Bush to attend Coretta Scott King's funeral

[Charlie Brown]

I'm beginning to see why they decided to hold the service at a mega-church.

http://www.ajc.com/blogs/content/shared-blogs/ajc/breaking/entries/stories/0206/president_bush.html

White House spokesman Scott McClellan said President Bush and First Lady Laura Bush will attend the funeral of Coretta Scott King on Tuesday.

“The King family is still finalizing the program, but the President is expected to make remarks as part of the service,” McClellan said.

The funeral is at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia.

[FreedomAngel82]

1. Oh how distasteful

Someone who fought for civil rights being "honored" by someone who is eroding them.

[ET Awful]

2. Does that mean he'll be forced to see Fred Phelps, since Phelps

is supposed to be picketing said funeral?

[Rocknrule]

7. He'll probably be attending WITH Phelps

[Horse with no Name]

3. Blasphemy

Pure blasphemy.
If I were the King family, knowing full well that Poppy more than likely had a hand in the death of MLK, I would refuse to let the little bastard capitalize on Mrs. King's death.
All he wants to do is pander to the black vote. That is all.
He doesn't give two shits for ANYTHING the King family sacrificed for. The only interests he has is dismantling it.

[Dangerman]

31. I agree.

[OKNancy]

4. That's just not right

:puke:

[Nutmegger]

5. Hope the Chimp doesn't get confused

It's Rosa Parks. NOT Rosa Park

It's Coretta Scott King. NOT Coretta Scott Kings

[spanone]

6. Photo-Op of the month!.

:banghead:

[Arkansas Granny]

8. You've nailed it. He might be hoping to get back some of

that support he lost in the black community after Katrina.

[Charlie Brown]

9. Perhaps he can explain

Why her body was not permitted to lie in state at the Capitol in Washington.

[Burning Water]

29. I musta missed it.

What black support was that? I thought that black America was pretty solidly Dem.

[Botany]

10. The man has no shame .... the family should tell him to fuck off.

Cheney voted against the MLK holiday.

http://www.lahontanvalleynews.com/article/20060116/Opinion/101160006/-1/OPINION

Today is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. President Reagan signed the legislation in November of 1983, making this day a national holiday after 15 years of lobbying. A petition with six million signatures was submitted to Congress in 1970.

The legislation was submitted each Congressional session thereafter by John Conyers, D-Michigan. Eventually it passed the House by a vote of 338 to 90 and was sent on to the Senate where it received bi-partisan support in the face of vocal opposition led by Sen. Jesse Helms.

snip

Then Congressman Dick Cheney voted against the holiday. This fit his pattern. As we learned during the last presidential campaign, he also voted against Head Start and Meals on Wheels for seniors, as well as a congressional declaration calling for the South African government to release Nelson Mandela from prison. Cheney claimed that Mandela was a terrorist



or remember Katrina ... his staff had to burn a DVD from the TV news so he could watch it on Air Force 1
flying back 3 days after the storm?

[Ian David]

11. The only good black people (2% approve!) to Bush are dead black people

He won't meet with the NAACP, but as soon as one dies, he's there!

Unless it's a military funeral.

Bush doesn't do military funerals.

But he does like touching their heads.

[buff2]

12. Why is the King family letting that racist twit in,much less speak?

What the phuck is wrong with people? That dirty low down good for nothing bastard is stripping the civil rights away from blacks as soon as he can...in fact for ALL of us.For God's sake,why are they letting him get his photo ops at the expense of Coretta? That is wrong and so despicable.

That bastard has no shame. He thinks his ugly ass face has got to be stuck everywhere.Now I can't watch any of the funeral if he and Mrs. Xanax Stepford is going to be there. I am so sick of her pasted on joker smile and his snears and giggles. Phuck,I am about to.....................:puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke:

[Ian David]

15. Maybe that's part of the plan. Maybe it's an ambush...

Maybe they're going to read a litany of the late Coretta Scott King's anti-Bush messages.

Maybe as they euologize her they'll talk about how each and every one of her ideals was contrary to Bush's policies.

And how Jerry Falwell said Dr. Martin Luther King Junior was leading "the civil wrongs" movement, and not the "civil rights" movement.



30 year battle

Excerpted from Holy War by The Southern Poverty Law Center
(Item is licensed for non-profit distribution by The SPL Center)
http://www.splcenter.org/

Falwell laid into Christian leaders who were actively supporting civil rights, reminding them of a Bible verse that fundamentalists often invoked as evidence that God did not want them to participate in politics: "For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh" (II Corinthians 10:13).

Fourteen years later, Falwell co-founded the Moral Majority, the first national effort to stimulate fundamentalist political participation and elect candidates who would, in the words of co-founder Paul Weyrich, "Christianize America."

What explained this apparent sea change? While fundamentalist Christians had long stayed out of electoral politics, Falwell and many others were "extremely unhappy with the 'rights' movements that had sprung up in the '50s and '60s," says Didi Herman, author of The Antigay Agenda.
"First black people, then women, now gay people? The frustration had been mounting. Their actions were catching up with their view."

Falwell was plain enough about his views; in 1964, he told a local paper that the Civil Rights Act had been misnamed: "It should be considered civil wrongs rather than civil rights." His "Old Time Gospel Hour" TV program hosted prominent segregationists like Govs. Lester Maddox of Georgia and George Wallace of Alabama.

