of us voting against your presidential candidate.

    We aren’t stupid. We know you have focus grouped the words that sound all nice and soothing. But what you really want to do is eliminate the Department of Education HeadStart, and anything else the “Framers” didn’t intend.

    Fuck that.

  273. 273

    Pb

    Lines,

    Yep. The Bush administration isn’t expected to tell the Repbulican-controlled Congress the truth anymore, and Congress doesn’t want them to either. Apparently ‘checks and balances’ means less than ‘fair and balanced’ nowadays.

    Also, Bush lied his ass off throughout the SOTU, proposing plans he never intended to back (actually doing something about foreign oil), and not mentioning the ones he wants to enact (stealing hundreds of billions from Social Security). And he’s still lying about it, on his STFU tour. Par for the course, really—I guess that’s why it isn’t considered news.

  274. 274

    rilkefan

    Everything in this thread since ppGaz’s first comment has been a waste of time.

  275. 275

    Jack

    I’ll tell you, I watched the funeral at work with several coworkers and a great deal of them remember the great leadership and spirit of MLK and CSK and the numerous rallies they attended as children or heard their parents speak about. It was an overwhelming agreement that the Democratic Party really went too far once again when attending a funeral. Most of my coworkers left the room during some speakers because they were so upset with the script. I don’t know how this will affect anything in the future, but I do now, politics aside, a lot of people that day had a bad taste in their mouth after watching it.

  276. 276

    Pb

    ToM,

    I wasn’t aware that “the DEMs” arranged her funeral. Get a clue, man.

  277. 277

    mishu

    I want you say I did try to serve humanity.

    Maybe I’m just a stupid “repuke” but how does admonishing Chimpy McHitlerbushburton for not making Ben Affleck cough up an extra million in taxes do that for Dr. or Mrs. King? How does King get honored by pointing out how evil Karl Rove is?

  278. 278

    mishu

    Because school vouchers are pushed by people who dispise the public school system and would be happy to see the fedral government spend $0 on education.

    How does education get better when you send tax dollars all the way to Washington first? Why can’t dems get their heads around the concept of local government?

  279. 279

    Ancient Purple

    This solemn celebration in honor of CSK was pissed on by the DEMS.

    Who says a funeral has to be solemn?

  280. 280

    Bob In Pacifica

    Okay, okay, I’ll stop wasting my time here. See y’all over at the “Super Bowl wasn’t fixed” blog.

  281. 281

    Lines

    mishu = troll?

    This is an occasion for her family and friends, so why should they have even allowed Bush in the door?

    I would have been more proud of the liberals and King followers if they had demanded that the sour faced bitch and her pet monkey had been asked to leave, and then carried out if they refused.

  282. 282

    ppGaz

    Everything in this thread since

    I have to admit, it’s not that often that I get proven right so quickly and so completely.

    I think after this thread, I’ll write my book about the experience, make a boatload of money, buy the Shelby GT500, throw my gear in the trunk and cruise the country doing a perpetual book tour, like William Least Heat Moon.

  283. 283

    Richard Bottoms

    How does education get better when you send tax dollars all the way to Washington first?

    Becaue it makes the armpit of the nation (Mississippi-Alabama-Georgia) meet some kind of standards about teaching children.

    Even black ones.

  284. 284

    Richard Bottoms

    But.. but.. what about ‘no child left behind’!! You lefties hate it!!

    Actually we hate that it isn’t fully funded. We know it’s just feel good rhetoric that chimpy doesn’t really believe in.

  285. 285

    Richard Bottoms

    It was an overwhelming agreement that the Democratic Party really went too far once again when attending a funeral.

    My heart bleeds.

    George Bush got the big Fuck You he deserved and has been avoiding with hand picked cheering sections for six years. My only surprise is someone didn’t call him a son of a bitch from the podium.

  286. 286

    Lines

    hey ppGaz, have you seen the film of the Chimpinator and his sour-faced wife? She sits there all pissed off and nasty, and he is so slouched over it more looks like they should be watching the Superbowl.

    Thats not class, thats classless and juvenile bullshit by a man thats supposed to be respected.

  287. 287

    Richard Bottoms

    It was disrespectful to the King family.

    They don’t seem to think so. Only Republicans speaking for the King family seem to think so. Certainly the people who gave Lowery a standing ovation didn’t think so either.

    Fuck George Bush. And the horse’s ass he rode in on.

  288. 288

    ppGaz

    hey ppGaz, have you seen the film of the Chimpinator and his sour-faced wife?

    I think it was gas. Some bean dip on Air Force One.

    Laura was sour because Bushie said he needed a drink.

    But he got up and made a fine speech and was cordial and gracious to the reverend.

    And he wasn’t testy or defensive. And he didn’t try his usual frat-boy smart-alecky approach to dismissal of the criticisms. Unlike his sorry, groveling, cowardly, whipped, “I’m afeared of da turrists” apologista who hang around here.

    But back to Laura, I think she was saying, “You cut one more of those and I am OUTTA HERE.”

  289. 289

    Andrei

    Early in the thread:

    Yeah, how DARE people speak about poverty, war, and racism at Mrs. King’s funeral? It’s not as if Mrs. King or her husband cared about those things…

    You folks remind me of this one at the ‘Straw Man of the Year Contest.’

    John Cole then says later:

    Had Bush not been there, you jackasses would be claiming it was proof he was racist.

    I have to disagree with Cole… the thing he said right there is the real ‘Straw Man of the Year Contest’ winner

  290. 290

    Mike S

    They don’t seem to think so. Only Republicans speaking for the King family seem to think so. Certainly the people who gave Lowery a standing ovation didn’t think so either.

  291. 291

    Al Maviva

    I’m with you libs on this one. The Democrats are so lame, that yesterday’s snide remarks pass for an attack.

    I was kind of hoping for some Democratic speaker to whirl around on Bush, and go after him with a cane, a la Preston Brooks. Now that was a Democrat who knew how to stand on his party’s principles, and fight for them.

  292. 292

    mishu

    Lines, I’m a poster like anyone else on this blog. Calling me a troll, well pot meet kettle. I’ve seen nothing but trolling since John posted his article. Your hope that the King children would carry ‘Chimpy McShrub’ out of the church makes me think that you not only condone Islamist thugs torching embassies over cartoons, you’d supply them with the gasoline. BTW. It’s John’s blog not yours.

    Leave it to a guy with the name like ‘Bottoms’ to take a pot shot at the state where Coretta Scott King made her home. It’s all about honoring her so long as you call the President chimp.

  293. 293

    Joe

    to Rick Bottoms….

    Keep it up guy, thats why Republican have nothing to fear….Its assholes like you who define the liberals of today, no one can eloquently address the problems with Bush, America or the world, but they can sure spew the cursing and hatred….......but hey keep it up, Republicans will love you forever, dumbass

  294. 294

    ppGaz

    So, Al AquaVelva has weighed in. Where’s Darrell? Surely he is not going to skip this thread?

  295. 295

    Mike S

    They don’t seem to think so. Only Republicans speaking for the King family seem to think so. Certainly the people who gave Lowery a standing ovation didn’t think so either.

    Yup. The GOP is whining because the funeral for an activist who was opposed to almost everything Bush is for continued her legacy.

    The party that has 0 nationally elected black people surely isn’t trying to tell black people who to celebrate the life of one of their most visible people, are they?

  296. 296

    ppGaz

    It’s John’s blog not yours.

    Oh god, John’s lawyer is posting here now.

    We forgot, we are only here to agree with John.

    Doh!

  297. 297

    Otto Man

    The only certainty in life is that Democrats will whine like six-year-old girls at everything a Republican does.

    The Republicans rush to every microphone and TV studio in the country to denounce eulogies made at a funeral, and it’s the Democrats who are whining like six-year-olds? Riiiight.

  298. 298

    ppGaz

    The GOP is whining

    The GOP is whining because they exploit every opportunity to characterize their enemy—that’s us, the rest of America—in some shitty way to deflect attention from the fact that they are fucking up everything they touch and stealing the silver off the dining room table.

    And because their trained whinemonkeys expect it.

    And because they thought that their little emperor could safely go to at least ONE black funeral and get away with it, and they got busted, because somebody forgot to tell the colored people to behave themselves.

    As for this thread, this is just John Cole being John Cole. It’s all part of a charade he goes through to make sure you think that he really doesn’t like the people with whom he agrees on almost every matter of policy. Because otherwise he’d just have another lefty blog and he couldn’t stand that.

  299. 299

    Krista

    Mr. Furious – no problem, hon. What he said was out of line and creepy as hell.

  300. 300

    mishu

    ppgaz, don’t be so dense. I could give a rat’s ass if Lines agrees with John or not. He shouldn’t label posters as trolls like he owns the damn place.

    The Republicans rush to every microphone and TV studio in the country to denounce eulogies made at a funeral, and it’s the Democrats who are whining like six-year-olds? Riiiight.

    Tossing insults ‘Chimpy McShrub’ is not eulogizing the person in the box. Fuck. Even Clinton got that.

  301. 301

    mishu

    The party that has 0 nationally elected black people surely isn’t trying to tell black people who to celebrate the life of one of their most visible people, are they?

    Yeah the dems shouldn’t really be doing that now should they?

  302. 302

    ppGaz

    He shouldn’t label posters

    Please send for my 215 page booklet, “Why Telling Intertron Posters What They “Should” Do Is Futile”.

    Yours today for just $24.95 plus shipping and handling. If you order now, I’ll autograph your copy.

    “Shouldn’t label posters.” Priceless.

  303. 303

    Bill A.

    Sieg Heil! Sieg Heil! Sieg Heil! Nuremburg, Wellstone Memorial, Coretta Scott King Memorial….

  304. 304

    Mac Buckets

    Because school vouchers are pushed by people who dispise the public school system and would be happy to see the fedral government spend $0 on education.

    So, shorter: Better to be partisan against people you disagree with on other issues than to get a better education for your kids. Genius.

    Get this through your head: We don’t trust Republicans and shows in %96 of us voting against your presidential candidate.

    Your incorrect statistic aside, after 40 years of paying African-Americans nothing but lip service while not being able to win an election without 93%+ of “your” vote….. “you” trust the Democrats??

    We aren’t stupid.

    No, you just vote 95% for a group who expects you to carry their water for them, but they won’t let you drink. You’re not stupid, you’re exploited.

    But what you really want to do is eliminate the Department of Education HeadStart, and anything else the “Framers” didn’t intend. Fuck that.

