Bush "made clear that he disagrees" with Clinton over Pope

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,152881,00.html



ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE — President Bush (search) on Friday said that attending the funeral of Pope John Paul II (search) was "one of the highlights of my presidency" and made clear that he disagrees with former President Clinton's (search) assessment that the pontiff leaves a mixed legacy.

"I think John Paul II will have a clear legacy of peace, compassion and a strong legacy of setting a clear moral tone," Bush told reporters on Air Force One as he flew from Rome to the United States just hours after the funeral. He said he wanted to amend his remarks to add the word "excellent."

"It was a strong legacy," the president said. "I wanted to make sure there was a proper adjective to the legacy he left behind, not just the word clear."

Bush, the first U.S. president to attend a papal funeral, led a U.S. delegation to the 2 1/2-hour funeral Mass that included his wife, Laura, his father, former President Bush, former President Clinton and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Clinton, on the flight to Rome earlier this week, had said that John Paul "may have had a mixed legacy," but he called him a man with a great feel for human dignity. "There will be debates about him. But on balance, he was a man of God, he was a consistent person, he did what he thought was right," Clinton said. "That's about all you can ask of anybody."

[Inland]

1. "Strong". Bush rolls it out like it was one of his campaign stops

where all he does is repeat the theme Karl picks for him.

Apparently he thought that JPII needed some macho-ing up.

[Sandpiper]

2. Unless one thinks of serial child molestation as a "clear moral tone"

The Pope did leave behind a mixed legacy.

[LoZoccolo]

3. Bush* admits that the Iraq war was a mistake.

You heard it right here today!

This guy is so incompetant, that he cannot see that this cheap shot at Clinton hurts him way more.

[Ilsa]

4. Some Republican witch was blasting The Big Dawg on Crossfire

yesterday over his remarks. She was trying to make something evil out of his comments. Geez, what a whiney group. Oh how I wish the MSM would have fairly represented the Pope's comments on Bushco.

[rodeodance]

9. she was a witch--I heard that

[FreedomAngel82]

21. It' so sad

how they control everything in the government and had their person "elected" twice and still whine! Oy!

[Sanity Claws]

5. Bush's expression

He's got those little tight lips, showing annoyance. How I hate looking at him.
As for disagreeing regarding the legacy of the pope, who the F cares? This is a not a policy difference.

[rodeodance]

6. what a little baby!! (jr)--of course Fox would report this.

[Catherine Vincent]

7. Clinton's statement is better AND he more than likely thought of it.

Bush on the other hand was probably given that statement to say.

[Kber]

28. In a way, Clinton was more respectful

as well as honest. Look, we are all human and falable, even the Pope. If he were perfect, well, what would we need God or Jesus for.

Personally, I have a lot more respect for a flawed human who still manages to transend his mortal limitations to achieve moments of greatness than someone who will try to convice me that he is perfect and never makes mistakes.

It's the battle within, and the triumph of our better instincts that is truly impressive.

[calimary]

29. Nicely put! The Pope, after all, is just a man. Another human being

who walks this planet and this life - just like the rest of us. Granted, he rose to vastly greater stature and influence, but he's still simply a man. A man, I believe, who overall was trying to do good. And I'm a Catholic who's had about 26-and-some years of disagreement with some of JP2's opinions. Nobody's perfect. Not even JP2. But he did his best, I think. He certainly tried. And he certainly gave it all his focus, time, energy, heart, and brain power - MUCH more than we'll ever get from bush.

[Inland]

8. Bush doesn't realize--his f*up war is the Pope's mixed legacy.

Don't anyone tell Bush, but the mixed legacy included Bush's unwillingness to listen to the Pope's warning to stay out of Iraq.

So Bush proclaims the Pope a man of peace, with an unblemised legacy--not realizing that HE is the blemish.

Bush is the problem. Bush is the sin.

Bush sucks.

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

14. Yes, I posted something a few days ago about that...

...from a news story saying that when it came to the Iraq war, Bush treated the Pope like a "small, naive child."

[Inland]

15. And then Bush has the gall to refer to the Pope as a man of peace

as if Bush admired that about him. Fact is, Bush hasn't given two thoughts about the Pope, but somewhere in his reptilian brain, he knew that you say a religious guy in a skirt is a "man of peace", and that Karl being "strong" is a good thing.

What an incredible dick Bush is.

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

23. Any reaction Bush had to the Pope's death was political opportunism

A dead Pope DOES NOT show up on Bush's radar. For him it was just one more Air Force One flight, one more photo op.

[grytpype]

10. Bush would say the same thing about himself.

Using exactly the same words.

Asshole. Does he even know the Pope opposed his wars and his torture chambers?

