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Bush Praises King for Changing the Country
Forbes ^ | 2/7/06 | NEDRA PICKLER (AP)

Posted on 02/07/2006 3:39:43 PM PST by madprof98

President Bush, leading the nation in celebrating the life of Coretta Scott King, praised the civil rights leader for enduring extraordinary pain and loss to give generations of people "a better, more welcoming country."

"We knew Mrs. King in all the seasons, and there was grace and beauty in every season," Bush said at a New Birth Missionary Baptist Church service Tuesday that was attended by four presidents and a crowd of thousands.

"As a great movement of history took shape," Bush said, "her dignity was a daily rebuke to the pettiness and cruelty of segregation."

Bush noted that Mrs. King and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., her husband who was assassinated nearly 40 years ago, confronted vicious taunts, threatening phone calls and even the bombing of their home because of their early work for equal rights for blacks. Even after her husband's slaying and in the years since, she never gave up, he said.

"Coretta had every right to count the costs and step back from the struggle," the president said. "But she decided that her children needed more than a safe home - they needed an America that upheld their equality and wrote their rights into law. And because this young mother and father were not intimidated, millions of children they would never meet are now living in a better more welcoming country."

The funeral took on political overtones as former President Carter said of the Kings: "It was difficult for them then personally with the civil liberties of both husband and wife violated as they became the target of secret government wiretaps." Later, he said that Hurricane Katrina showed that all are not yet equal in America.

And both Bush and his father winced as they sat behind the pulpit and heard the Rev. Joseph Lowery, who co-founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference with Martin Luther King Jr., take several jabs at foreign and domestic policies.

"We know there were no weapons of mass destruction over there, but Coretta knew and we knew there are weapons of misdirection right down here," Lowery said, complaining that were far too many in the U.S. are living in poverty and without health care insurance.

"For war, billions more, but no more for the poor," Lowery continued, a take-off of a lyric from the song "A Time to Love" which drew a roaring standing ovation.

Bush's father tried to defuse any political tension by joking that Lowery used to challenge him when he was president, too.

"I kept score in the Oval Office desk - Lowery 21, Bush 3," former President George H.W. Bush said. "It wasn't a fair fight."

The audience showed where its allegiance lay when former President Clinton and his wife, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, came to the podium to wild cheers and a long standing ovation. He opened by saying that he was honored to be with the other former presidents. Someone in the crowd yelled out, "Future president!" in reference to his wife's possible 2008 bid.

"We can honor Dr. King's sacrifice," Bill Clinton said. "We can help his children fulfill their legacy. ... Every one of us are in a way the children of Martin Luther and Coretta Scott King."


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: civilrights; corettascottking; praise; presidentbush
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To: Diana in Wisconsin

The Clintons actually give the word "scum" a new meaning, don't they?


41 posted on 02/07/2006 4:08:55 PM PST by GeorgeW23225 ("Grow your own dope. Plant a liberal")
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To: madprof98
The audience showed where its allegiance lay when former President Clinton and his wife, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, came to the podium to wild cheers and a long standing ovation.

Losers cheering losers. Who lives at the White House,LOL? Who will leave a legacy of something more than presiding over the taking and holding of American hostages for 444 days,and didn't have the wherewithal to do anything about it? Who will leave a legacy of something more than Monica Lewinsky,cigars,and an utter lack of class? George W Bush!
42 posted on 02/07/2006 4:09:02 PM PST by mrsmel (Men possess talent. Genius possesses men.)
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To: rwfromkansas

"He is the president. He had to go."

Yes, I understand fully.

However, I believe that the Republicans will be the ones that will go in 2008 when the conservative base does not turn out as the Republicans wrongly assume that they will.


43 posted on 02/07/2006 4:09:12 PM PST by KeyLargo
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To: KeyLargo

Better O'Reilly than Savage!!


44 posted on 02/07/2006 4:11:16 PM PST by GeorgeW23225 ("Grow your own dope. Plant a liberal")
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To: madprof98
King changed the country:


45 posted on 02/07/2006 4:13:27 PM PST by Brett66 (Where government advances – and it advances relentlessly – freedom is imperiled -Janice Rogers Brown)
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To: rwfromkansas

Okay, I think Bush did what he believed was appropriate. His critics had no idea of what was appropriate. I have no respect for them.


46 posted on 02/07/2006 4:13:41 PM PST by popdonnelly
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To: KeyLargo
The Conservatives will show up at the polls. But perhaps the Savage supporting knee jerk reactionaries won't. Good riddance.
47 posted on 02/07/2006 4:13:58 PM PST by GeorgeW23225 ("Grow your own dope. Plant a liberal")
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To: GeorgeW23225

Ok, we agree to disagree. You can continue believe what you want and I choose to believe what I want.


48 posted on 02/07/2006 4:14:46 PM PST by KeyLargo
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To: madprof98; All
I am so proud of President George W. Bush for his dignified and respectful demeanor at the funeral and for his uplifting messages to those assembled providing solace and comfort to the family of Mrs. King. For President Bush, the day was all about the life of Mrs. King and the people who mourn for her, and nothing else.

