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Funeral speakers hammer W



BY HELEN KENNEDY
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

LITHONIA, Ga. - President Bush changed his schedule at the last minute to attend Coretta Scott King's funeral. It might have been a mistake.
Not only was he overshadowed by the Bill and Hillary show, but several speakers, including former President Jimmy Carter, aimed sharply pointed darts at the commander in chief as he sat squirming on the dais.

"We know now that there were no weapons of mass destruction over there. But Coretta knew, and we know, that there are weapons of misdirection right down here," chanted the Rev. Joseph Lowery, an 85-year-old King compatriot who drew the massive audience to its feet for a two-minute ovation.

"For war, billions more - but no more for the poor!" he added, to more cheers.

Bush, who rarely hears criticism to his face, wore a tight grin as he sat behind Lowery. When Lowery finished, however, Bush shook his hand with a big smile.

Carter brought the audience to its feet again at Bush's expense when he mentioned the "secret government wiretapping" of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., a clear reference to the current snooping controversy.

And the megachurch erupted once more - first with gasps, then with applause - when Carter brought up the worst moment in Bush's relationship with the black community.

"The struggle for equal rights is not over," Carter said. "We only have to recall the color of the faces of those in Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi, those who were most devastated by [Hurricane] Katrina, to know that there are not yet equal opportunities for all Americans."

Bush and his wife, Laura, received a warm welcome, but it paled next to the explosion of joy when Bill and Hillary Clinton took the stage.

"Got my vote!" yelled out a woman in the rafters as applause and hoots rose in a wave.

In an unusual bit of theater, the Clintons stood together at the podium as first he, then she, addressed the crowd. The New York senator spoke of leadership, and of Coretta King continuing her husband's legacy.

"As we are called, each of us must decide whether to answer the call by saying 'send me,'" she said. "When I think of Coretta Scott King, I think of a woman who lived out her calling."

The crowd got the point.

When Bill Clinton said he was honored to be in the presence of "my President, and my former President" - he was interrupted by someone down front yelling out: "and your future President!"

Originally published on February 8, 2006