    So let the Democrats oppose that stuff, but make them give inner city kids school vouchers. But you know they’d never do that, and we both know why. Democrats want to protect union teachers and bloated administrations more than they want to help inner city kids. And you are sucking it up like a Hoover Deluxe. Look, I don’t expect anyone to stop voting for the race pimps (it’s a tried and true winner for the rich, white Democrats with all the power, after all) if you want, just stop calling people like Rice and Watts those awful names.

  305. 305

    mishu

    Fine, gaz. If Lines tosses lables posters, he should expect to get some back in return. Gosh you’re so smart. Got any new simeon synonyms for the President? I want to use them. Don’t worry. I’ll cite you.

  306. 306

    Davebo

    You would do everything the Republicans would do to win elections- it is just that your cause is ‘just,’ so that makes it acceptable.

    EXACTLY!

    Lets see, GOP questions the bravery of multiple amputee veteran. Then complain about a cartoon using a multiple amputee veteran as a metaphor and of course, John shows us his rightous indignity.

    GOP infers that another GOP candidate committed treason as a POW, fathered a child of another race out of wedlock and claimed his wife was a drug addict. This firmly cements John’s place in the GOP.

    Why? Well, because the dems are EVEN WORSE at it. Now he can’t provide any examples, but he has the COURAGE TO BELIEVE IT so shut the fuck up OK?

  307. 307

    mishu

    Fine, gaz. If Lines tosses lables at posters, he should expect to get some back in return. Gosh you’re so smart. Got any new simeon synonyms for the President? I want to use them. Don’t worry. I’ll cite you.

  308. 308

    Bill A.

    Censorship? Nevermind…

  309. 309

    The Other Steve

    Has anybody else had enough of GOP whining?

    I think enough’s enough. Look, I’m sorry nobody likes you. You aren’t going to change that opinion about whining about how nobody likes you.

    Show some self respect, for the love of God.

  310. 310

    Mac Buckets

    Please, we’ll decide who speaks for us. However much it breaks your heart, JC Watts ain’t it. He is an Uncle Tom, saying what the right wants to hear and living off it.

    Keep on race-pimping, and carrying the Democrats’ bags. It makes you look like a genius.

  311. 311

    mishu

    I think enough’s enough. Look, I’m sorry nobody likes you. You aren’t going to change that opinion about whining about how nobody likes you.

    Last election says otherwise.

  312. 312

    Jesse

    Supposedly some things rise about partisan politics.

    Supposedly.

    But this shows how thoroughly petty and vindictive and juvenile Dems are.

    It’s no wonder people are placed in groups… we never allow them to rise above partisan labelling. The only way we get past this partisanship is to allow the dignity of honoring the things in someone’s life that united us, rather than spouting further divisions.

    It’s cheap, and petty, and makes for good Democratic theater though.

  313. 313

    Richard Bottoms

    Leave it to a guy with the name like ‘Bottoms’ to take a pot shot at the state where Coretta Scott King made her home.

    Fuck the South. Fuck ‘em. We should have let them go when they wanted to leave. But no, we had to kill half a million people so they’d stay part of our special Union. Fighting for the right to keep slaves – yeah, those are states we want to keep.

    And now what do we get? We’re the fucking Arrogant Northeast Liberal Elite? How about this for arrogant: the South is the Real America? The Authentic America. Really?

    Cause we fucking founded this country, assholes. Those Founding Fathers you keep going on and on about? All that bullshit about what you think they meant by the Second Amendment giving you the right to keep your assault weapons in the glove compartment because you didn’t bother to read the first half of the fucking sentence? Who do you think those wig-wearing lacy-shirt sporting revolutionaries were? They were fucking blue-staters, dickhead. Boston? Philadelphia? New York? Hello? Think there might be a reason all the fucking monuments are up here in our backyard?

    No, No. Get the fuck out. We’re not letting you visit the Liberty Bell and fucking Plymouth Rock anymore until you get over your real American selves and start respecting those other nine amendments. Who do you think those fucking stripes on the flag are for? Nine are for fucking blue states. And it would be 10 if those Vermonters had gotten their fucking Subarus together and broken off from New York a little earlier. Get it? We started this shit, so don’t get all uppity about how real you are you Johnny-come-lately “Oooooh I’ve been a state for almost a hundred years” dickheads. Fuck off.

    Arrogant? You wanna talk about us Northeasterners being fucking arrogant? What’s more American than arrogance? Hmmm? Maybe horsies? I don’t think so. Arrogance is the fucking cornerstone of what it means to be American. And I wouldn’t be so fucking arrogant if I wasn’t paying for your fucking bridges, bitch.

    All those Federal taxes you love to hate? It all comes from us and goes to you, so shut up and enjoy your fucking Tennessee Valley Authority electricity and your fancy highways that we paid for. And the next time Florida gets hit by a hurricane you can come crying to us if you want to, but you’re the ones who built on a fucking swamp. “Let the Spanish keep it, it’s a shithole,” we said, but you had to have your fucking orange juice.

    The next dickwad who says, “It’s your money, not the government’s money” is gonna get their ass kicked. Nine of the ten states that get the most federal fucking dollars and pay the least… can you guess? Go on, guess. That’s right, motherfucker, they’re red states. And eight of the ten states that receive the least and pay the most? It’s too easy, asshole, they’re blue states. It’s not your money, assholes, it’s fucking our money. What was that Real American Value you were spouting a minute ago? Self reliance? Try this for self reliance: buy your own fucking stop signs, assholes.

    Let’s talk about those values for a fucking minute. You and your Southern values can bite my ass because the blue states got the values over you fucking Real Americans every day of the goddamn week. Which state do you think has the lowest divorce rate you marriage-hyping dickwads? Well? Can you guess? It’s fucking Massachusetts, the fucking center of the gay marriage universe. Yes, that’s right, the state you love to tie around the neck of anyone to the left of Strom Thurmond has the lowest divorce rate in the fucking nation. Think that’s just some aberration? How about this: 9 of the 10 lowest divorce rates are fucking blue states, asshole, and most are in the Northeast, where our values suck so bad. And where are the highest divorce rates? Care to fucking guess? 10 of the top 10 are fucking red-ass we’re-so-fucking-moral states. And while Nevada is the worst, the Bible Belt is doing its fucking part.

    But two guys making out is going to fucking ruin marriage for you? Yeah? Seems like you’re ruining it pretty well on your own, you little bastards. Oh, but that’s ok because you go to church, right? I mean you do, right? Cause we fucking get to hear about it every goddamn year at election time. Yes, we’re fascinated by how you get up every Sunday morning and sing, and then you’re fucking towers of moral superiority. Yeah, that’s a workable formula. Maybe us fucking Northerners don’t talk about religion as much as you because we’re not so busy sinning, hmmm? Ever think of that, you self-righteous assholes? No, you’re too busy erecting giant stone tablets of the Ten Commandments in buildings paid for by the fucking Northeast Liberal Elite. And who has the highest murder rates in the nation? It ain’t us up here in the North, assholes.

    Well this gravy train is fucking over. Take your liberal-bashing, federal-tax-leaching, confederate-flag-waving, holier-than-thou, hypocritical bullshit and shove it up your ass.

    And no, you can’t have your fucking convention in New York next time. Fuck off.

    http://www.fuckthesouth.com/

  314. 314

    Mac Buckets

    Look, I’m sorry nobody likes you. You aren’t going to change that opinion about whining about how nobody likes you.

    What a juvenile remark. “Nobody like you, everybody hates you.” These are the great minds of the left for you. 62 million votes for Bush, but “nobody likes you” because a funeral full of Democrats piss themselves in front of the President. Whatever.

  315. 315

    Kimmitt

    Yeah, I remember the scorching stemwinders aimed at Democrats attending reagan’s funeral.

    From President Bush’s statement:

    He was optimistic that liberty would thrive wherever it was planted, and he acted to defend liberty wherever it was threatened. [as versus his opponents] And Ronald Reagan believed in the power of truth in the conduct of world affairs. [as versus his opponents] When he saw evil camped across the horizon he called that evil by its name. [as versus his opponents]

    You are right that the Republicans did a better job of merely insunuating that their opponents were weak, uninterested in liberty, and mendacious, rather than coming right out and saying it. But I suppose that’s the Republican definition of class; don’t say what you mean, but make sure everyone knows it.

  316. 316

    Richard Bottoms

    Keep on race-pimping, and carrying the Democrats’ bags. It makes you look like a genius.

    See how this works, you get in the racial insult (blacks=pimps) while also implying an inability to make a rational, grown-up decision about who best meets your political needs.

    I am a Democrat. A Yellow Dog Democrat, which means I’d vote for a bloated yellow dog before I’d ever vote for a race baiting, fag hating, incompetent war fighting Republican.

    Ever.

  317. 317

    mishu

    commercial says Kiss is coming to the Northeast
    Bottoms: Aw hell, the Northeast! It’s times like this that I curse the fact that we live in French Polenesia!
    Lois: No, Bottoms, we’re in the Northeast.
    Bottoms: We are? Hey, and Kiss is coming to the northeast… tha- that means… uh…
    Lois: ...that means-
    Bottoms: No, no, Lois, don’t help me…
    Bottoms: It means we can do something…

  318. 318

    Vladi G

    Shorter Mac Buckets:

    Blacks should vote Republican because they won’t pretend to give a shit about black people.

  319. 319

    Jesse

    Bottoms, I know you criticized someone for saying you couldn’t make a rational decision but didn’t you just prove your inability to make a “rational, grown-up decision about who best meets your needs”? When you said you’d vote for a Democrat regardless of whether they’d meet your needs. That doesn’t show rational decision making. You think Republicans are “race baiting, fag hating, incompetent war fighting” people. Again showing ignorance through stereotyping. Your reply just made the point for what the other person was trying to say.

  320. 320

    Richard Bottoms

    And don’t even try and peddle that nineleven crap – we’ve heard all that shit a million times. “We now know that two of the hijackers in the United States placed calls to Al Qaeda operatives overseas”? Where the fuck have you been? We knew before, asshole. And being vague about how the “government” didn’t connect the dots isn’t gonna help you wriggle out of this little mess. “It is said that prior to the attacks of September 11th, our government failed to connect the dots of the conspiracy”? No, motherfucker, it is said of you that you failed to read the goddamn reports that said, “Here’s a terrifying dot, and here’s another terrifying dot, and there’s this big red line between them, so we might want to do something about that.” When you took over as Commander-in-Chief, did you think your morning briefings would be color-by-numbers?