[blm]

11. But in reality, Bush disagreed with the Pope on his war, corporate greed

and the out of control war profiteering of his cronies, policies that pushed more people around the world into poverty, poor stewardship of the environment, death penalty.............seems the Pope had way more in common with John Kerry and even Clinton, than he did with Bush. Abortion and stemcell research adds up to a blip on the overall scorecard.

[BlueEyedSon]

12. Clinton always has a pleasant face on, Jr looks like he just ate something

bad... always.

[Inland]

17. Not true.

IN the right setting--slavering lickspittles, partisan fanatics, his rich corporate sponsors or Saudi princes--Bush wears the beatific smile of the slightly dim child or the cruel smirk of the fraud who just got the sucker to write him a check.

It's everyone else he hates.

[BlueEyedSon]

18. OK, I mean when he's out in the "real world"..... nt

[leftofthedial]

13. I mean leading the world's largest organized

child molestation syndicate . . .

now there's a clear moral tone.

[beam me up scottie]

16. A strong legacy of dead and orphaned Africans

who were told that the use of condoms was immoral and that they don't protect from aids.
Pretty clear to me.

[BlueEyedSon]

19. Not to mention being head of a syndicate that lies to 1 billion people

and takes their money (in the BEST CASE scenario).

[beam me up scottie]

20. So I guess crime

DOES pay.
Just ask cardinal law.

[fob]

22. Fox just HAS to jack him* off in any way they can - "bush*, the FIRST

US president to attend a papal funeral..."

Perhaps they mean "sitting president" because there are 2 other Presidents right there with the fuckstick*!

[cry baby]

24. I'd like to slap that smirk off his face! nt

[cliss]

25. Isn't that cute?

Bush is diverging from Clinton in a show of "strength" and "conviction of principles".

I guess this is a typical Republican/Democratic response. The Democrats see the world is shades of gray; complexity, contradictions, paradoxes. The Repugs, on the other hand, see the world in terms of Black and White. No shades of gray here.

It would be quaint if it wasn't so laughably funny.

[cry baby]

26. MSNBC just reported the same thing....

Corporate news sucks, I have the tv on just to see Andy Stephenson at 3pm central.

[calimary]

27. Good Lord, one photo says it all.

Clinton looks out with a smile, a face infused with intelligence and circumspection. bush looks in the opposite direction (significant in and of itself), scowling, pinched, with that ever-present, twisted little bird-beak-y smirk. george looks exasperated and impatient. Clinton looks like he's just sitting back, drinking it all in, and marveling at the spectacle. Clinton actually has an awareness of the enormity of the event. bush looks like the next thing he'll be looking at is his watch.

on edit - upon looking at that photo again, it strikes me that bush looks as though something he ate earlier in the day is making him feel a fart coming on. And he knows enough, by now at least, not to cut one in public in a place like this (where too many people are too close and will be able to deduce from whom it came). Either that, or MAYBE, just MAYBE, do you suppose he might actually have noticed the booing when his photo flashed on the big screens around Vatican Square?

[bluedog]

31. LOL

check out his left side....looks like hes about ready to POP a blood vessel

[mpendragon]

30. everyone leaves a mixed legacy

You can never fully know the repercussions of your actions. Experience, morals, guidance from others, and intelligence guide us through life and the decisions we make. The biggest differences between moderate conservatives and moderate liberals tend to be what they are idealistic about and on what they are willing to compromise.

I'd like to think that the Pope held on to too many ideals that didn't fit the circumstances because he was insulated from the people he led. The Pope's stance on contraception is a good example of this. The church's position is dated and doesn't fit the times if, in fact, it ever did. Sometimes having high ideals is good (everyone gets healthcare, anyone who is capable can go to college, etc). I think that a group of men that have taken a vow of chastity probably shouldn't be deciding family planning for hundreds of millions of people.

The sexual abuse is an example of an attempt at a poor compromise. I'm sure he'd prefer that this problem didn't occur but I think he believed that the church could address the matter internally with minimal fuss. It is reasonable to believe that he thought this would weaken the church and in the end it did. It is also reasonable to believe that he thought that the harm done to the church would prevent them from being able to accomplish many of the good works they'd undertaken. So, he weighed the harm of to the church and its good works against the children of the church and made an awful choice.

All that said, Bush is pandering to Catholic conservatives with his: "I think the Pope was a super great guy that never ever made a mistake" talk.

[Blue Belle]

32. Just looking at this picture....

I wonder if Clinton has to fight the urged to smack Jr. in the back of the head?? I know it would be awfully tempting for me to let an opportunity like that pass by...

:dilemma: