Cynthia Tucker: 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.


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[Scout1071]

1. Great! nt

[Marr]

2. For the record, Bush did not take it well.

He squirmed in his seat and made a sort of "whatever, you loon" expression. Bush is in a bubble because Bush WANTS to be in a bubble.

[Little Star]

3. Sometimes I think people underestimate the pure

evil and cunning of this goofy acting POS who was selected pResident.

[Missy M]

4. The never ending attacks on Carter and Lowery is proof....

Bush did NOT take it well. The attacks are orchestrated by Rove in the White House. The only reason Bush embraced Lowery was to try to show that Bush is an OK guy. Not true, Bush is a mean SOB just like his mommy.