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.
You've gotta love Republicans getting the vapors over "manners", as their Boy King gets -- gasp -- criticized outside his bubble.
Look, Bush's presence at the event was a political decision. They're merely outraged that his little political stunt, just a continuation of GOP efforts to claim the King legacy as their own, backfired disastrously.
What so disturbed me about Kate O' Beirne's filthy comments is that is part of a conservative shell game to claim the legacy of Martin Luther King, by denuding every bit of the radical nature of his message and tying it to some bland form of equality.
One would need either a strong stomach or short memory to see Sonny Perdue and Poppy Bush talking about King's legacy and not snicker.
Perdue's Voter ID law is designed to disenfranchise blacks and George Bush ran heel and toe with the segs as much as he could.
The GOP flipped out last week when a study showed that they were the party of racists. They were claiming it was politizied science, which is comical considering NASA was in an uproar because some 24 year old lackey was telling scientists what to talk about.
That church was filled with the leadership of black America and John McWhorter wouldn't be allowed to park cars. TD Jakes time on the podium was short and easily forgotten There was no seat for Michael Steele. They were neither invited or welcomed, much less be allowed to profane her memory. There was no room for them in face of her legacy.
Now, why does the GOP so desperately want to hijack the memory and legacy of King, with old segs like Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell now tormenting gays as they once tormented blacks. Why do they embrace the damaged and offer them up as leaders? Former criminals and self-hating blacks, people unworthy to represent a dog pound.
Because being the white people's party is a losing proposition. Ken Mehlman knows his party must look like America or die. And it look like anything but.
So they make nods to a multicultural America, talk about a color blind America, but they will not sacrifice a thing which will place minority concerns over white. Otherwise, Tom Tancredo would have been rejected as a racist.
So, they have to pretend to be open to all.
What? They think we don't know they're racists? They hated Dr. King and his wife in life and now in death. They hate that blacks and latinos no longer live in peonage. Only one of their bought and paid for fools would attack how Mrs. King was buried. To the rest of it, it was a fittintg tribute and making Bush sit there for hours was wonderful. He was told the truth and he couldn't run.