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 3 of 5)
31. PEOPLE SUPPORTED HITLER BECAUSE HE WAS THEIR LEADER. YOU FOOLISH SUPPORTERS AND BACKERS OF THE FASCIST BU$H WANT THOSE OF US WITH A BRAIN AND COMPASSION TO DO THE SAME ROBOTIC TRANCE DANCE THAT THE GERMANS DID ALMOST 70 YEARS AGO. WAKE UP AND SMELL THE COFFEE. SOME OF US LEARNED YOU DON'T SUPPORT EVIL, INTOLERANCE, ARROGANCE, BIGOTRY, NARROW MINDEDNESS AND INDIFFERENCE BU$H SUPPORTERS HAVEN'T LEARNED THAT LESSON YET! THEY ARE THE JIM JONES CLONES.
ANN at 3:19PM on Jun 11th 2007
32. Bush vs Benedict with a constituency of a billion Christians. U.S. President and Catholic Popel agree on this scripture from New Testament of Bible.
Apostle Paul said, “I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you are called,
Walk: “With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”
“There is one body, and one Spirit, even as you are called in one hope of your calling; One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.”
(We are part of one body, one Lord, one faith and our vocation with meekness, longsuffering and forbearing one another in love.)
Alan Klaus at 3:43PM on Jun 11th 2007
33. I feel that the Pope who is swaying the people ask we speak, towards morality. He comes in the name of Christ but does not believe in the redemption for sin. Just recently an article quotes him(the pope)that there is no limbo and everyone is born in the state of grace so no need for the blood scarfice of Jesus. He goes on to say adults can be saved by doing good works. He is the antichrist and i see mitt romney as his side kick all in the name of Christianity
metoobear at 3:43PM on Jun 11th 2007
34. As for our 'slaughter of the innocents', you leave out the other half of the equation which is our enemies in Iraq are at least half the cause of the killing there, if not most of the cause. Their choice is to either resist the occupation or accept it. Their current choice is the slaughter of their fellow countrymen and/or muslims. To say that it was a mistake to remove Saddam assumes that he would have lived on or held power forever without our intervention. Bush is the unchanging politician that we wanted. History will prove that he was right, if not in all of his actions, but in the intent of the outcome.
kevin h. at 4:08PM on Jun 11th 2007
35. Using Saddam as an excuse to go to war is very sad. We were supposed to be removing WMD's, but that was a lie. Now we are saving them from a brutal dictator, what a joke. If that were the case, we have one ninety miles from Florida. The truth is that we went to war over there to set up a base, so we could quell the potential for further violence, but they could not get that pushed throught Congress, so they came up with a lie that people could believe! Ninety percent of the public believed that Iraq had something to do with 9-11, and how could they not, with Bush and Cheney lying about on a regular basis. These guys are the ones who don't support the troops, by sending them to a war for a bunch of lies. We support the troops by bringing them home, and getting them out of a war for a lie. An enemy can never trust you if they have proof of your false objectives. Why didn't we leave right after we deposed Saddam? Because Haliburton would not be getting rich. Read Eisenhower's farewell speech. He warned of exactly what is happenning today. I quote
"In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.
We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together."
Dwight Eisenhower
Sounds pretty prophetic to me. The current administration attacks anyone who disagrees with them. They are not reasonable. They have taken our liberties away by allowing people to be held without trial, not for one day, but for years. They spy on American citizens without a warrent. We do not live in a police state. All in the name of fear. I do not want my rights taken away, and I am not scared of people that they have put behind bars for no reason. That is what we used to fear about the Communists in Russia. Do you think they ever put anyone away under a false charge. There is no excuse for these abuses of power. They should be removed from office, but the Democrats are chicken shit. Every time you hear of another wacked out program fromn Bush and the public doesn't lkike it, there is a joke terror plot.
Joe McGovern at 4:43PM on Jun 11th 2007
36. I thinbk you are right-on with this. Bush is not really playkng with a full deck. He' so full of sh** the back of his teeth are turning brown. Any one with even half a brain can see how out of touch Bush is and he is walking all over our Constitution. We need a different "leader" in the white house, and that goes for "DICK" Cheney as well. Bothe these idiots are guilty of crimes against humanity and very high crimes against the country. It would be a blessing if they both left the country alone.
Kenneth Bravehawk at 9:34AM on Jun 15th 2007
37. to Carguy (in post #27); Please spare us the lecture on what we Catholics ought to do. For your information, the molestations your reference is a problem in the North American Catholic Church. As such, your statement infering it to be indemic is very misleading.
That is how the anti-Catholic crowd (usually WASPs or outright athheists) works though.
I understand the USA is not a Catholic country and don't worry, we won't be voting for any Catholic president any time soon.
Ken Berg at 5:42PM on Jun 11th 2007
38. how far this country has come. does anyone remember how much criticism JFK received and how nervous he made the country because he was a catholic? Yet now everyone is jumping down Bush's throat for not showing the deference that would be shown the pope by a catholic. And to all who say the majority of Americans hate Bush, do you have any idea of how our electoral procedure works? Bush would not be president if the majority was against him!
Tom at 6:02PM on Jun 11th 2007
39. to Tom (in post 34). I know how our electorial procedure works - he who has the most "Electorial College" points wins...It has NOTHING to do with the popular vote - cause each state is an all or nothing deal on the points. Need I remind you Gore had the popular vote in 2000, but Bush won 271 electoral votes (just one electoral vote above the total necessary for a victory) yet lost the popular vote by 500,000 votes to Gore.
As for Bush's behavior to the Pope, it's the same sort of disrespect he's shown before....the overheard remark about Tony Blair comes to mind.
Kassandra at 6:36PM on Jun 11th 2007
40. The President needs to get back to Karl Rove and learn how he can discredit the Pope. Rove has already dug up material that shows that the current Pope was both a Nazi and gay. Traveling without his trusted advisors always puts the President in harms way. Thank God he can always come home to Washington and attack all the evil ones be they citizens, advocates of the due process, constitutional scholars, or religious leaders. No one is immune.
The Mazer at 6:59PM on Jun 11th 2007
41. The amazingly naive remarks here demonstrate a complete lack of knowledge about the Catholic Church. One is reminded of the truism that antiCatholicism is not only the last permissable (in fact, commendable) American prejudice, it is based on an utter lack of familiarity with Catholicism in whole or part.
Sean at 7:28PM on Jun 11th 2007
42. Does anyone care to express an opinion of whom or what will be the topic of dissatisfaction in the year 2010.
Bob at 11:18AM on Jun 13th 2007
43. Your mom.
Faggot at 7:56PM on Jun 11th 2007
44. Well Mo, you've started quite a little stir here, but I guess religion and the goverment never worked out well if history is any indiction. Let us recall the murder of St. Thomas Becket and the great conflicts that arose between him and the church, let alone his own family. As penance, he was whipped by the monks of Canterbury.
To think, if only those practices were still employed today to discipline our political leaders!
With divine wisdom,
your friend Blayze "Shagmaster" O'Brien from the Bee
bobrien at 8:17PM on Jun 11th 2007
45. The Pope....one of many whoclaim to be such humanitarians.....but have a record throughout history of racism, inquisitions, turning away from human suffering....and on and on. Give me our President any time.....whether one agrees or disagrees with everything he does, this is a compassionate well-meaning man.....with or without his rich past.
steve at 9:49PM on Jun 11th 2007