i come not to praise coretta, but to score some cheap political points at her expense

It didn’t take very long for the other shoe to drop.

George W. Bush doesn’t venture forth into unscripted public appearances very often. His handlers keep the press corps cowed and the audience stocked with phony journalists to the point where a press conference may get a little sticky, but no one will actually press the Prez for a straight answer. And he can always flip them the bird on the way out.

And when he does make a public appearance, they can stock the audience with enlisted men and women who can be put under orders to applaud at appropriate times or with sycophants who believes Bush walks on water and talks directly to God himself.

By appearing at Coretta Scott King's funeral Bush ventured into an arena he should have faced five years ago. An arena not bought and paid for by lobbyist lucre and contributor cash. He heard a dose of the truth.

"We know now there were no weapons of mass destruction over there," the reverend Dr. James Lowery said to a standing ovation. "But Coretta knew, and we know, there were weapons of misdirection right down here. Millions without health insurance. Poverty abounds. For war? Billions more. But no more for the poor."

So why would Bush put himself out there amongst people who are diametrically opposed to everything he stands for and attend Coretta Scott King’s funeral? For a man who brooks no opposing viewpoint, an African-American funeral is the wrong place for the man to show up.

No doubt the Secret Service put Kevlar underwear on him and the earpiece through which Karl Rove feeds him his next line kept him calm by piping in a Toby Keith concert. But why go to the bother?

To score points, of course.

George W. has been taking it on the chin lately. His domestic spying operation has him on the ropes with the Senate Judiciary Committee, his poll numbers rank him slightly lower than the referees from the Super Bowl when it comes to both job performance and popularity.

Martin Luther King, Jr., and his lovely wife, Coretta Scott King, devoted their lives to improving the lives of those around them. They fought injustice – especially racially motivated injustice – and stood up for those among us in the greatest danger of being trampled by a steamrolling majority intent on securing the brass ring for themselves. They are revered for the lives they led and the people they touched, reached, and inspired.

George W. has spent his “political capital” trying to dismantle civil rights. He’s gone so far as to dispatch his beard, Condoleeza Rice, to battle affirmative action on college campuses.

So it’s no wonder his welcome at Mrs. King’s funeral was not exactly the stuff of warm puppy hugs. It doesn’t take a mental giant to forecast that one, so even Bush himself had to see this one coming.

So the point had to have been to actually subject himself to the direct ire of the people his administration has hurt the most. Why?

Why, to give his paid political pundits something to harp on, of course!

See, it was difficult to keep his chattering nabobs busy. It was hard for them to get any traction supporting warrant-less wiretaps and even they were having trouble spinning Jack Abramoff for the better.

So they rerun a play from the Paul Wellstone funeral and send Bush out to sit front and center while those mean, nasty liberals tell the truth about his administration and its failures. Those nattering nabobs can now play their snooty civility card and talk endlessly about how crass and mean liberals are.

The hypocrits.

Give it a rest. It’s about time the preppy president got a dose of truth – even if he was listening to Toby Keith at the time.

To be lectured by the people who saw nothing wrong with Dick Cheney dropping the “F-bomb” on the Senate floor on civility is hypocrisy in its purest form. These are the people who brought you Max Cleland’s face being morphed into Osama bin Laden’s. These are the people who stood by while the levees broke in New Orleans and who are standing idly by while there are still thousands of people unaccounted for in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. These are the people who have been up for sale to Abramoff and the rest of K Street. These are the people whose first reaction is to lie and let someone else search for the truth.

Look at it this way. Considering the domestic spying operation Bush is championing in the face of massive opposition and potential impeachment, he probably knew going in what was going to be said about him.

It’s about damn time he heard the voices of real Americans -- "the mythical little guy" his cronies mocked during the Alito confirmation hearings.

The last time they played this little game they managed to steal a senate seat in Minnesota for Norm Coleman. This time they're trying to steal your attention while they strongarm the senate into supporting their illegal, unconstitutional wiretapping program.

Shame on anyone who falls for it.

More soon.