    Whose asshole did you pull Zimbabwe and Burma out of, anyway? Those are the two countries you chose to replace Iraq in the Axis of Mean? First off, we’ll take our lectures on international relations from someone whose pre-Presidential travelogue included countries not featured in Maxim’s Spring Break Spectacular, if it’s all the same to you. And secondly, Zimbabwe? Like you knew that was a country a week ago. The day you spend one minute thinking about the death of democracy in Zimbabwe is the day Dick Cheney climbs a set of stairs without a defibrillator and a forklift.

    And we’d take your tough-on-Burma bit a little more seriously if your campaign staff hadn’t ordered its election swag from Myanmar.

    http://www.fuckthestateoftheunion.com/

  321. 321

    ppGaz

    Gosh you’re so smart

    Please send for my informative booklet, “24 Fun Ways to Say ‘Your Mother Wears Combat Boots’ on the Intertrons”.

    Just $12.95 plus the customary S&H.

    I can save you shipping costs if you order both booklets today.

  322. 322

    mishu

    Fuck the annotated rant.

  323. 323

    Silvio Canto, Jr.

    Can we have a funeral without attacks on Pres. Bush?

    As I wrote before, Mrs. King was a very nice lady who spent her life doing good things. It was nice that Pres. & Mrs. Bush went to the funeral. I’m glad that the other former presidents were there too.

    However, I am very disappointed with the partisan attacks. Watch Pres. Carter:
    (http://www.exposetheleft.com/index.php)

    Why didn’t Pres. Carter apologize to the King family? Why didn’t he say that it was Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy who ordered the wiretaps on Rev. King.?

    Pres. Carter needs to read about it. Here is the link: http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/prem/200207/garrow

    This is amazing. The Democrats can not go to a funeral and show their respect for a nice lady.

    Regards

    Silvio Canto, Jr.

  324. 324

    Richard Bottoms

    You think Republicans are “race baiting, fag hating, incompetent war fighting” people.

    Race Baiting:

    ‘’For too many people, conservative has come to mean antipoor, antiblack, and antidisadvantaged. Perhaps some of you question whether a conservative really feels sympathy and compassion for the victims of social and economic misfortune and of racial discrimination…. If you think of me as the caricatured conservative, then I ask you to listen carefully and maybe you’ll be surprised by our broad areas of agreement.’’

    History shows that the real Reagan was the one who spoke at the Neshoba County Fair and not the one at the Urban League. His presidency quickly became the most antipoor, antiblack, and antidisadvantaged in the latter half of the 20th century.

    Now, 20 years later, here comes George W. Bush. Stung by his defeat in the New Hampshire primary, Bush needed a trump card in the South Carolina Republican primary. This was a problem, since he and John McCain are running neck-and-redneck on issues dear to racists. Both have chickened out on saying it is time to stop flying the Confederate flag over the state capitol.

    http://www.commondreams.org/views/020900-101.htm

    Fag Hating;

    Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA) is the Republican Conference chairman. He is the third most senior leader in the party. On 2003-APR-23, he was interviewed by the Associated Press about the Supreme Court case. Santorum appeared to believe that all sexual expression would be decriminalized in the state if the “sodomy law” is found to be unconstitutional. He is reported as saying: “If the Supreme Court says that you have the right to consensual (gay) sex within your home, then you have the right to bigamy, you have the right to polygamy, you have the right to incest, you have the right to adultery. You have the right to anything.” Santorum also allegedly described homosexual acts as a threat to society and the family. As is usual among social and religious conservatives, he did not define the nature or magnitude of the threat. He concluded: “I have no problem with homosexuality. I have a problem with homosexual acts.”

    http://www.religioustolerance.org/hom_sant.htm

    Incompetent War Fighting:

    Honest question. Donald Rumsfeld presumably doesn’t have the spare time in his schedule to tour every American military installation and evaluate the status of our armed forces in person. If the Secretary of Defense wants to understand the general state of folks under his command, how can he do it? When the offices that he personally trusts to carry out studies don’t bring back results that he considers acceptable you have to wonder what’s left. Policy without any grounding in reality seems doomed to fail. Perhaps the Office of Special Plans is free.

    http://www.balloon-juice.com/?p=6592#comments

    Next?

  325. 325

    Tymbrimi

    The Left can try to spin this all they want. But, like that liberal senator’s funeral up north in 2004, the Left’s inappropriate behavior at CSK’s funeral will cost them politically. Their stidity is a gift that never stops giving. Dear Lefties, please keep on justifying your inappropriate behavior, please don’t apologize, and thanks for your political gift to the Right. It helps that you never, never learn. :)

  326. 326

    Mac Buckets

    See how this works, you get in the racial insult (blacks=pimps)

    Try and follow.

    Blacks = pimps, no.

    Someone who calls black Republican leaders Uncle Toms and House N*****s because they won’t tow the race line = race pimps, yes.

    Someone who says blacks should vote for Democrats regardless of whether they help blacks = race pimps, yes.

  327. 327

    Faux News

    Stormy70 Says:

    As somene here in Texas supporting Katrina victims who are still in paid hotel rooms,

    The White Man’s (Woman’s) burden is not easy, is it?

  328. 328

    ppGaz

    Fuck the annotated rant.

    You are a spoof, right?

  329. 329

    jaime

    Your incorrect statistic aside, after 40 years of paying African-Americans nothing but lip service while not being able to win an election without 93%+ of “your” vote….. “you” trust the Democrats??

    Same old Republican bullshit. Why SHOULD Black voters trust this Republican party? What has the current GOP shown other than concealed contempt or indifference? What good will vouchers do when families STILL can’t afford to pay for the rest of tuition? Bush purposefully avoids the destroyed black New Orleans neighborhoods, but reports on T.V. that they’re doing a heckuva job with reconstruction.

    Bush owes his entire presidency to race baiting due to his South Carolina tactics in 2000. His #2 actively fought against honoring the husband of the very woman’s funeral Bush attended. It’s not enough to say that Democrats aren’t doing enough when you’ve got no ideas…unless you consider the repeal of the estate tax a priority in Black communities. When the only reasons Republicans give for minorities to trust them over Democrats is Robert Byrd was in the KKK 50 years ago and Lincoln freed the slaves, you know you’ve got no standing.

  330. 330

    Mac Buckets

    Blacks should vote Republican because they won’t pretend to give a shit about black people.

    Well, Republicans do care about some black people, but those are all Uncle Toms and House N*****s, right? If a Republican cares about you, you can’t be really black. Only people like Barack Obama and Bill Clinton are really black.

    God forbid we stop playing race-identity politics. How would the Democrats ever win an election?

  331. 331

    Steve

    Jesse Says:

    But this shows how thoroughly petty and vindictive and juvenile Dems are.

    Later…

    Jesse Says:

    You think Republicans are “race baiting, fag hating, incompetent war fighting” people. Again showing ignorance through stereotyping.

    “Pure comedy gold” is a terribly overused cliche, but what other term fits so well?

  332. 332

    ppGaz

    As somene here in Texas supporting Katrina victims who are still in paid hotel rooms,

    Stormy, you are doing a heckuva job.

    And BTW, claiming your vacationing relatives as “Katrina victims” is not going to go over well at the IRS, unless you have some documentation. I’m just saying.

  333. 333

    Rev. Thomas E. Light, Jr.

    As a clergyman who presides over funerals of many and various individuals, I was appalled at the political comments at Mrs. King’s funeral yesterday. Whether some writers care or not, it is not someone’s activist opinions or works that gets them into heaven. It is by God’s grace. There should have been more emphasis on Mrs. King’s faith in Christ than politicians taking some pot-shots at the President. Only a man of class would have sat there and listened to some of that nonsense. President Carter referred to “wiretapping” with the King Family. We might be reminded that was done by Democrats. The issue of the War on Terrorism is not something we know Dr. King automatically would have opposed. I think some writers need some manners and realize that whether you are a Democrat or Republican does not matter when you die. I also think that some of the language used in articles is ridiculous and surely some of the writers could do better than being just rude and arrogant. Perhaps some of them should worship in church, synagogue or mosque and learn to respect others and their opinions.

  334. 334

    Ross

    About this whole ‘polite at Reagan’s funeral’ nonsense

    He sought to mend America’s wounded spirit, to restore the strength of the free world, and to free the slaves of communism.

    I cannot imagine how any diplomat, or any dramatist, could improve on his words to Mikhail Gorbachev at the Geneva summit: `Let me tell you why it is we distrust you.’

    Margaret Thatcher’ eulogy for Reagan
    source
    btw, Gorby was in the audience
    source
    The Kings saw war as a terrible evil, Reagan saw Communism as a terrible evil, both eulogies have harsh words, even though someone in the audience might have been offended.

  335. 335

    Brian

    I promise never to whine again when Democrats act like this. After all, it’s predictable behavior from them. Even the comments here rationalize the behavior: “Bush should EXPECT to be treated like this”. Okay then, at least now we’ve been warned.

    The Dem’s have got their moment again in the media spotlight, again by using overheated rhetoric that is base and meaningless, unless you’re some hippie still partying like it’s 1969 (or the unfortunate offspring of such). Yours is the party of represssion; the repression of speech, society, laws, and manners.

    You simply have no class. You’re not liberals, at least not in the classical sense of the word. You’re children, plain and simple, and this thread can be printed and framed as proof of that. How you can get through this whole “conversation” without even acknowledging that Bobby Kennedy was the one who authorized wiretaps on MLK, only proves that you are unworthy political opponents, and unworthy citizens.

  336. 336

    Richard Bottoms

    Well, Republicans do care about some black people, but those are all Uncle Toms and House N*****s, right?

    No. Just some of them, of which JC Watts is one.

    If a Republican cares about you, you can’t be really black.

    No. Colin Powel is a Republican. He is black. And he is wrong.

    Only people like Barack Obama and Bill Clinton are really black.

    No Bill Clinton is white.

    Barack Obama is black.

    And so is JC Watts. JC is just a black Uncle Tom and so we don’t pay attention to him.

    Someone who says blacks should vote for Democrats regardless of whether they help blacks = race pimps, yes.

    There’s that reading glasses thing again. I said ‘I’ would vote never, ever vote for a Republican. I am 51 years old and I have seen your party’s views on black inch forward enough to have Condeleeza Rice and Colin Powell at the highest reaches of government. Yay!!

    But George Bush had to visit Bob Jones University to get there. So fuck him and the Republican party.

  337. 337

    Cyrus

    Al Maviva Says:

    I’m with you libs on this one. The Democrats are so lame, that yesterday’s snide remarks pass for an attack.