More:
http://closetsontheair.com/dan.php


See also:

The Religious Right's Record
on Issues of Concern to African Americans and the Poor

<snip>

{Pat} Robertson has opposed civil rights legislation throughout his career, most recently including the 1988 Civil Rights Restoration Action and the 1991 Civil Rights Act. Robertson called the Civil Rights Act of 1985 "one of the most frightening pieces of legislation that has been brought up." On the Civil Rights Act of 1991, Robertson said, "We don't need another civil rights bill. We just don't need another one. The country is moving beautifully toward racial equality and opportunity."

<snip>

The Christian Coalition gave their annual "Friend of the Family" award to Senator Jesse Helms (R-NC) in 1993. Senator Helms is a long-time opponent of civil rights, led the opposition to the drive to make Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday a national holiday, and touched off an enormous firestorm for his race-baiting advertising campaign in the 1990 Senate campaign against Harvey Gantt.

<snip>

Robertson even was an apologist for Apartheid in South Africa, and challenged the wisdom of ending it.

<snip>

The Christian Coalition has opposed various education programs it calls 'anti-family." Pat Robertson expressed opposition to Head Start, saying it was unnecessary, because, "if you're smart, you'll catch up anyway." Ralph Reed once called the abolition of the Department of Education his number one legislative priority. Among the programs the Christian Coalition would sacrifice by dismantling the Education Department are Title I funding for poor school districts and Parental Literacy programs to help parents play a role in their children's education.


http://members.aol.com/tiaokc/ccafam.htm

[Perky]

13. I wonder if there is anyway for Bush to win this one.

I mean he would be excoriate fordishonoring Coretta if he did not show up and for pandering if he does.

Not defending him mind you....but what's a tyrant-idiot to do?

The right thing to do is probably to go and not speak?

[Horse with no Name]

16. This isn't a state funeral

He has absolutely no obligation to attend.
The idiot just wants to wipe his ass on her legacy.

[Perky]

Well the King Family has to invite him

and has to ask him to speak.

And apparently they have..go figure

[Horse with no Name]

20. Or he just sent word he was going

and speaking, daring them to say anything about it.
He has no class. No matter how much you defend his honor.

[Perky]

25. No defense offered

I am no fan of the idiot but I thought McClellan said that he was speaking.

[Perky]

18. Well the King Family has to invite him

and has to ask him to speak.

And apparently they have..go figure

[Charlie Brown]

19. Scheduling a trip at the eleventh hour is obvious pandering

Having a president pay a visit is always a big nuissance for most regular folks in a community, and I can guarantee you the people of Lithonia are going to be frustrated and bewildered by all the security and checkpoints that a presidential visit entails (especially on a Tuesday, which is a workday for most). Bush's presence will create a media circus around the event that will undermine the opportunity for Coretta's real friends to grieve and recollect. The fact that Bush's "speech" will take up time that could have been accorded to a legitimate friend of Coretta is most regrettable for those closest to her, and the differences between most of her associates and Bush speeks for itself. I think the decent thing to do in this circumstance would be to send a letter of condolence, and let the family and colleagues of the King Family alone in their grief.

Bush already lost an opportunity to pay lip-service on Coretta's passing by not demanding she lie in state at the Cap Building, as Rosa Parks did. This is the obvious anti-dote to that, and I think it's shameful.

[Horse with no Name]

22. And not to mention all of the common folks that live there

That would like to stand at the side of the funeral procession.
Will they be commanded to stay in their homes and not look out the windows like everyone else along Little Lord Pissypants routes?

[Greeby]

14. Ugh, at least for Rosa Parks' funeral, he had the sense to stay away

:puke:

[peekaloo]

17. He wants to help bury the civil rights legacy.

What was that crack the asshole made about her husband's portrait? Oh yeah, he couldn't wait to hang it.

[Rabrrrrrr]

21. What an asshole.

There's no way, were I the King family, that I would let that SOB speak at the funeral.

I'd like him to be there, so when I gave the eulogy (assuming it was me) I could castigate him and all republican bullshit. That would be fun!

[AndyA]

23. Early burial?

The King family can't be thrilled with this news. Perhaps they could bury Mrs. King a day early, and be done with it. She was such a dignified woman, she would surely not want her funeral to be used for political purposes.

Reverend King and his Wife are surely looking down on all this and shaking their heads.

[Charlie Brown]

24. I'm guessing they invited him n/t

[Perky]

26. Major protest...SIng him out of the room with a rousing "We shall Overcome

Don't give him the chance to speak.


What is the Secret service gonna do?

[LibDemAlways]

27. I'd be willing to bet they'll show

up with Condi and use her as their shield. If they do show, I hope to God one of the speakers lays into them with a vengeance. That would be worth watching.

[KingFlorez]

28. Let me get this straight

He's going to the funeral of a civil rights pioneer and he want to destroy everything she and others stood for. Bush is such a collossal phony, but he's not fooling me.

[adriennui]

30. he cheapens everything

with his presence. i wish he would just stay away and allow the service to dignified and meaningful.

[savemefromdumbya]

32. Funny if Bush was barred

[OneBlueSky]

33. desecrating the memory of a great American . . . shameful! . .. n/t

.

[burrowowl]

34. Oh!

:puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke:

and how dare he!

:grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr:

[Balbus]

35. And if he decided not to attend we'd rip him for that also.

This was a no-win situation for Bush.

[RebelOne]

36. Right. Damned if he does, damned if he doesn't.

He can't win either way.

[Behind the Aegis]

37. Disgusting!

Let's hope he doesn't make any jokes about hanging her painting in the White House!

[Peter Frank]

38. Does anyone really believe that...

...Bush couldn't wait to get out if there?