Some Republicans are moaning that the funeral of Coretta King turned political. They're outraged that certain folks "exploited" the occasion to bash poor George W. Bush, who had to sit there and endure it and later be civil to those who'd bashed him. There's some truth to that but so what? The late Ms. King was a political activist and the people who turned out for the event sure seemed to love it. A funeral is for the friends and family of the deceased and if they think something's appropriate, no one else's opinion should matter, especially folks who didn't much like the Kings to begin with. I might buy the argument that a heavily-politicized funeral is unworthy of free television time but that's a separate issue…one that has to consider that the folks who decide to broadcast such events can't be sure of their political content before the fact. Certainly it isn't the fault of the speakers that the event is on C-Span, nor should they depart from what they think is appropriate just because there are cameras present.
For good or ill, the funeral of a political person is going to be a political event, even if no one gets up and issues calls to activism. Some of the speakers who showed up at the Coretta King memorial surely did so after consideration of how it might help them with black voters just to be there, regardless of what they said. I'm not sure people like George W. Bush or Hillary Clinton order a pizza without studying how it might impact their poll numbers.
Critics of that funeral — and I think there's something unceremonious just in being a critic of a funeral — have likened it to the tribute when Senator Paul Wellstone died. I actually watched all 3+ hours of the Wellstone Memorial and I thought the characterization of it as a political event was a gross and probably deliberate exaggeration. Perhaps ten minutes of it went over the line, some of it directed at Jesse Ventura who raced to the talk shows to pout that some people in attendance didn't like him. You'd think a guy who made his living for so many years getting booed could cope with that.
The Wellstone Memorial was inspiring to some Democrats because it included Democrats talking the way a lot of Democrats wish prominent Democrats would always talk. I think that's why a few Republicans felt the urgency to misrepresent and discredit it. At the San Diego Con a few years back, I got into a loud hallway argument with someone who called it a disgrace based on the 90 seconds or so of it he saw on Fox News. I kept urging him to watch a little more of the video (which was then up on the C-Span site) and he kept saying, "I've seen all I need to see." A lot of demagogues on both sides count on the eagerness of some to believe the worst about the opposition and to avoid evidence that might upset their worldview.
Watching clips of the Coretta King event, I actually felt a little sorry for George W. Bush. Like his father, he's not good at concealing when he's bored or restless with an event that isn't serving his immediate interests. He seems especially uncomfortable in front of audiences who aren't eager to believe every word he says. Frankly, I think it was nice that Bush was there, if only because that meant six or eight hours that he wasn't back in the White House, working for some legislation that Martin Luther King and Coretta would have opposed.
To my loved ones — assuming I have any left by the time I go — I say this: If there's a memorial, say or do anything you think is right or that will give you comfort and closure. If you all want to show up in clown suits, get out of one tiny car and spray the coffin with seltzer, that's fine with me. The only thing that would be inappropriate would be for someone to criticize what you want to do. It's not their event.