    I was kind of hoping for some Democratic speaker to whirl around on Bush, and go after him with a cane, a la Preston Brooks. Now that was a Democrat who knew how to stand on his party’s principles, and fight for them.

    Ha! I agree with Al about this.

    Well, not about Preston Brooks. Nearly killing a helpless opponent to defend the wrong principles in a fit of pique doesn’t deserve too much credit. But left unsaid in almost all of over three hundred comments here is the fact that these attacks were pretty civil, as attacks go. I mean, I didn’t watch it on TV, but unless there was cursing and death threats directed at Bush specifically that somehow didn’t make it into any stories I’ve read, it just doesn’t sound that bad. In keeping with the wishes and precedent of the deceased and her family, they talked about politics. How horrible. And unless they repeated any lies or slanderous urban legends about Katrina, why not relate the events of the Kings’ lives to current events? This rhetorical device is not new or limited to eulogies.

    Unless there was something much worse that got left out of the New York Times piece John linked to, then this is just reactionaries making up something to be outraged about rather than conceding political ground.

  338. 338

    ppGaz

    You simply have no class. You’re not liberals

    Aw, shut up, for crissakes. At least if you come in at 400 posts, try to say something original.

  339. 339

    mishu

    Bottoms must be getting kickbacks from somebody. Probably Teddy K.

  340. 340

    mishu

    ppgaz has no class.

  341. 341

    Lines

    This is the most amazing thread evah! It just proves that Dumbocrats can’t be trusted with Funeral Security.

  342. 342

    ppGaz

    ppgaz has no class.

    BWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

    Please send for my booklet, “I Have No Class—But I Got You, Babe”

    Just $39.95 plus S&H.

  343. 343

    dagon

    i knew it would only be a matter of time before the whole blacks are ignorantly voting for a party that isn’t doing anything for them meme to pop up.

    as a black man, i am always happy to clear up a few things for those who go through their with life with this perception unchallenged.

    here goes:

    generally, blacks are the ONLY group in the nation which as a rule votes ENTIRELY for it’s own self interest. it’s not that we ‘love’ or are ‘fans’ of the democrats like a stormy would be on the flip side. frankly, we don’t even trust the dems. we don’t trust anybody

    what is passed down mostly from generation to generation of black families is a personal history of the darkest shit that this country is capable of. we don’t see this nation through the same prism that most caucasians do, or even the way that most immigrant groups do.

    we KNOW how wicked and corrupt motherfuckers can be. that being said, make no mistake, most blacks have their eyes wide open when it comes to the underlying currents behind politics. and while the black community contains individuals who are as divergent in opinions and philosophies as those in any group, we do know where our bread is being buttered.

    ...because for the most part, the party that most embodies the sense of priviledge, injustice and good old fashioned meanness, that we are genetically coded to recognize….is the republican party.

    peace

  344. 344

    Vladi G

    Great, now some alleged wingnut preacher is going to roll in and tell us how we should all behave at funerals. Look, Padre, you run your funerals how you want to run them and leave the rest of us the hell alone.

    Perhaps some of them should…learn to respect others and their opinions.

    Says the guy who just showed up to tell us how people should act at funerals.

    Whether some writers care or not, it is not someone’s activist opinions or works that gets them into heaven. It is by God’s grace. There should have been more emphasis on Mrs. King’s faith in Christ than politicians taking some pot-shots at the President.

    Hey, ya know what, God probably already made his decision. before the funeral. I don’t think St. Peter was sitting at the Pearly Gates saying “Well, you’re on the short list, but I’m waiting to see if anyone acts rudely at your funeral before I let you in.”

  345. 345

    jaime

    How you can get through this whole “conversation” without even acknowledging that Bobby Kennedy was the one who authorized wiretaps on MLK.

    So? It was bad then and it is now. Why can’t you be a man Brian and finish the talking points you’ve been hearing all morning of Wingnut radio: To mention this so they you mention what a philandering commie MLK was and how it was a good thing he was wiretapped or else we’d be living with a myth that the right has been good enough to bust.

  346. 346

    Steve

    It’s true that liberal rhetoric of today is pretty darn mellow compared to what MLK and his brethren in the civil rights movement were saying several decades ago. But the conservative attacks pretty much sound the same.

    The conservatives gloating, “Hee hee, this will hurt you politically!” also evoke thoughts of the past for me. It makes me think of the conservatives who said voting for a liberal is like voting to put a bunch of angry blacks in power. It also makes me think of the moderates who used to tell Dr. King to tone it down because he’d just sound extreme and turn people off. Dr. King and his wife never listened to any of them, God bless them.

    We all could use more leaders with that kind of courage today.

  347. 347

    ppGaz

    what a philandering commie MLK was

    As recently as a few years ago, you could hear that right here in AZ, until the NFL decided that it couldn’t have a Super Bowl here unless we established a MLK day.

  348. 348

    Richard Bottoms

    How you can get through this whole “conversation” without even acknowledging that Bobby Kennedy was the one who authorized wiretaps on MLK.

    Easy. Bobby, we forgive you because we know what you and your brother did for us. Nor are we unaware the J. Edgar Hoover was running the FBI.

    Oh no?? Nuance. A knowledge of history and political reality from black folks????

    Say it isn’t so.

  349. 349

    jaime

    But, like that liberal senator’s funeral up north in 2004, the Left’s inappropriate behavior at CSK’s funeral will cost them politically.

    His name is Paul Wellstone and he died in 2002, you ignorant numbnuts. The difference between CSK and that is that the election ain’t ten days away, and too many people have seen the King funeral for the right to lie and misrepresent it.

    Is this what Republicans are going to run on? “Vote Republican because 3 people said bad things about Bush 9 months ago at a funeral”?

  350. 350

    jg

    How many steps does it take for a person to admit the only reason they vote republican is because they believe a democrat would screw the system up? Is there a republican plan or is it all a Intelligent Design style misdirection that exists solely by exxagerating the mistakes of the competition? All I ever here from Stormy, Darrell, MB and the like is why they hate democrats. Noothig about what is good about republicans. What they can do. Its always what the dems would do, grossly exagerated of course.

  351. 351

    StupidityRules

    Jimmy Carter made Laura Bush cry.

  352. 352

    Al Maviva

    Right on, Cyrus. I’d like to see some Democrats with real fight. They don’t have to maim any Republican legislators during debates like Preston did, just hurt them a bit. Y’know, blood waters the tree of liberty and all that other good Jeffersonian democracy stuff. I want to see Ted Kennedy throwing dogshit-filled flaming paper bags at Bill Frist, I’d like to see Nancy Pelosi throwing water balloons filled with blood at that raving warmonger Denny Hastert during debates, and so on. Hell, I’d settle for seeing Bottoms and ppGaz getting dragged out of the well of the senate after hitting Trent Lott with a rotten cantelope. C’mon, street fightin’ men. All this stupid jaw-jaw on the internet. Let your freak flags fly! Show us what you got! Y’all are pretty good at talkng and writing curse words on the innernerd, calling Republicans names and stuff. Wow, it sounds tough as nails, as if I’d stumbled into a fight between a bunch of pitbulls going after a pack of lions, but I don’t see a whole lot of action. Well, no action unless some pretty passive kinda things – losing, getting shafted, crying and moaning about it – count as actions.

    Pussies.

  353. 353

    Richard Bottoms

    As recently as a few years ago, you could hear that right here in AZ, until the NFL decided that it couldn’t have a Super Bowl here unless we established a MLK day.

    I had forgotten what shamed Arizona into supporting the MLK holiday.

    And forgive us poor childlike negroes for hearing Reagan’s comments and thinking “He jes don’t believe Dr. King deserves a holiday.”

    Thanks to Google every racist comment made duting the MLK holidat debate is quite easy to find.

    Originally Posted by Jesse Helms
    Throughout his career King, unlike many other civil rights leaders of his time, associated with the most extreme political elements in the United States. He addressed their organizations, signed their petitions, and invited them into his own organizational activities. Extremist elements played a significant role in promoting and influencing King’s opposition to the Vietnam war-an opposition that was not predicated on what King believed to be the best interests of the United States but on his sympathy for the North Vietnamese Communist regime and on an essentially Marxist and anti-American ideological view of U.S. foreign policy.

    King’s patterns of associations and activities described in this report show that, at the least, he had no strong objection to Communism, that he appears to have welcomed collaboration with Communists, and that he and his principal vehicle, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), were subject to influence and manipulation by Communists. The conclusion must be that Martin Luther King, Jr. was either an irresponsible individual, careless of his own reputation and that of the civil rights movement for integrity and loyalty, or that he knowingly cooperated and sympathized with subversive and totalitarian elements under the control of a hostile foreign power.

    http://www.stormfront.org/foru.....p?t=103796

    Pretty cool when you can lovingly be quoted on a Neo-Nazi website.

    This is the legacy of Republican politics you are still living down.

    So kindly, fuck off.

  354. 354

    jaime

    I keep bringing it up, but I happened to turn over to Tammy Bruce this morning when she forgot to shut her lunatic button off.

    She actually called the audience a bunch of “Uppity blacks who don’t know how to act right” and how if poor blacks don’t have any opportunities they should just join the military as well as the MLK commie/philanderer meme.

    Most repun-dits are smarter than her though, they’ll take the easy target and go after Jimmy Carter. Although he’s done more for black people throughout the world than most people could ever dream of.

  355. 355

    dagon

    Richard Bottoms,

    you’re doing good work.

    peace

  356. 356

    Richard Bottoms

    Trent Lott:

    So there stands Lott, caught now between the racists he has cozied up to and the Republicans who insist he make a show of disavowing them. With his praise for the long-gone days of the Dixiecrats, the majority leader can’t help Bush much. As the president prepares for war, someone might remind him that the Dixiecrats split from the Democratic Party when candidate Harry Truman tried to integrate the armed services. The idea of sending troops into Iraq, blacks carrying one kind of canteen and whites another, might give Bush pause.

    So might the highlights of Lott’s public career:

    1. 1978: Leads fight to restore the citizenship of Confederacy president Jefferson Davis, lost when Davis bolted the Union.
    1. 1980: Salivating all over Thurmond at a Reagan rally, Lott says, “You know, if we had elected that man 30 years ago, we wouldn’t be in the mess we are today.”
    1. 1981: Fights to keep Bob Jones University tax-exempt, saying, “Racial discrimination does not always violate public policy.”
    1. 1982: Votes not to extend the Voting Rights Act.
    1. 1982: Attends Mississippi White Citizens Council banquet as a guest of honor.
    1. 1983: Votes against national Martin Luther King holiday.
    1. 1984: Tells Sons of Confederate Veterans that “the spirit of Jefferson Davis lives in the 1984 Republican platform.”

    http://www.villagevoice.com/ne.....630,6.html

  357. 357

    Richard Bottoms

    George Bush Sr.

