Another Good Reason to Hate Duke

Duke University invited Harry "De-oh" Belafonte to speak at the school in celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

Duke officials, however, were comfortable and delighted to have Belafonte address the student body. Ben Reese, co-chair of the King Commemoration Committee, gloated that “Harry Belafonte was the unanimous choice of the committee and we look forward to welcoming him to the Duke campus.” Judith Ruderman, Duke’s vice provost for academic and administrative services, said that the University was “very lucky to have gotten [Belafonte].”

In case you live under a rock, Belafonte isn't a fan of the George W. Bush White House. But apparently he's the perfect person to give the keynote speech on a day celebrating Dr. King. Here's some of what Belafonte had to say:

Harry Belafonte, an avowed socialist (who’s a millionaire), didn’t let the Left down. He came out swinging by likening President Bush to al Qaeda. Belafonte asked the Duke audience what the essential difference was in quality “between those who would do the cruel and tragic deed of flying an airplane into a building and killing 3,000 innocent Americans, and those who would lie and lead the nation into a war that has killed hundreds, thousands?” He followed up with “What is the difference between that terror [Bush] and other terrors [al Qaeda]?”

Belafonte continued to disparage the Bush Administration. He chided Bush for his belief in Christianity, saying that it’s terrifying when those in “high places” say that they “are guided by what [God] says.” It must have slipped Belafonte’s mind that King was a Baptist minister who commonly referenced the Bible and used its imagery when preaching about civil rights.

Belafonte also felt compelled to defend the former Soviet Union and any other failed collectivist regime. “How many great movements have been attempted by communist thinkers and socialist thinkers,” he pondered out loud.

That sound you hear is MLK rolling in his grave.