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Funerals are frequently a rallying point for the ideals of the deceased. When else do you have the attention of the country focused and thinking about a single set of values and issues? Nobody is claiming that President Carter said anything that would have gone contrary to the wishes of Correta King. On the contrary, she probably would have been very pleased at the attention those words have received.

Here CNN discusses President Carter’s introduction of politics into his funeral speech for Corretta Scott King. Apparently this has been raising a fuss among some conservatives. As CNN says: “After the funeral yesterday, Kate O’Beirne, a prominent conservative writer, said liberals don’t know how to keep politics out of their funerals.”

Personally I find the fuss strange. Funerals are frequently a rallying point for the ideals of the deceased. When else do you have the attention of the country focused and thinking about a single set of values and issues? Nobody is claiming that President Carter said anything that would have gone contrary to the wishes of Correta King. On the contrary, she probably would have been very pleased at the attention those words have received.

Here is the portion President Carter’s speech which raised the fuss: “It was difficult for them personally with the civil liberties of both husband and wife violated as they became the targets of secret government wiretapping, other surveillance.” The video is here. Anyone who thinks that wiretaps without court supervision will always be used correctly, for the right purposes, and not to discredit legitimate causes, should think long and hard about our history.