    In 1964, Bush ventured into conventional politics by running against Texas’ Democratic Senator Ralph Yarborough, making an issue of Yarborough’s support of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. At the time many Southern politicians (including the Republican Sen. John Tower of Texas) opposed the legislation. Bush called Yarborough an “extremist” and a “left wing demagogue” while Yarborough said Bush was a “carpetbagger” trying to buy a Senate seat “just as they would buy a seat on the New York Stock Exchange”. Bush lost in the 1964 Democratic landslide.

  358. 358

    mishu

    Nor are we unaware the J. Edgar Hoover was running the FBI.

    And to think, Kennedy didn’t have the power to appoint a new FBI director or tell Hoover to “Fuck off”. No, he couldn’t do anything because it was Bush’s fault that he was banging Marilyn and Sam Giancana’s girlfriend…

  359. 359

    Pb

    Steve,

    the conservative attacks pretty much sound the same.
    The conservatives gloating, “Hee hee, this will hurt you politically!”

    You know, they do that crap all the time—that line of argument doesn’t work on me, and I never quite understand where they’re coming from with it. Are they just admitting that they are complete opportunists with no values who will say or do anything to get elected, and then assuming that everyone else is just like them? Or does someone else have another theory?

  360. 360

    chopper

    how dare they speak about how the government should spend its money on poverty instead of war at the funeral of a woman who adamantly believed that the government should spend its money on poverty instead of war!

    and in the presence of a guy who spends all that money on war instead of poverty! the nerve!

  361. 361

    Richard Bottoms

    Dick Cheney:

    President Bush was only seconds into his State of the Union speech Tuesday night when we saw our first sign of blatant hypocrisy.

    After Bush paid a lofty tribute to the late Coretta Scott King, Republicans and Democrats alike rose in applause. Behind the president, so did Vice President Cheney. He should have remained in his seat.

    Perhaps Cheney would like everyone, including the TV viewers, to forget that as a congressman from Wyoming, his vote in 1979 against making Martin Luther King’s birthday a national holiday helped block the legislation. Four years later, he voted for it when it was an easier choice.

    http://www.usnews.com/usnews/n.....ekblog.htm

  362. 362

    jg

    And to think, Kennedy didn’t have the power to appoint a new FBI director or tell Hoover to “Fuck off”. No, he couldn’t do anything because it was Bush’s fault that he was banging Marilyn and Sam Giancana’s girlfriend…

    Is there a point in there?

  363. 363

    SeesThroughIt

    How you can get through this whole “conversation” without even acknowledging that Bobby Kennedy was the one who authorized wiretaps on MLK.

    So? It was bad then and it is now. Why can’t you be a man Brian and finish the talking points you’ve been hearing all morning of Wingnut radio: To mention this so they you mention what a philandering commie MLK was and how it was a good thing he was wiretapped or else we’d be living with a myth that the right has been good enough to bust.

    Thank you, jaime. I keep seeing ‘wingers trying to run this argument up the flagpole, and they never seem to realize that it bursts their whole bubble. After all, if they’re so upset that Dear Georgie might have been offended at comments made during the funeral, shouldn’t they, by their own ahem “logic” have equal sympathy for Ted Kennedy? Yes, they should. But they don’t because, well, they worship Bush, and Kennedy is Evil Incarnate.

    To recap: This wiretapping bullshit was wrong back then, and it’s wrong now. Doesn’t matter who’s doing it; it’s wrong. That, my dear neocons, is called “consistency of principles,” and it’s a concept I invite you to acquaint yourself with sometime.

    Now let’s get on with butt-hurt Republicans whining about how Democrats are whiners.

  364. 364

    Kent

    Memo to Lowerey and Carter at Mrs. King’s funeral: You made the same mistake that Cindy Sheehan did at the State of the Union address. You failed to understand that it wasn’t about YOU!
    Using the funeral and celebration of the life of Mrs. King to promote yourselves and your political views was simply a low-class thing to do. Shame.

  365. 365

    Richard Bottoms

    Are you sensing a pattern here?

    Hmm, a national party tries to rewrite history, claiming it was always for something it loudly fought against, now claiming as cherished heroes the very people whose ideas they fought against. Very ingenous.

    “I voted against the Marin Luther King holiday before I voted for it. Commie bastard.”

  366. 366

    mishu

    Yes, jg. The point is Dems are incompetent.

  367. 367

    Lines

    I think mishu’s point is that history is a point beyond he/she/it’s grasp.

  368. 368

    Paddy O'Shea

    Rush Limbaugh brought the rightwing position into crystal-clear focus with the follwoing remark:

    “Take an office poll with me, how many women will be picked up at the funeral, how many babies will be born in nine months.”

    I think it is pretty safe to say that your average Republican conservative hates blacks. The Republican Party is the heir to the racism of the Dixiecrats, and much of what we hear from that quarter on the topic is rehashed garbage from an ignoble past.

    Why even dignify this crap by discussing it?

  369. 369

    jg

    Yes, jg. The point is Dems are incompetent.

    Ok. I don’t see that point in there but whatever. I’m sure the wingnuts see it.

  370. 370

    Richard Bottoms

    And to think, Kennedy didn’t have the power to appoint a new FBI director or tell Hoover to “Fuck off”. No, he couldn’t do anything because it was Bush’s fault that he was banging Marilyn and Sam Giancana’s girlfriend…

    What’s your point? Black folks read history books.

    Oh, and MLK was screwing around on the side. And that changes what exactly?

  371. 371

    jg

    Rush Limbaugh brought the rightwing position into crystal-clear focus with the follwoing remark:

    “Take an office poll with me, how many women will be picked up at the funeral, how many babies will be born in nine months.”

    He probably just watched Wedding Crashers.

  372. 372

    SeesThroughIt

    She actually called the audience a bunch of “Uppity blacks who don’t know how to act right”

    Wait, I thought that’s what Clarence Thomas was/is? Remember when he called the hearings about his treatment of Anita Hill a “high-tech lynching for uppity Blacks?” Yeah.

  373. 373

    Richard Bottoms

    dagon Says:

    Richard Bottoms,

    you’re doing good work.

    peace

    Word.

    I love Google. I almost never make an argunment without a quote or sourced citation. Makes them go nuts.

  374. 374

    Pb

    Richard Bottoms,

    Yep, they’re deathly allergic to facts. Watch them bob and weave, never acknowledging anything of substance. :)

  375. 375

    Bob

    Funny how Robert Byrd was a member of the KKK, and he gets a free pass from the Dems. You Dems are so hypercritical it is amusing.

    I also find it totally amazing that the loony left uses such “big” four letter words all of the time. Your language represents who you are, and all of the vulgar swearing you all do makes you look like complete uneducated morons. You will never win the “family value” vote with a messgae as vulgar as yours. But keep it coming…the looney left will continue to keep Republicans in power.

  376. 376

    rilkefan

    Someone at TPM Cafe saying much the same thing as ppGaz’s first comment above, after which everyone should, once again, have shut up.

  377. 377

    chefrad

    By all mean, let’s have the kind of all-Eunuch forum that Karl Rove organizes. Heaven forbid that Bush might out that most of the nation diasgrees with what he does.
    Free speech for neocon Danish rabble-rousers, but silence in the august presence of the commander in chief.
    BTW, I think it is for the KING family, not Michelle Malkin, to decide what they want said at their lady’s funeral.

  378. 378

    Richard Bottoms

    Yes, jg. The point is Dems are incompetent.

    “Everything’s going so well!”—Harry Ziedler, Moulin Rouge

    Well the Deocrats would never fall for fighting Iran’s war with Iraq for them, pinning down 130,000 troops, kelling 2200 of them and wounding 15,000.

    Nope, they wouldn’t $500,000,000,000 on a war and still be fighting it 3 years after declaring “Mission Acoomplished.”

    And woe to any Democrat who would run up a natinal debt of $81,000,000,000,000 dollars on top of a budget defict of $500,000,000,000 erasing a budget surplus in the process.

    And if there were some natural disaster, well you bet no Democrat president would respond slowly, not grasping the magnitude of the destruction day, after day, after day while people died. Hell no.

    That would be just plain incompetent.

  379. 379

    mishu

    I love Google. I almost never make an argunment without a quote or sourced citation. Makes them go nuts.

    Google this. Hired truck scandal.

  380. 380

    Bruce Moomaw

    While King was alive, Republican conservatives were virtually unanimous in detesting him—and he returned the sentiment. As late as 1978, National Review was still running cute litle poems comparing him to Father Divine. Now that the Kings have shown them up in the eyes of both the general public and history, most conservatives are making a ludicrous habit of pretending that they ALWAYS admired the Great Man and his wife and so it’s foully unfair of liberals to point out that they are hypocrites on the subject.

    The current President, of course, was an adult while King was alive. We don’t know what his feelings were on the subject at the time; but the fact that his father opposed the Civil Rights Bill at the time, and his own aggrieved compaint at the start of his 2000 Presidential campaign that while he was at Yale he was surrounded by people who “didn’t think they had anything better to do than assure equal opportunity for everybody and that sort of thing”, give us a strong hint. Given Bush’s lack of concern over elementary civil rights at this point, may we not suggest that it’s highly probable that he showed up at the funeral not because he’s sympathetic to the Kings, but as further surface camouflage, devised by his political handlers, to bolster his thoroughly fake “compassionate centrist conservative” image, which is such a central part of his political strategy?

    I was a teenager when King was alive. He was nonviolent, but he was a fiery and constant verbal opponent of EVERYTHING that struck him (usually correctly) as unjust. He would not have objected to that rhetoric at his wife’s funeral in the slightest; he would have regarded her funeral as a crucial opportunity to reiterate attacks on injustice, and he would have regarded it as immoral to miss such an important opportunity to do so.

    He was not alone. Let me quote one of G.K. Chesterton’s poems:

    “Sonnet With the Compliments of the Season (To a Popular Leader Much to be Congratulated on the Avoidance of a Strike at Christmas)”:

    I know you. You will hail the huge release,
    Saying the sheathing of a thousand swords,
    In silence and injustice, well accords
    With Christmas bells. And you will gild with grease
    The papers, the employers, the police,
    And vomit up the void your windy words
    To your New Christ; who bears no whip of cords
    For them that traffic in the doves of peace.