I choke up when I think of the anxiety and sorrow it would have caused for me and my family if one or more speakers at the funeral of my own mother had behaved in such an inappropriate way as some Democrats did today at the funeral of Mrs. King. The painful and hurtful memories would stay with me for the rest of my life. Eternal shame be upon these despicable, unfeeling people.

49 posted on 02/07/2006 4:15:25 PM PST by Unmarked Package
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To: mrsmel

Unbelievable, wasn't it??

I wonder if they were serving "Kool Aid" at the service today?

Just when I think democRATS can't get any dumber, or sink any lower, they do.


50 posted on 02/07/2006 4:16:13 PM PST by GeorgeW23225 ("Grow your own dope. Plant a liberal")
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To: Siena Dreaming
The left loves to call the President an idiot.

It's so telling when a looser calls the winner a loser: To be overtaken by a loser doubles the "looserness" of the loser.

What did I say?????

51 posted on 02/07/2006 4:16:51 PM PST by bannie (The government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend upon the support of Paul.)
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To: KeyLargo

I go to church right across the street from the King Center. Today we were preparing lunch for the street people and talking about the King funeral. The general sentiment among the group there (some of whom knew Martin Luther King before he became famous) was that the King family--starting with Coretta--had used Martin's fame to profiteer and avoid doing any meaningful work. I was surprised people would say that so openly--at least today. But it is a widely shared sentiment in Atlanta, black Atlanta as well as white Atlanta.


52 posted on 02/07/2006 4:17:33 PM PST by madprof98
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To: KeyLargo
If the conservative base cares to be suicidal, that's their perogative.

Idiocy is not reserved for libs.

53 posted on 02/07/2006 4:17:40 PM PST by zarf (It's time for a college football playoff system.)
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To: madprof98

The Bush family has more class in their little toes combined than those ignorant fools have in their whole bodies. I just hope the Lord above is watching this.


54 posted on 02/07/2006 4:17:47 PM PST by beckysueb (God bless America and President Bush.)
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To: GeorgeW23225

Being there was the right thing for President Bush to do. He showed class, and he showed the world that he was above the petty, back stabbing, bitchy democRATS.

And quite frankly, I don't give a damn what that nut case Savage thinks about it.




Ditto. The President made an excellent remark at one of his recent Q&A's: "Name calling is beneath the dignity of the office of the president."

(I want to say it was in Kansas, but I KNOW it was the one where the Iraqi lady continuously - and loudly - thanked the President and America for what we were doing in Iraq)


55 posted on 02/07/2006 4:20:47 PM PST by Christian4Bush (More than 3000 people lost their "civil liberties" on September 11, 2001.)
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To: RangerM
I agree.

I had a rather "heated" discussion with a left wing moon bat at work one day, and he called President Bush an idiot. I smiled (which annoyed him no end) and then I said:
"President Bush has defeated you twice. What does that make you."

The other employees listening to the debate started to cheer, and the moon bat put his tail between his legs and slithered away.

It was a great moment!!
56 posted on 02/07/2006 4:21:15 PM PST by GeorgeW23225 ("Grow your own dope. Plant a liberal")
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To: KeyLargo

"What an idiot for showing up there"

Roughly a third of the country always votes Democrat, a third always votes Republican, and a third can be swayed.
The lack of class demonstrated by the Dems only plays well with the third that always votes for them. Bush played well to the other two thirds. That's smart politics.


57 posted on 02/07/2006 4:26:16 PM PST by RWE
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To: goodnesswins
I see the PLANTATION OWNERS really did themselves good today....and their slaves really were loyal to their "massers." Sheesh. If I were a Black person I would be soooooo embarrassed.

I know what you mean, and this is not meant as a slap at you, but I am a black person (albeit a conservative Republican one), and I am not embarrased, nor am I surprised.

To tell you the truth, I'm not even that pissed. I would be borderline GoodFellas/Untouchables, if I hadn't come to expect the Left's performance today, from the day that Mrs. King died. I knew that it would be a DNC rally (95%, because of the invitations to both Bushes) that would make Paul Wellstone's service look like the relative unknown that he was. After all, I didn't know who the hell Paul Wellstone was, until two years after he died, whereas most people in America have heard of MLK Jr., his wife, or both.

58 posted on 02/07/2006 4:27:05 PM PST by Christian4Bush (More than 3000 people lost their "civil liberties" on September 11, 2001.)
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To: newconhere

I know the feeling you had. I got to watch it "live". There were times I just wanted to scream or throw something at the television. BUT........my admiration and respect for President Bush has never been higher than it was today.

God bless him. He is truly a remarkable man of extraordinary class and dignity. I am proud to call him my President!!


59 posted on 02/07/2006 4:30:28 PM PST by GeorgeW23225 ("Grow your own dope. Plant a liberal")
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To: MNJohnnie
And your less than congenial comments to natural would be Bush supporters helps the Republican cause Bush serves?

That aside, I agree Bush had little choice but to attend and that he showed great class in the face of such disrespectful behavior. I also believe when such completely inappropriate antics are played before the wider American television audience, it undermines the credibility of so called Black leaders as well as Dems.
60 posted on 02/07/2006 4:31:45 PM PST by kimoajax (Rack'em & Stack'em)
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