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| Think at your own risk. |
| Tuesday, February 07, 2006 |
| Atlanta (heart) Bubba at the King funeral |
I didn't watch as much of it as I would have liked, but just a brief note on the Coretta King funeral:
I haven't seen an ovation like the one received by former President Bill Clinton at the Coretta King funeral since a high school friend and I drove her little sister to a Menudo concert in Denver. Clinton is such an authentic figure for Black people -- he knows Rev. Joseph Lowry well enough to call him "Rev," and speaks the colloquial language of the Black church better than any white guy I've seen. Hillary needs to work on it a bit. After her husband's performance, she came off a bit dry. ...
Before Clinton spoke, former President Carter through a nice, nasty zinger at the current occupant of the White House, noting that King faced the scourge of secret wiretaps and surveillance by the FBI during the civil rights struggle ... ahem ... and he gave a good, warm speech that was very well received by the crowd (though nowhere near as rousing as Big Bill...) Carter reminded the crowd of his closeness to the Kings, including his awarding Coretta King the medal of freedom, and his call to designate the King holiday.
Carter was followed by Bush 41, who is far funnier and more amiable seeming since he's out of office. Bush gave a good, funny speech and did well.
I missed the Bush 43 speech. Anybody who saw it feel free to drop me and email or post a comment. I'd love to know how he was received ... CSPAN date for later...
... (at around 2:50) they played a video presentaton of moments with Mrs. King, including
Tavis Smiley gettingan anti-Iraq war quote out of her. Brutal... Dubya looks uncomfortable as hell ... Laura looks terribly constipated.
Yep, after that video, the presidents took their leave. I know Dubya is glad to get the hell outta there...!
More on the Clinton-Bush crowd dynamic from The Independent Conservative on the left and Daily Kos on the left.
Related: In case you missed the Oprah eulogy, here's a link.
Update: ThinkProgress has some of the pre-presidential speech Bush-bashery at the Coretta King funeral. Ouch!
... oh, and here's an Angry FReeper alert!!!
Update 2: Went back and watched the bulk of the funeral service. Bush's speech was fine, and he got a very polite reception. Only Bill Clinton could come into one of the largest Black churches anywhere and chide the people in the room that there are "more rich Black folk in this county than anywhere else except Prince George's County in Maryland," and so it's time to get about making sure the King Center is properly funded and taken care of. Clinton also chided the audience a bit not to allow the politics of the day to allow them to forget that Mrs. King was first and foremost a woman -- a real person -- and that her legacy is best upheld by following her example, on non-violence, anti-poverty and world peace.
Nice funeral. And Stevie Wonder and the other performers rocked the house.
Tags: Coretta Scott King, funeral, President Bush, President Clinton, President Carter, King, Martin Luther King |
posted by JReid @ 2:54 PM   |
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