    The feast of friends, the candle-fruited tree,
    I have not failed to honour. And I say
    It would be better for such men as we,
    And we be nearer Bethlehem, if we lay
    Shot dead on scarlet snows for liberty,
    Dead in the daylight upon Christmas Day.

    King was an advocate of nonviolence in every situation where it is possible; but he was also an advocate of Justice—who, lest we forget, carries a sword rather than an olive branch.

    One more point: the same rule applies to conservatives. If they honestly believe that a certain policy by liberals is seriously dangerous or unjust, and they are speaking at the funeral of a political figure who held the same belief, unless the family objects (or the person himself had stated before his death that he didn’t want it mentioned) they not only have the right to bring up that issue—they have the moral obligation to do so.

  381. 381

    dagon

    mishu:

    Google this. Hired truck scandal.

    i don’t get it. are you talking about the george ryan scanal and trial in Illinois?

    peace

  382. 382

    mishu

    And if there were some natural disaster, well you bet no Democrat president would respond slowly, not grasping the magnitude of the destruction day, after day, after day while people died. Hell no.

    Well, if the democrat governor is any example, then competence is even further away from the dems grasp.

  383. 383

    mishu

    dagon, you’re wrong.

  384. 384

    Richard Bottoms

    Google this. Hired truck scandal.

    Yes? Looks like Mayor Daley may be in trouble.

    What’s that got to do with the price of tea in China?

    Google this biatch: laura bush accident

    Next.

  385. 385
  386. 386

    jg

    And if there were some natural disaster, well you bet no Democrat president would respond slowly, not grasping the magnitude of the destruction day, after day, after day while people died. Hell no.

    Well, if the democrat governor is any example, then competence is even further away from the dems grasp.

    At least the governor acted. Bush did nothing while you assholes sat around saying its a local problem. Laughing at how badly overwhelmed they were yet not getting the irony of it all.

  387. 387

    jaime

    Mishu, make sense or shut the fuck up.

  388. 388

    dagon

    mishu

    dagon, you’re wrong.

    —i’m wrong about what? i don’t even know what the hell kind of point it is that you’re trying to make. do you want to enlighten me?

    peace

  389. 389

    Lines

    dagon, so there you big poopy headed retard

  390. 390

    ppGaz

    I’m still holding out for a book deal.

  391. 391

    dagon

    Lines, you’re killing me man!! :)

    peace

  392. 392

    D. Mason

    Having read through most of the comments here I have to say that division among party lines is shameful here today. Rev. Joseph Lowery, a trusted ally and longtime friend to Mrs. King and her husband, can say whatever he feels like saying. This is a man who was there by the side of the King family as they were helping to change the entire culture of America for the better. Mr. Lowery has earned the right to not be criticized for what he says to honor Mrs. King in her passing. Jimmy Carter hasn’t. President Carter had no business talking politics at this womans funeral.

    Evereyone who has been to a few large funerals knows that there are 2 kinds of speakers … There are the people who knew the deceased and who have something to say but they weren’t close and so their words should always remain more somber and formal…. An example I could give off the top of my head would be at my grandfathers(who owned a business in the small town where he lived and died) funeral some other local business people spoke about how they respected his character blah blah blah. But there is another kind of speaker, the ones who knew the deceased on a personal level. They know how the person they are honoring would want to be remembered and they have the floor. Noone can question their sincerity even if they don’t understand why they said what they said.

    People who make and keep friends for a lifetime don’t dishonor them at their funerals, not for politics or anything else. To suggest that Rev. Lowery dishonored his passed friend by politicizing her funeral is ignorant at best.

  393. 393

    ImJohnGalt

    Thank goodness that Republicans didn’t politicize the tragic death of Pat Tillman.

    Republicans: Pat Tillman died heroically in a war he volunteered for! He was a real American patriot, you cowardly dems! See how right we were?

    His Brother (at his funeral): Pat thought Bush was an idiot, and that the war was wrong, but he fought it anyway.

    Republicans: >!<

    [crickets chirping]

  394. 394

    martha

    How many rich Democrats were at the funeral who benefitted from my tax cuts ($51,000 gross per year)? Including Mrs. King, her upper-middle class children and, especially those compassionate non-donors to charity, the Clintons.

  395. 395

    Batfink

    Wow, John, you sure have a lot of angry liberals who hang on your every word. You’d think they’d be too busy on Democratic Underground to wring out their spleens here, but whatever, I guess.

    It was an amusing read. Signed,

    A Hugh Hewitt reader

  396. 396

    jaime

    There are other speakers, Mason. Ones that don’t know what the hell they’re talking about.

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/200...../obit_king

    The King family, especially Coretta Scott King and her father-in-law, Martin Luther King Sr., were highly visible in 1976 when former Georgia Gov. Jimmy Carter ran for president. When an integration dispute at Carter’s Plains church created a furor, Coretta Scott King campaigned at Carter’s side the next day.

    She later was named by Carter to serve as part of the U.S. delegation to the United Nations, where Young was the ambassador.

    I guess Carter just had a passing acquaintance to CSK, right?

  397. 397

    ppGaz

    big poopy headed retard

    Who’s up for starting a new blog called

    big_poopy_headed_retard

    Open to righties and lefties, but to post there, you have be either (a) a poopy head or (b) a retard and© be able to prove it.

  398. 398

    D. Mason

    Passing acquaintance? No and I never suggested that, but he also wasn’t a lifelong friend, there are degrees of familiarity. This isn’t one of those either/or situations that political cheerleaders are so fond of. There is an OBVIOUS difference between the relationship Rev. Lowery had with the King family and that of Jimmy Carter.

    Carter was someone important who held some similar values and who worked with Mrs. King in many ways for a few years, their work was mutually beneficial, that is why he spoke. Lowery watched their kids grow up… see the difference? If you can’t that’s sad.

  399. 399

    Richard Bottoms

    You’d think they’d be too busy on Democratic Underground to wring out their spleens here, but whatever, I guess.

    My spleen is just fine. I’m just a Democrat with a long memory and skill at finding what I want on Google.

    This idea that Republicans loved MLK all along is just horseshit. Rev. Lowery knows it and I know it.

  400. 400

    Nikki

    Carter was someone important who held some similar values and who worked with Mrs. King in many ways for a few years, their work was mutually beneficial, that is why he spoke. Lowery watched their kids grow up… see the difference? If you can’t that’s sad.

    Honestly, I don’t see the difference. You can only make this claim if you know exactly how much or how little a friend the Carters and the Lowreys have been to the Kings.

  401. 401

    Jesse

    Yeah, I’m shocked an elder of America’s civil rights and progressive activist community ceiticized Bush, the War, and the fact America still has so many poor and needy. It’s not like the woman they buried led a civil rights march of 50,000 the day before her husband of buried. It’s not like the woman spoke at an anti-war rally three weeks after her husband was murdured.

    She was a woman who devoted her life to nonviolence.

    Do any of ya’ honestly believe that Mrs. King would’ve said anything different if she had the oppurtunity to speak to Bush at this moment in time?

    If Coretta, on the occasion of her husbands death, could launch and continue a generation long campaign for equality and justice in his name, we should only be so honored to do the same to mark her passing.

    Oh – and as a side note. Standing ovation. Guess that two percent approval the Boy King has among African-Americans is resonating.

  402. 402

    Steve

    If everyone were as savvy about casting their vote as the African-American community, this country would be a much better place. And I don’t mean that in the sense that everyone would vote Democrat.

    There are some people who just refuse to be bullshitted. That’s a rare quality in this bullshit-filled world.

  403. 403

    The Disenfranchised Voter

    I really wish I was here for this post this morning. I honestly don’t feel like reading through all the comments about this as the whole outrage over this is complete bullshit. The Republican party has mastered the art of condemning the politicizing of events by politicizing their outrage themselves. Someone should teach them the definition of the word hypocrite.

    If the Republicans really gave two shits about keeping this non-political they would make a single statement about how it was unfortunate that the event was politicized and then leave it at that.

    The fact that they are acting so outraged that a life-long political activist’s funeral was politicized—at the King family’s acceptance I might add—is ridiculous.

    And guess what? They wouldn’t have been able to politicize it if Bush didn’t misled us about WMD, if he didn’t totally fuck up on Katrina, or if he OBEYED THE FUCKING LAW in regards to wiretaps.

  404. 404

    dagon

    actually mason

    Carter was someone important who held some similar values and who worked with Mrs. King in many ways for a few years, their work was mutually beneficial, that is why he spoke. Lowery watched their kids grow up… see the difference? If you can’t that’s sad.

    —what’s sad is your attempt to marginalize carter’s appearance. you don’t know what his relationship was with mrs. kiing or how deep. i’m glad you’re on board about Rev. Lowery’s comments but it is not up to YOU to decide what degree of involvement or how much time in acquaintance qualifies someone as a ‘personal friend’ who can make controversial comments at a funeral.

    to even suggest so is laughable and sick. so please, let this one go and shut it about carter.

    peace

  405. 405

    ppGaz

    Lowery watched their kids grow up… see the difference? If you can’t that’s sad.

    No, no, no. In the GOP world all truth is politics and all politics is truth. People, relationships, personal expressions of anything …. fuck that. It’s about politics and the righty base. If they say that the darkies misbehaved at the funeral, and that the Democrats are disrespectful, then that’s all there is to it.

    Who you gonna believe? Some black guy who is just race-baiting, or Kate O’Beirne?

    You Democrats have no class. So say the final arbiters of class in our world, the Republicans.

  406. 406

    dagon

    steve

    There are some people who just refuse to be bullshitted. That’s a rare quality in this bullshit-filled world.

    —thanks man. it took me a lot longer to try to say the exact same thing. :)

    peace

  407. 407

    Richard Bottoms

    Uh-oh. Another politicized funeral:

    It is now for us, all the millions of the living who care, to take up his torch of love. It is for us to finish his work, to end the awful destruction in Vietnam, to root out every trace of race prejudice from our lives, to bring the massive powers of this nation to aid the oppressed and to heal the hate-scarred world.

    God rest your soul, dear Martin. You have fought the good fight. You have finished your course. You have kept the faith. Yours is now the triumphant crown of righteousness. Your dream is now ours. May God make us worthy and able to carry your torch of love and march on to brotherhood. Amen.

