IT SERVES BUSH WELL TO HEAR FROM PEOPLE WHO DISAGREE

[norml]

IT SERVES BUSH WELL TO HEAR FROM PEOPLE WHO DISAGREE
By Cynthia Tucker
24 minutes ago


The controversy surrounding the funeral of Coretta Scott King is a fitting coda to the final chapter of her story. After all, her husband, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., spent his life generating controversy, something we conveniently forget when we commemorate a sepia-toned and softly lighted version of their lives.

Since the funeral, conservative commentators have been fueling the fires of partisan outrage over remarks made by former President Jimmy Carter -- who, in a pointed allusion to modern-day government eavesdropping, noted that Dr. King was a victim of FBI surveillance -- and the Rev. Joseph Lowery, whose bad verse made valid points about an unjustified war and neglect of the poor. In fact, those professing outrage at Carter and Lowery are using the same tactics of feigned anger that Muslim imams and autocrats are using to gin up fury over images of the prophet Muhammad, and they do so with equally slim justification.

It's hard to understand what Carter and Lowery did to deserve such attacks. Criticizing President Bush in his presence? He is the president of the world's leading democracy, not the emperor of Rome. Americans have a constitutional right to criticize their elected representatives without fear of imprisonment or death.

For his part, the president was cordial, even gracious, playfully hugging Lowery later on. He acted like a man who understood his role as the leader of a politically diverse nation. (Bush's aides ought to allow him out of the protective bubble of partisan adoration more often; it serves him well to hear from people who disagree with his policies.)

But isn't it inappropriate to inject politics at a funeral? King didn't think so. Delivering the eulogy at the September 1963 funeral of four little girls killed when their Birmingham church was firebombed, the civil rights leader was blatantly political, using the occasion to spread blame well beyond the small circle of white supremacists who planted the explosives.


snip


http://news.google.com/nwshp?hl=en&tab=wn&q=%22IT%20SERVES%20BUSH%20WELL%20TO%20HEAR%20FROM%20PEOPLE%20WHO%20DISAGREE%22

[Arkansas Granny]

1. Best sentence of the entire editorial:

"Bush's aides ought to allow him out of the protective bubble of partisan adoration more often; it serves him well to hear from people who disagree with his policies."

There are so few occasions where Bush hears any criticism, with the majority of his audiences being hand selected, that Carter and Lowery may be the only dissenting voices that he's heard in who knows how long.

[napi21]

2. I agree, but did you ever consider that Shrub himself has ordered

his aides to "keep 'dem people AWAY from me!"

That's in impression I've always gotten, I think they're just following orders!

[Arkansas Granny]

3. You are probably right. I don't think Bush likes hearing anything

or anyone who disagrees with him. He only wants to be in the company of those who revere him. His staff does an excellent job of insulating him from any criticism.

[gademocrat7]

4. Thank you Cynthia Tucker.

She is the head of the editorial page in my hometown rag The Atlanta Journal Constitution.

[OneBlueSky]

5. not only does he not want to hear disagreement . . . he also . . .

honestly and sincerely DOESN'T CARE about the opinions of those who don't agree with him . . . as far as GWB is concerned, there is no way but his way . . . and that's all there is to it . . .