What's the opposite of a King?

DB is a little late on this (despite a snappy retort the other day) and so many excellent bloggers have had their say on it, but Kate O'Beirne really, really sucks.

Take this exchange on "Hardball" during Coretta Scott King's funeral Tuesday:

MATTHEWS: Well, there you have it, Kate. What do you make of this day? Was this the Democratic convention or a funeral? What was it?

KATE O'BEIRNE, NATIONAL REVIEW: Both were completely inappropriate. Just because politicians are present and they're present as former presidents, they're representing the country. President Bush explained he's there on behalf of all Americans.

It's not a convention or a campaign event, just because former presidents are there. It's a funeral. It's completely inappropriate for both Reverend Lowery to have made the remarks he did, and for former President Jimmy Carter to do what he did, which is a cheap, political shot. Liberals don't seem to be able to keep politics away from funerals.

O'Beirne, you're entitled to your opinion, but DB thinks George W. Bush would be even farther away from that funeral than you were had he not been elected president. You have as much right to judge what is done or said at someone else's funeral as DB has to say what would be appropriate at yours.

Bush is usually too busy lying and speaking with guys he pretends not to know to ever be seen in the same room as many of the people attending that funeral. Bush was there for a photo op. Ken Mehlman was probably soggy all over about the potential for a mammoth leap to a three percent approval rating among African-Americans.

You said "President Bush explained he's there on behalf of all Americans." Well, tough shit. He can't pick and choose when he represents all of us. The fact is, most of the time he's working on behalf of a minority of us. This is the president who made his first and only foray into civil rights by filing an amicus brief to the Supreme Court on behalf of three mediocre white kids who couldn't get into Michigan. This is the president who pointed out that African-Americans don't statistically live long enough to collect Social Security and tried to solve the problem... by changing Social Security.

But he's representing all Americans at King's funeral? What a joke. Was Dick Cheney even there? He voted against MLK Day and is admittedly completely ignorant about the grim HIV numbers affecting African-American women. I guess he probably does represent people like you.

CHRIS MATTHEWS: So you think it's a partisan problem, it's not just bad form?

O'BEIRNE: Well, it was reminiscent of Senator Wellstone's funeral. And look what we're talking about. We're talking about Reverend Lowery's cheap shot about the war, regardless of whether or not Coretta Scott King held pacifist views.

And we're talking about former President Carter's cheap shot. Yesterday, of course, he launched this initially, calling the NSA surveillance program incorrectly domestic surveillance, and then calling it both disgraceful and illegal, knowing he was going to be seeing President Bush. If it's possible for him to be a worse former president than he was a president, I think he's now achieved that.

"Regardless of whether or not Coretta Scott King held pacifist views?" It's her funeral and, for the record, she did. In fact, now's maybe a good time to mention that there's probably no person on earth with less in common with Coretta Scott King than you. Not even Mary Matalin.

What Bush is doing to the Fourth Amendment is criminal and if there's anybody who represents the potential for abuse by the government it's King. What Jimmy Carter said was heroic. And incidentally, if Carter spent only five minutes of his post-presidency building houses for the homeless or helping other countries carry out peaceful elections, I'm thinking that's five more minutes than you.

Carter also talked about the Gulf Coast. After Bush's shameful response to Katrina and grand promises to New Orleans (and Trent Lott's porch), he spent almost no time in the SOTU discussing an entire city going underwater. This from a president who mentions 9/11 every damn day. The truth is, there is a large number of people in America that this president doesn't give a crap about. Good for Carter.

MATTHEWS: Was there something inaccurate in what they said, either he or Dr. Lowery?

O'BEIRNE: It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter if they were reading factual material to make a cheap political point. It totally is contrary to the spirit and we're not talking about Coretta Scott King and the incredible legacy of the Kings and her incredibly dignified life, which this runs counter to, I might add. We're talking about these two political characters.

Of course it matters. There's nothing "cheap" about talking about peace. There's nothing cheap about calling for a government that takes care of the poor. "Contrary to the spirit?" What spirit? Who the hell are you to define "the spirit" of King's funeral. You're nobody.

And now, possibly the worst part. The part that made DB revisit this segment:

"We're not talking about Coretta Scott King and the incredible legacy of the Kings and her incredibly dignified life..."

No, you're not. You couldn't. You wouldn't know where the hell to begin. You're delighted that there were two examples of quips during hours of celebration. Otherwise you'd have to talk about her legacy, possibly for the first time in your sorry life. Actually, Chris Matthews would probably have invited somebody else on his lousy show.

You could've said "It was inappropriate, but let's talk about her legacy." But you didn't. You started spewing bile, like always. Every day of the week, on MSNBC and all the others, blowhards like you answer the questions they wished they had been asked instead of the ones they were actually asked. But on this day, you were incapable of changing the subject.

Those awful Democrats made you talk about them. And they obviously made Matthews ask.