Talking about what you want to talk about

Chris Wallace interviewed Ron Christie, former advisor to President Bush, on the uproar over the Coretta Scott King funeral this weekend on FOX News:

WALLACE: Were you offended by what Rev. Lowery said about President Bush at the funeral? He is aligned himself with the Civil Rights Movement. Mr. and Mrs. King were protestors. Would it be wrong for him not to bring up the issues he was concerned about?

CHRISTIE: He was a lion in the Civil Rights Movement and will go down in history as an important figure. Where I take exception is, he was in a celebration of the life of Coretta Scott King, a remarkable woman who had remarkable accomplishments. Unfortunately, the Rev. Lowery's comments have seemingly overshadowed that celebration.

The only reason these comments have overshadowed the funeral is that Republicans have decided they want to be offended by the whole thing. If they had just ignored the comments, or talked instead about the grand vision King had laid out and how we can make that vision reality, then the debate would be about the future, and not about the past.

Instead, we have people talking about who said what at a funeral, and not about what they said. Too often it is easier to dispute the speaker or the venue the speaker has chosen rather than the message itself.

Here's the statement that caused such an uproar:

THE REV. JOSEPH LOWERY, SPEAKING AT THE FUNERAL: We know now that there were no weapons of mass destruction over there. There are weapons of misdirection right down here. Millions without health insurance, poverty abounds, but no more for the poor.

Where is he wrong? Where does he misstate not only reality, but the message of Coretta Scott King? Where does he show disrespect to the dead by pointing out the disrespect we as a nation seem to have for the living? These would be true statements regardless of who was President. It's just instinctual, it seems, that bad news is an attack on Bush and he must be defended.

When does someone stand up and say the Rev. Lowery was right, and here's what we need to do to solve the problems that face not just blacks, but all of America today? I'll be here waiting for you.