Amen, Brother Franken

Al Franken has a post over at the Huffington Post (aka, the HuffPo, as I call it) reflecting on the funerals of Paul Wellstone (Senator from Minnesota who was killed with his wife and two aids in a plane crash) and Coretta Scott King--both of which have been vilified by the Right Wing Noise Machine. You can read his defense of the Wellstone memorial service (which he's also covered before, extensively, in his last book and which still pisses me off to no end, the liberties that the Limbaughs and Noonans took with it--talk about politicizing), but here's what he has to say about the King service:

Four presidents spoke. One of them, Jimmy Carter, made a passing reference to the fact that Martin and Coretta King had been the victims of domestic wiretapping by the government. Was it a shot at President George W. Bush, who was sitting right behind Carter? Probably. Was that inappropriate? Maybe.

Would Coretta Scott King have enjoyed the moment? I don't know. You know who would have a better idea than me? Jimmy Carter. He knew Mrs. King. Those who are currently complaining - most of whom claim to be offended on her behalf - didn't know her at all.

Coretta Scott King was a political woman. Most of those complaining on her behalf are against everything she stood for. In her later years she spoke passionately on behalf of affirmative action. Should her family have been offended that President Bush didn't mention this and apologize for it? Should they have been offended that the first President Bush didn't mention that he had campaigned for Congress in 1964 against the 1964 Civil Rights Bill and didn't apologize for that?

I don't think so. I think they were happy the two Bush Presidents showed up and paid their respects. I think they were also happy that Carter mentioned the wiretaps and that Joseph Lowery mentioned that there had been no WMD's in Iraq. Because that's probably what their mother would have wanted.

But I don't know. You'd have to ask them.