I say he has nothing at all to gain. He can’t run for a 3rd term, so nobody can say he’s trying to increase his share of the “Black vote”. The funeral is taking place in the “red” state of Georgia, so it does not matter if more Blacks voted for Republicans here and it does not matter if people who hold views similar to Coretta Scott King vote for Republicans here. The Republicans already have this state in their hip pocket. Republicans are already winning without much of the “Black vote”, so Bush attending this funeral will change nothing in that regard. Bush was planning to give a speech in New Hampshire Tuesday, which is a state he lost by less than 10,000 votes in the last election. It would have been far more advantageous to his party to do the speech in New Hampshire. From an honest political point of view, Bush attending this funeral is like when he attended an NAACP convention. Regardless of his appearance it won’t gain him any support in the “Civil/Silver Rights” crowd.

I made the above statements because Bush has announced that he will attend the funeral and I’m sure the claims of it being some sort of political stunt will flow.

Any “counsel” President Bush received was definitely not thinking in sound political terms. Because regardless of some Blacks’ view of Bush after hurricane Katrina, it was the exact same view those Blacks had before the hurricane. I think it’s beyond obvious to President Bush and his “counselors” that he simply does not have much support from Blacks in America. Black Christians in the Sudan love him and love the fact he’s keeping pressure on the Islamic led government there. But Bush knows the support is slim with Blacks in America and will remain that way in his regard. So why bother going? Everyone knows Coretta Scott King was his political opposite and only endorsed his party when the opportunity arose to give Martin Luther King Jr. a national holiday. (For those who don’t know, Coretta Scott King and Hosea Williams cut a deal with former President Ronald Reagan that they’d endorse him in his run for a 2nd term if he backed a national holiday for King.) Outside of the “holiday deal” she always endorsed Democrats as far as I’ve ever known. Some might claim New Birth’s pastor Bishop Long was a supporter of some of Bush’s initiatives. But in Bishop Long’s most recent major political move he hosted the very far left State of Black America Conference, from which was born the Covenant with Black America. At the Conference Bishop Long was questioned about why he visited President Bush and he responded by saying:

I don’t think Bush attending Coretta Scott King’s funeral is going to change that level of support if that’s what you want to call it.

The bottom line here is that Bush has little or nothing to gain by attending. But he changed his plans from a speech that was far better a strategic move in terms of political gains for his party. Republicans trying to win over Black voters are not going to get anywhere by saying “Bush attended the funeral of Coretta Scott King”. Let’s be honest here, Dick Cheney not supporting the MLK Holiday is scored, but Bush attending this funeral wins nothing for him or his party.

Also considering the major scandal surrounding Bishop Long it’s not in Bush’s best interest to take too many pictures with him.

I’m surprised NY Attorney General Eliot Spitzer has not pressed any charges, considering the abused charity was setup in NY.

And hey folks, I used to be a member. So I feel particular pain looking back on it all. Honestly the fact he holds the title of “Bishop” but is on his 2nd wife should have been enough for me to realize what was up. Although I did not know the whole story till some years after joining.

Now that I’ve made the case that Bush has nothing to gain, I can only hope that people accept his attendance at the funeral as an act of sincere good will. But I doubt that is the story that will be told. Bishop Long has already set the stage for it in his comments to the NY Times.

Another Republican with little to gain that has been very gracious during the passing of Coretta Scott King is Georgia’s Republican Governor Sonny Purdue.

Governor Purdue offered to allow her body to lie in state at the capital building right after the announcement of her passing. Even before any arrangements were planned he made the offer.

Purdue is up for re-election, but the bottom line is that he did not get much of the Black vote before and he knows not to expect much this time around.

I really don’t care if some folks don’t care to ever vote for a Republican. But I do wonder if folks will look at the good gestures by these Republicans as just that? Given both Bush and Purdue know they probably will gain nothing politically by their good deeds.

Call me a pessimist, but I think some folks could be dying of thirst on the street, be given a glass of water by a Republican and after getting up they would claim the Republican only helped them stay alive for the benefit of a Republican employer or to take their money.

Lastly, DL Foster is reporting that some gay rights nuts are upset the funeral is being held at New Birth, given Bishop Long’s stance against things like gay “marriage” versus Coretta Scott King’s support of it. What they don’t know is that Coretta Scott King used to attend New Birth often and loved Bishop Long. They disagreed on more than one political issue, but loved each other just the same. She and Benice King used to attend often even before Bernice King decided to join. Bishop Long once mentioned that Coretta Scott King told him that he had been passed the “mantle of King”. (I was gone a little after that. MLK was great, but he was no Elijah, not even close!) Besides, there is no perverted pro-gay church in this city large enough for the funeral.