All together now: Bush is not an idiot. He was elected twice, in part by affecting a "regular guy" image.
Quite a feat considering his lineage: His father is a distinguished former diplomat and not-quite-distinguished President. His mother is a descendant of another president (Franklin Pierce), heiress to the McCall's fortune and pure Greenwich granite. The family knows their way around Queens, Shahs and Popes.
So it is not a "gaffe," as reported, when Bush, in his first audience with Pope Benedict XVI, addresses the Pontiff as "sir," rather than "His Holiness," and mutters "How ya' doin'?" to another official, then casually crosses his legs "Texan style" sitting across from Benedict's desk in his library.
Bush is more than subtly sending a message: He's not fond of the blunt and highly critical German Pope - a man who's come out strongly against Bush on the invasion and occupation of Iraq and the daily mass slaughter of innocents there. Apparently Bush's anti-abortion credentials haven't curried the kind of favor with the Vatican that Bush probably expected.
Be careful, President Bush. You better be nice to Benedict. He's got a constituency of a billion. And he's German. You don't want to piss His Holiness off. No, sir.
CLARIFICATION: If you think I'm accusing U.S. troops of perpetrating the mass slaughter of innocents, I'm not. Check out comment #7 if it's not clear what I meant. (Accusing opponents of the war of "not supporting our troops" is supposed to put an end to the discussion. So I'd like to nip that in the bud.)
Mo Rocca has appeared on a bunch of shows, including 'The Daily Show,' 'I Love the 80s,'...
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Bush vs. Benedict: "W" Picks Another Fight He Can't Win
Posted Jun 9th 2007 4:35PM by Mo Rocca
Filed under: George Bush, Pope Benedict
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Mo Rocca appears on a bunch of shows, including CBS News Sunday Morning (with the indescribably wonderful Charles Osgood), The Tonight Show on NBC, and NPR's Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! He's a sometime judge on Iron Chef and was featured on Telemundo's Amore Descarado. Last year he starred on Broadway in the 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. His expose "All the President's Pets" was published by Crown in 2004.
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Reader Comments ( Page 2 of 5)
16. Imai83:
Well said!
Loved Mo's response. He's so sexy when he gets serious.
giftedgirl at 10:54PM on Jun 10th 2007
17. "Upsetting the apple cart in the Mideast, which had its in place albeit uneasy checks and balances between Sunnis and Shiites, secularism and radical Islam, is the crucial item that makes the Iraq invasion the worst foreign policy error in our nation's history"
Great point. The worst part of this war is not in numbers (so comparing the deaths before and after Saddam's reign is missing the point), it is in the instability it has brought to the whole region. Saddam may have been horrible and killed people, but there was that balance. Al Qaeda must be thrilled with all the instability we've brought to the region. Perfect for their agenda.
Beth at 8:45AM on Jun 11th 2007
18. Wrong Mo...it's the ungodly anti-war cowards like you that encourage the terrorists to continue killing American soldiers.
GI Joe at 9:07AM on Jun 11th 2007
19. Bush doesn't cease being President in November, 2008. We are stuck with him until January 20, 2009. What mischief will our lame duck do between the next election and the next inaugeration?
Hugh at 9:20AM on Jun 11th 2007
20. PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH IS A WITLESS WANNBE MONARCH, WHILE THE BRILIANT BENEDICT XVI EARNED HIS MONARCHIAL TITLE VALIDLY AND LEGALLY.
RICHARD at 9:51AM on Jun 11th 2007
21. People write about the slaughter of innocent civilians as a justificaton of our presence in Iraq
and how bad it was.Then why hav'nt we reacted in
Africa to the atroccities that our going on there.
The reasons that were used to get us in Iraq was
hand picked information that turned out not to be true. The leader of America knew it and went along
with it . Anything after that point becomes mute
because oops my bad just will not work. He has know
foriegn diplomacy skills,he has know national diplo-
macy skills. Get this he has no skills for the job he was selected, excuse me elected to so all that
has happened afterward is to be expected.
ICU at 11:33AM on Jun 11th 2007
22. All I want to say is IMPEACH BUSH and then put him on trial for war crimes against humanity before he attacks Iran. WE don't have enough troops to carry on three wars...nor 2...and barely one!
