A New and Revolting Low for the Peanut Farmer

Bob Newman

In a shocking but not at all surprising display of absolute disrespect for the dead, former President Jimmy Carter, whose failed presidency is best remembered for his inability to deal with the terrorist regime of Iran, exploited the death of Coretta Scott King by launching into a puerile bushwhacking of President George Bush.

Instead of honoring Mrs. King’s life and accomplishments, Carter used her funeral to leverage a personal attack against a president who had the class and respect to not use the solemn event as a knoll for political sniping.

A no-name preacher, one Rev. Joseph Lowery, also used King’s funeral in a racist assault on the president. He received a standing ovation for his ugly intolerance and vile hatred; a clear demonstration of how widespread hate for conservatives is among those in the church. Lowery implied in his pathetic diatribe that Iraqis should not have been freed from the genocidal tyranny of Saddam.

One must wonder what Dr. Martin Luther King and Coretta Scott King thought of these twisted rants as they watched the proceedings from on high.

Apparently, Carter, Lowery and most of the funeral gallery have no idea what Reverend King was talking about each time he spoke of the importance of tolerance, dignity and respect for those with differing opinions. The crowd’s grotesque reaction to the blatant slight against Mrs. King tells a tale of barefaced bigotry that will go down in the annals of American history as one of America’s most appalling displays of overt hate.

In conducting himself in this manner, Carter has dethroned the probably-soon-to-be-unemployed Howard Dean as the reigning champion of imbecilic vitriol.

What kind of man uses a eulogy to cast political aspersions toward another? And if one is willing to do that, what else would one be willing, even anxious, to do?

Carter, a former naval officer, has long been sliding to the far-left fringes of American extremism. One would expect Pat Robertson, Jesse Jackson, Howard Dean, Patrick Buchanan, Al Sharpton, Ted Kennedy, John Kerry, Ward Churchill and Michael Savage to pull such a loathsome stunt, but when a former president of the United States does it, the stench of disrepute overwhelms even the most seasoned political observer.

Even more troubling is how the so-called leaders of the black community have not vehemently chided Carter and this Lowery fellow for their disgusting actions at what was supposed to be – what Mrs. King no doubt wanted and expected to be – a celebration of her lifelong struggle against the very ills Carter and Lowery embody. These reprobates’ respective actions and inaction are akin to robbing Mrs. King’s dignified body of her jewelry and then spitting on her grave. Lowery I don’t know about, but Carter surely knew better but simply couldn’t care less how his callous words maimed the memory of a woman who staid the course when the towering waves of violence and rage threatened to crush her. Whereas Coretta Scott King stood upon a rocky outcropping to face the onslaught bearing down upon her, Carter and his contemptible ilk stooped down to pick up rocks for use as missiles.

And thus the true nature of the beast is revealed.

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Bob Newman, a decorated, retired US Marine, is host of the “Gunny Bob Show” on Newsradio 850 KOA in Denver, and host of “Anger-Management Hour” on 630 KHOW, also in Denver. A ground-combat veteran, he is the director of international security & counterterrorism services for The GeoScope Group and is the military science & terrorism columnist for The Denver Daily News. He can be reached at bobnewman@clearchannel.com.

bobnewman@clearchannel.com