Falwell funeral a bomb, figuratively and almost literally

Huffington Post notes that none of 2008's crop of Republican presidential candidates bothered to show up for the late Rev. Jerry Falwell's funeral... not even world champion ass-kisser Sen. John McCain, who gave a speech not long ago at Falwell's Liberty University to glean votes from Bush's once-formidable Christian conservative base.

Were the notable absences due to busy schedules or is it a further indication of the faltering political significance of the religious right?

Or were the GOP fatcats anticipating spectacular violence? This just in from ABC News:

Authorities arrested a Liberty University student for having several gasoline-based bombs in his car.

The student, 19-year-old Mark Ewell of Amissville, Va., reportedly told authorities that he was making the bombs to stop protesters from disrupting the funeral service.

Three other suspects are being sought, one of whom is a soldier from Fort Benning, Ga., and another is a high school student. No information was available on the third person.