Aretha Franklin, John McCain Funeral Fillibusters

             Democrats demonize those they accuse of being “uncivil,” i.e. those with whom they disagree. Then they proceed to virulently attack the positions, attributes, character and integrity of those they oppose in their Uncivil War, slurring them with epithets such as racist, bigoted, heartless and homophobic.

             And that’s just at funerals.

             Paul Wellstone. Aretha Franklin. John McCain. The sad list goes on.

 Establishment Republicans, R.I.N.O.s from the Deep Swamp, frequently take part in the frenzied orgy of hate.

John McCain was a war hero who suffered unspeakably at the hands of the North Koreans. I believe he loved his country and tried to serve it well. He should have been honored for this. His funeral should have been a sober, but uplifting tribute to the human spirit. Instead, it was one vast political statement.

McCain planned every last detail of his own funeral. President Trump was asked not to attend. Sarah Palin was also not invited. Yet, inexplicably, Trump has been criticized by some for not attending, for abiding by the McCain family’s wishes, even after tweeting out a very respectful tribute to McCain. Sarah Palin was McCain’s vice-presidential running-mate in 2008, and was never anything but respectful to him, working diligently to help him win. Why the snub?

 Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner did attend McCain’s funeral. It must have been difficult for them to sit and listen to Megan McCain, Barack Obama and George W. Bush, among others take subtle and not-so-subtle jabs at the current president of the United States. What was Trump supposed to do had he attended this long, ironic lecture on “civility?”

As if that wasn’t bad enough, we had the filibuster funeral for Aretha Franklin, a nine-hour saga that was alternately a paean to puffery and a dismissal of decency. Speaker after speaker took the opportunity of a gifted singer’s funeral to deliver “eulogies” that devolved into demented rants against the president of the United States. Eric Dyson and Al Sharpton, continuing the tradition of Democrats using memorial services as political rallies, whipped the crowd into a fanatical frenzy by savaging Trump……while (inadvertently?) trivializing Franklin’s memory.

At one point Dyson eructated: "Then this orange apparition had the nerve to say she worked for him! You lugubrious leech! You dopey doppelganger of deceit and deviancy! You lethal liar, you dimwitted dictator! You foolish fascist!!!" (Mr. Dyson, can you please return my copy of “Alliteration for Dummies” soon?).

Did calling the president of the United States of America an “apparition,” a “leech,” deviant, dimwitted, a “dictator,” and a “foolish fascist” celebrate and burnish the memory of The Queen of Soul? Did it bring people together, make the country more united? No. It was an act of attempted moral exhibitionism, virtue-signaling gone tragicomically bad.

The farewell extravaganza at the Greater Grace Temple in Detroit was continuously marred by the bad behavior of those supposedly there to mourn her passing. Greater grace was nowhere to be found. Pop-singer Ariana Grande performed Franklin’s iconic song, “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman” while wearing a mini dress, to the obvious delight of the Reverend Jesse Jackson and former President Bill (Hound Dog) Clinton, each of whom stole glances at the singer’s rear end. Bishop Charles Ellis, Emcee of the service, told the more than 4,000 in attendance: “When I saw Ariana Grande on the program, I thought that was a new something at Taco Bell.” After which he apologized to “the whole Hispanic community.” For some reason.

He also managed to grope Grande, cupping the singer’s right breast with the edge of his right hand when giving her a hug after her performance. He subsequently apologized to her for being “too friendly,” stating, “maybe I crossed the border.” Apparently, he was thinking about Taco Bell again. At least he, unlike Jesse and Bill, was “Thinking outside (Grande’s) buns.” Maybe he was just trying to make her feel like a natural woman.

It is surpassingly sad that the great performer, who had long asked for R-E-S-P-E-C-T, ultimately got none from the very souls chosen to memorialize her.