Deb at 12:37PM on Jun 11th 2007
23. As an American and a Roman Catholic, I will side with the pope every time.
I voted for president Bush both times, but he should pay attention to pope Benedict; he should not just write Benedict off as just an old holy man.
Benedict proved his adpetness dealing with Muslims during his trip to Turkey last year. Press coverage asie for a moment, I do hope that during this recent visit, Bush did have time to seek and get some counsel from pope Benedict.
Ken Berg at 12:56PM on Jun 11th 2007
24. - Oops!
adeptness, aside
Ken Berg at 12:58PM on Jun 11th 2007
25. COME ON PEOPLE! GEORGE W. BUSH IS CERTAINLY NOT THE BRIGHTEST LIGHT BULB IN THE HOUSE. IF HE HAD BEEN METING WITH ANY OF THE LEADERS OF ANY OTHER COUNTRY I AM SURE HIS APPROACH WOULD HAVE BEEN MUCH MORE POLITE BUT YOU VOTE FOR A RED NECK AND THAT IS WHAT YOU GET. EXCEWPT! THIS REDNECK HAS DONE AND WILL CONTINUE TO DO MORE TO HURT OUR COUNTRY THAN ANY PRESIDENT IN OUR HISTORY, IN ANY OTHER COUNTRY HIS ACTIONS WOULD BE TREASON WITH HIM AS A TRAITOR AND RIGHTFULLY CHARGED. MAYBE MEXICO WILL ALLOW HIM TO STAY IN THEIR COUNTRY.
Harry Edmiston at 1:37PM on Jun 11th 2007
26. It's time for the citizens of this great country to open their eyes and see what's really happening with their government. Look above our house and senate and see the "Puppet Master's guiding strings." The strong lobbying from this foreign country is deciding to much of our foreign policy.
ben at 1:44PM on Jun 11th 2007
27. We all have to take a new, fresh look at the situation. Now that we have won the hearts and minds of the good, stalwart people of Albania, how can we be wrong about anything???????
bfieldk at 2:05PM on Jun 11th 2007
28. Of course Bush is not a great president. But, would anyone worry about what the Pope thinks? The pope should be cleaning out his own house. Instead, he points at Bush and the US. Biblical teachings tell us to take the log out of our own eye before taking the splinter out of others. Has he forgotten about the child molestation issues in his own church? All to often the solution to big problems is very complicated, such as the issues that face Iraq. The Catholics people have a very easy fix that would fix the problem in their church, STOP TITHING! Give the tithing to other causes until all the hidden and moved perverts in the church are exposed. I doubt it would take over a month until major change starts happening! I wish it were that simple in Iraq. The pope would not even get as much respect as Bush gave him
Carguy442 at 2:33PM on Jun 11th 2007
29. Of course Bush is not a great president. But, would anyone worry about what the Pope thinks? The pope should be cleaning out his own house. Instead, he points at Bush and the US. Biblical teachings tell us to take the log out of our own eye before taking the splinter out of others. Has he forgotten about the child molestation issues in his own church? All to often the solution to big problems is very complicated, such as the issues that face Iraq. The Catholics people have a very easy fix that would fix the problem in their church, STOP TITHING! Give the tithing to other causes until all the hidden and moved perverts in the church are exposed. I doubt it would take over a month until major change starts happening! I wish it were that simple in Iraq. The pope would not even get as much respect as Bush gave him
Carguy442 at 2:38PM on Jun 11th 2007
30. Lets face it, it is not that Bush is stupid, or an idiot, he is just lazy. The man just wants to glide through life without ever having to work. Unfortunately for citizens of America the neo-cons and Karl Rove realized they could use his family name and "regular guy" image to get him elected and then tell him what to do policy wise once he was "President".
As far as Dubya's demeanor in front of Pope Benedict, I do not think he was trying to belittle the Pope, I think he is just to lazy to learn the the proper ways of treating foreign dignataries, religious leaders, etc. The man just doe not care about other people. He just wants to do what he can to help his family and his oil buddies. Let's face it, he is a spoiled rich kid who never mentally developed after the age of eighteen and never will. (Can you say Paris Hilton?) This man is the worst President ever, and it is our fault for ever letting him get elected.
Milty at 3:03PM on Jun 11th 2007