    L. Harold DeWolf (1905-1986) was Martin Luther King’s dissertation advisor at Boston University’s School of Theology. From 1965 to 1972 he was the dean of Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, DC.

    http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religi.....ibute.html

  408. 408

    jaime

    Carter was someone important who held some similar values and who worked with Mrs. King in many ways for a few years, their work was mutually beneficial, that is why he spoke. Lowery watched their kids grow up… see the difference? If you can’t that’s sad.

    You compared the relationship to that of your grandfather and some business folks in the neighborhood…a passing acquaintance. The truth is, I’ve never counted how many times Carter went to the King house for supper, and neither have you. He was invited to speak by the family and that is good enough for me.

    Is there a difference in relationships between Lowery and Carter, maybe, but that isn’t for either of us to determine. Or have you coronated yourself the watchdog of Coretta Scott King friendships?

  409. 409

    The Disenfranchised Voter

    I think he should be cutting spending on ALL people.

    Does that include the outrageously huge so-called “defense” budget?

    I didn’t think so…

  410. 410

    The Disenfranchised Voter

    Jimmy Carter?! History’s greatest monster.

    HAHHAHAHA! Wow. Why does anyone even think of trying to talk some sense into Stormy. The woman is clearly delusional beyond any shadow of a doubt. And I’d say the same about someone who would call Reagan “history’s greatest monster”.

    What a nutjob.

  411. 411

    ppGaz

    And I’d say the same about someone who would call Reagan “history’s greatest monster”.

    Well, how about “History’s greatest monster who couldn’t remember what happened 45 minutes ago … even when he was president?”

  412. 412

    Stalking Horse

    Bush should not have been there. She was just another enemy of american democracy, just like the people that got up to talk. The Kings have done nothing for the african americans in Atlanta over the last 2 decades. Lots of talk for lots of money (in their pockets) and no action.

    Go libs.

  413. 413

    Steve

    Do you suppose the remarks about Vietnam at MLK’s funeral were less offensive because LBJ didn’t show up? I personally don’t think it matters either way, but I’m sure LBJ was smart enough to know that if he did show up, he was going to hear a lot worse than a single line about weapons of mass destruction.

  414. 414

    Vince

    John,

    I agree with you completely. I wonder where these liberal asses get their news- oh yea, from their other liberal sources. No WMD’s? then what did Sadaam use on the Kurds, and what did that Iraqi general just say last week about them being shipped out to Syria while we were waffling around waiting to actually go in and take Sadaam out??

  415. 415

    AWB

    So let’s examine the Demos history of race, shall we?

    The Republican Party was founded on the principles of anti-slavery, expressly to counter the Democrats defense of slavery (to the bitter end).

    Senator Charles Sumner (R-MA) viciously beaten within an inch of his life on the floor of the Senate (in a most cowardly sneak-attack) by Representative Preston Brooks (D-SC). Why? Senator Sumner dared to question the right to own black slaves.

    The Lincoln-Douglas Debates. Remember those, still run today? Senator Stephen Douglas (D-IL), quote, “For one, I am opposed to negro citizenship in any and every form. I believe this government was made on the white basis. I believe it was made by white men for the benefit of white men and their posterity forever, and I am in favor of confining citizenship to white men, men of European birth and descent, instead of conferring it upon negroes, Indians and other inferior races.” The Democraps proceeded to nominate Douglas for president in 1860. Hard to believe that most Democraps viewed Douglas as being too moderate on the slavery issue.

    All the south’s “Jim Crow” laws were enacted by Democraps in state legislatures and governorships. The Ku Klux Klan (Robert C. Byrd, D-WV,

  416. 416

    The Disenfranchised Voter

    I know you were joking ppGaz, but Reagan’s got a long way to go before he ends up in any “history’s greatest monsters” countdown—a real long way.

    And this is coming from someone who thinks Reagan’s presidency is vastly overrated.

  417. 417

    trapeze

    As a conservative Republican all I can say is “thank you, thank you, thank you!”

    Jimmy Carter and the rest of you typical liberal Democrats are an absolute gift from heaven. Your indignation, anger, self-righteousness and out-and-out undisguised & unashamed hatred for all things conservative and Republican will guarantee that you stay in the minority for the forseeable future.

    I am truly grateful that we on the right are not nearly as clever and insightful as you guys are.

    There can be no greater testimony to your genius than the celebration of the dim-witted Jimmy Carter who deftly points out that Democrats wiretapped MLK and somehow interpret that as a swipe at GWB.

    As James T. Kirk said (paraphrased), “Kahn, I’m laughing at the superior intelligence.”

  418. 418

    ppGaz

    I know you were joking ppGaz

    Hardly

    In Guatemala, many remember that Reagan lent his prestige and backing to Gen. Efrain Rios Montt, who came to power in a coup and was an ardent anti-communist. Currently under house arrest for his alleged role in violent July 2003 riots, Rios Montt has been blamed by many international human rights groups for the massacre of tens of thousands of Guatemalans, including many women and children.

    His hideous record in South America might tarnish the phony saintly image that some want to paint him with.

    I always believed that he was a fake, and a cruel fanatic who would stop at nothing to tilt at the windmills of communism. I lived in California when he was governor, and I detested him then, and only more as the years went by.

    And no, I wasn’t joking about the memory loss either. I think he was mentally useless for most of his second term.

  419. 419

    AWB

    Sorry, hit submit by mistake.

    The Ku Klux Klan (Sen. Robert C. Byrd, D-WV, former Grand Wizard and still in the Senate today…also filibustered the 1964 Civil Rights Act for 14 straight hours) virtually an auxiliary arm of the Democratic Party. And as a matter of fact, the first gun control laws were enacted by Democraps in order to prevent blacks from defending themselves against the KKK. Chain gangs developed by Democraps to bring back a new version of slave labor.

    President Woodrow Wilson, only the second Democrap elected president since the Civil War, reintroduced segregation throughout the federal government immediately upon his inauguration in 1913. Avowed racists were key members of his cabinet. Of course, as president of Princeton, he reused to admit blacks and refused to grant state jobs to blacks when he was governor of New Jersey (even though black votes provided his margin of victory…some thanks from the Democraps).

    FDR’s first appointment to the SCOTUS was life member of th KKK Hugo Black (D-AL). He chose as his VP in 1944 Harry Truman (D-MO and proud member of the KKK since 1922). Throughout his tenure, he refused to address Republican efforts to criminalize lynching and integration of the armed forces.

    I could go on, but I’ve made my point. The Democraps have taken the Afri-can-American community for granted for years and enacted policies to keep them in poverty. That time is coming to an end.

  420. 420

    The Disenfranchised Voter

    Reagan does not come close to being one of history’s greatest monsters.

    The competition is just too strong. He pales in comparison to others.

  421. 421

    Steve

    Isn’t it obvious that Godzilla was history’s greatest monster? Seriously.

  422. 422

    ppGaz

    The competition is just too strong

    Your point is well taken.

  423. 423

    ppGaz

    Isn’t it obvious that Godzilla was history’s greatest monster? Seriously.

    After Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster .... I have to agree.

    Greatest of all time.

  424. 424

    dagon

    trapeze

    There can be no greater testimony to your genius than the celebration of the dim-witted Jimmy Carter who deftly points out that Democrats wiretapped MLK and somehow interpret that as a swipe at GWB.

    ..seriously man, i’m not trying to start anything with you because i think that you HAVE to be a troll but really…..you can’t be fucking serious…right?

    peace

  425. 425

    dagon

    AWB

    I could go on, but I’ve made my point. The Democraps have taken the Afri-can-American community for granted for years and enacted policies to keep them in poverty. That time is coming to an end.

    —take a perusal through Richard Bottoms and my own post on this subject above and get back to me when you can prove that you actually have any clue as to what you’re talking about.

    peace

  426. 426

    ImJohnGalt

    There can be no greater testimony to your genius than the celebration of the dim-witted Jimmy Carter who deftly points out that Democrats wiretapped MLK and somehow interpret that as a swipe at GWB

    Thanks trapeze for making the case for. It’s not us that are claiming it’s a swipe at GWB, is the entire righty blogosphere who are all a-twitter and asking for smelling salts over what he said. I’m presuming that you are going on all the right-wing sites and correcting their misplaced umbrage.

  427. 427

    Sine.Qua.Non

    It seems to me, that the expression of and carrying forth the voice and actions of the person that died, in this case a well-known political and social activist, is the greatest compliment to their lives (i.e. see Jesus/prophet/etc. followers who spread the word as an example). Following in their footsteps? To express that persons viewpoints, at their funeral, or in any other manner is to carry on that person’s message and work or movement. We can all only wish for the same to occur to ourselves, upon our own deaths.

    What I find tragic, is that anyone would sideline her unfortunate death by creating an issue over what was said about her or her activism, message, if you will, relayed by others, contriving to make a cheap political point on the other side. Thereby, reducing (there is a better word than reduce) Coretta Scott King’s contributions and “her” life. THAT is the problem here, that is the tragedy.

    That Mrs. King was against the Iraq War and that her husband was spyed on by our government are well known facts. Positions which she was vehemenent about and fought against along side here husband and family, her friends, and after her husband’s assasination, carried on his work and made it her own.

    There was nothing, absolutely nothing said at that funeral that did not match with her life, philosophy nor her message from the grave.

  428. 428

    Richard Bottoms

    The Ku Klux Klan (Sen. Robert C. Byrd, D-WV, former Grand Wizard and still in the Senate today…

    And John Lindberg was a Nazi sympathizer. SO waht?

    Yes we know Robert Byrd was in the Klan. He’s not only aplogized for it but made up for it as well in word and deed? We black folks forgave George Wallace too.

    What the fuck do we care about an old geezer who’ll be dead in a few years.

    Our objection is people who are members of the White Citizen Council TODAY.

    Jackson, Miss.—If, as Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott has insisted for a month, he has “no first-hand knowledge” of the views of the Council of Conservative Citizens, which calls itself pro-white, it comes as news to a lot of people back home, including his Uncle Arnie.

    “Trent is an honorary member,” said Arnie Watson, a former state senator, tax assessor and currently a member of the council’s executive board.

    “He’s spoken at meetings,” added Watson, whom Lott once fondly recalled as his “favorite uncle” from the days during Lott’s youth when his grandfather and uncles gathered to talk politics on the porch.

    But after a month of questioning and scrutiny about his relationship with the group, Lott issued a statement Wednesday night, saying: “I have made my condemnation of the white supremacist and racist view of this group, or any group, clear. Any use of my name to publicize their view is not only unauthorized, it’s wrong.”

    It would be difficult for any conservative politician here—Democrat or Republican—to remain ignorant of the Council of Conservative Citizens.

    There are 34 members of the Mississippi Legislature among its roughly 5,000 members in the state, said William Lord, the state coordinator, and prominent politicians, including Gov. Kirk Fordice, a fellow Republican, regularly speak at its meetings and rallies, which are festooned with the Confederate flag

    http://www.samsloan.com/lottties.htm

  429. 429

    AWB

    dagon

    I’ve read Bottoms…guy obviously is uneducated and crass, as he is incapable of reasoned speech without RESORTING TO PROFANITY! Sorry, not interested in getting into a battle of wits with an unarmed simpleton. As to having a clue, I do, witness your inability to counter the facts presented above. If you have an answer, please. I look forward to reading your comments, as they are made with thought and reason. Can’t say the same for Bottoms. The man lives down to his name.

  430. 430

    Richard Bottoms

    The man lives down to his name.

    Blow me.

  431. 431

    trapeze

    You are batting 1.000 there, dagon…I AM a troll (so what?) and yes, I am “f*cking serious” as you so adroitly put it. You guys are your own worst enemy and we on the right couldn’t pay enough for the work that you are doing on our behalf.

    You need look no further than Bill Clinton for a pristine example of how you should be acting (at least in public). I totally disagree with almost everything that comes out of his mouth but he IS a class act. He is charming. He is agreeable. As has been so often pointed out…a person that most people would enjoy sharing a beer with.

    Jimmy Carter is an absolute embarrassment. A classless excuse for a human being. So keep holding him up. Elevate Cindy Sheehan, too. Whoopee!!

  432. 432

    ppGaz

    AWB is obviously a crude spoof.

    “RESORTING TO PROFANITY” complete with caps.

    Shit, has this guy read John Cole? Talk about “resorting to profanity!” Whew!

  433. 433

    Steve

    What a simpleminded view of history to present. Gee, the Republicans were opposed to our involvement in WWII, I guess they are the anti-war party!

    It’s really instructive to talk about what Stephen Douglas said 150 years ago as compared to, say, how Jesse Helms ran his campaigns within the last decade. “You needed that job… but they had to give it to a minority.”

    What amazes me is that conservatives continue to assume black people are stupid enough to fall for this crap.

  434. 434

    Otto Man

    Funny how Robert Byrd was a member of the KKK, and he gets a free pass from the Dems. You Dems are so hypercritical it is amusing.

    Christ, it’s like pulling a string on a Chatty Cathy doll. Do they send young conservatives to education camps to learn these talking points?

  435. 435

    AWB

    Bottoms

    Nice. You kiss your mother or wife with that mouth?

    ppGAZ

    Have you noticed any profanity in my postings? NO. Nor will you.

    “Talking and eloquence are not the same; to speak, and to speak well are two things”-Ben Jonson

  436. 436

    ppGaz

    He is charming

    Like you, then?

  437. 437

    Jeff Miller

    Why does everyone care so damned much about this? Coretta Scott King has a funeral, Bush goes, and a community that he’s almost totally ignored and that is really pissed at him says some unkind things while he’s there.

    Tasteful? Probably not. But Bush is a big boy. I think he can handle it.

  438. 438

    Richard Bottoms

    Nice. You kiss your mother or wife with that mouth?

    Yes. Yours, too.

  439. 439

    ppGaz

    Do they send young conservatives to education camps to learn these talking points?

    Actually, yes, if they are upwardly mobile. WaMo had a piece on this late last year. The modus operandi is taught as a set of tactics.

    The paradigm is basically deflection and misdirection, for the people who aren’t paying close attention, and legitimization for the base, who are paying attention.

    They have it down to a science, literally.

  440. 440

    trapeze

    Hey, no trouble here, ppGaz!

    Happy, happy, happy! That is my point. You guys BE angry. You guys be profane and vulgar. No argument from me. Keep sending Jimmy Carter out in public as your front man. I am delighted.

    Political funerals? Heck, yeah! By all means, keep it up. I am with you all the way.

  441. 441

    dagon

    AWB,

    fine, the point i was trying to make is that all of those transgressions against blacks that you were attempting to use as evidence that the democratic party somehow mistreated its black base took place over 40 years ago.

    the fact is that ALL of those elements that you attempted to use to tar the democrats now reside within the republican party.

    and my overriding point is that by and large, blacks know this. thus, given the history, it is patently insulting for people to go around insinuating that black people don’t know how to vote for what’s best for themselves.

    insulting and completely untrue. most of us look at the modern working class republican and ask ourselves “WHY”?

    we see it as nothing short of pure insanity.

    peace

  442. 442

    ppGaz

    Have you noticed any profanity in my postings? NO. Nor will you.

    Oh, well then, fuck you very much.

    You are in the wrong place if you think that that is going to get you any points around here. John Cole owns the blog and he swears like a sailor. So what?

  443. 443

    jaime

    Christ, it’s like pulling a string on a Chatty Cathy doll. Do they send young conservatives to education camps to learn these talking points?

    This one’s not yet ready to graduate. He hasn’t mentioned how “Lincoln freed the slaves” yet. Once he does that he’ll get his honorary lifetime military deferrment, bowtie, khaki pants, and bowl cut from the young conservatives school.

  444. 444

    Otto Man

    Can’t say the same for Bottoms. The man lives down to his name.

    So that makes you, what? The Average White Band?

  445. 445

    Richard Bottoms

    Jimmy Carter is an absolute embarrassment. A classless excuse for a human being.

    Terrible. Just terrible what he does with his free time:

    Habitat for Humanity International is a nonprofit, nondenominational Christian housing organization.

    We welcome all people to join us as we build simple, decent, affordable houses in partnership with those who lack adequate shelter.

    Since 1976, Habitat has built more than 175, 000 houses, providing shelter for nearly 900,000 people worldwide. Now at work in 100 countries, we are building a house every 26 minutes. By 2005, Habitat houses will be sheltering 1 million people.

    http://www.habitat.org/how/tour/1.html

  446. 446

    Otto Man

    I am truly grateful that we on the right are not nearly as clever and insightful as you guys are.

    Yeah, your comments have pretty much made that clear. Thanks!

  447. 447

    ppGaz

    That is my point.

    Impressive. Alas, it was made for you in this thread about 400 posts ago.

  448. 448

    Richard Bottoms

    Oh, well then, fuck you very much.

    Ouucch!

  449. 449

    Otto Man

    This one’s not yet ready to graduate. He hasn’t mentioned how “Lincoln freed the slaves” yet.

    Actually, the capper is “the Republicans passed the 1964 Civil Rights Act.”

  450. 450

    jaime

    I should catalogue every time some dickweed rightwinger says “That’s why you guys lose elections”, so when they get their assed kicked in the next election I can rub their faces in it like a dog that shit on the rug.

  451. 451

    Richard Bottoms

    I am truly grateful that we on the right are not nearly as clever and insightful as you guys are.

    Yeah, your comments have pretty much made that clear. Thanks!

    Damn.

  452. 452

    trapeze

    Thanks again to all of you lefties.

    We really, really appreciate the good work that you are doing. Just keep it up. Your strategery is working. If you can only do more of it or, somehow, do it with even MORE fervor and intensity you shall surely prevail and the White House & both houses of Congress will be yours!

    As for me (troll), I am a happy puppy! I am going right down to GOP headquarters to get fresh programming from my master, Karl Rove.

  453. 453

    Richard Bottoms

    Nice. You kiss your mother or wife with that mouth?

    Don’t even start ‘the dozens’ with a black man. You aren’t equipped.

    The dozens??? What’s that?

    “Snaps” carry references to one’s relatives, especially one’s mother. The expression “Playing The Dozens” means to taunt another person by taunting, kidding, “jiving,” teasing or insulting their family—in essence, to use “snaps.” This “gaming” has deep roots in the humor, personality, and social relationships of Black Americans.

    Playing the Dozens is more than a game of fun—it is a battle for respect. It is an exhibition of emotional strength and verbal agility, a confrontation of wits instead of fists. The dozens is a war of words—perhaps the best type of war there is.

    This verbal tradition combines elements of boxing, chess, and poetry. In a contest demanding the poise and power of a boxer, the aim is not just to win but to deliver a knockout. Fought before a crowd, the verbal pugilist wants not only his opponent but all who witness to think twice about confronting him or her again.

    http://www.online-magazine.com/snaps.htm

  454. 454

    Scrutator » disgraceful funeral

    [...] Watcing Jimmuh Cahtuh and “Reverend” Lowery turn Coretta Scott King’s funeral into a disgraceful show of Bush-bashing turned my stomach. The right-wing blogosphere is all over this, calling it for what it is: an example of the looney left’s inability to show respect for anything, whether it be the honorable life of a civil rights pioneer, the office of the president, or the notion of unity at a time of war. Let’s start with John Cole who earns his way out of the RINO club with this And the funny thing is that I didn’t see the funeral, but only saw the Lowery and Carter lowlights on cable news. Why were these showing? Because Republicans control the media? Or because some things are just objectively wrong? Like, say, political trash talk at the pulpit of a funeral. [...]

  455. 455

    ppGaz

    As for me (troll), I am a happy puppy! I am going right down to GOP headquarters to get fresh programming from my master, Karl Rove.

    You need to keep working on that spoof. It’s got promise, but still rough around the edges.

    Hold onto the day job, where you hop up and down in front of the donut shop in a possum costume wearing a $3/Dozen sign.

  456. 456

    trapeze

    Proud to be a “dickweed rightwinger!” and patiently waiting for your glorious victory in the next election.

    (snicker)

  457. 457

    ppGaz

    Nothing for the possum costume? Nothing at all?

    Damn.

  458. 458

    SeesThroughIt

    What amazes me is that conservatives continue to assume black people are stupid enough to fall for this crap.

    And then they wonder why Blacks don’t vote Republican. Seriously.

    AWB: I suppose you can explain how the Republicans’ “Southern Strategy” was not racist, then? Actually, no you can’t, but it’ll be funny to see you try to do so.

  459. 459

    trapeze

    The funny thing is we own the donut shops and hire dork college kids that major in English Lit to to do the hopping. Need a job?

  460. 460

    dagon

    jaime:

    I should catalogue every time some dickweed rightwinger says “That’s why you guys lose elections”, so when they get their assed kicked in the next election I can rub their faces in it like a dog that shit on the rug.

    tell me it about it. someone should clue these idiots in on what most of us here already know, There Is ALWAYS A Renaissance!
    —these morons act as if time is going to stand still and we will forever be in some red state utopia. no wonder they’re so open t