So George W. Bush Says to the Pope, He Says...

There are two versions of the Prez’s first words to Pope Benedict XVI when they met at the Vatican today. The one floating around in print is that George W. Bush sat before the Pope at the Pontiff’s desk and said, “It's good to be with you sir.” But the Prez’s greeting to the Pope, which I heard with my own ears on the radio this morning, was: “Good to see you again.” When did Bush see Cardinal Josef Ratzinger (Pope John Paul II’s “Enforcer”) before? The last time Bush was at the Vatican was April 2005 when he attended John Paul’s funeral. Just how how kissy-face have George W. and Ratz been? On April 25, 2005 Michael Carmichael posted an interesting article on the Planetary Movement blog, titled “Divine Intervention” (http://www.planetarymovement.org/2005/04/). The article was about Josef Cardinal Ratzinger being named to succeed Pope John Paul ii. Carmichael said, “When George Bush visited John Paul II in June of last year (2004), he asked the Pontiff for a political favor. Shortly thereafter, Cardinal Ratzinger issued a letter to American bishops that essentially threatened to excommunicate all Catholics who voted for John Kerry. Upon receipt of the letter, five prominent Roman Catholic bishops held an unprecedented press conference to proclaim their preference for George Bush over his rival, John Kerry. Bush received 6% more Roman Catholic votes last year than he did in 2000, even though his opponent was a lifelong Catholic who had served as an altar boy. Ratzinger’s political intervention had worked wonders for neoconservativism, and it is now being recognized as one of the most decisive factors in Bush’s electoral strategy.” A little further on, Carmichael said, “Yesterday, at his ritual enthronement, Pope Benedict XVI was seated on his throne where he was approached by supplicants who knelt down and kissed his papal ring. Without any question, the most evocative image from this ritual came when Florida governor, Jeb Bush, swiftly approached Benedict’s throne, knelt down, kissed the papal ring and – with a curiously ecstatic expression on his face – he began to speak fervently, passionately and unashamedly into the face of the new pontiff. Whatever the trivialities of their self-serving confabulation, it is clear that this political pontiff will not hesitate to intervene on behalf of the candidate he prefers in the next US presidential election. It is very likely that candidate will be Jeb Bush. The new pope is a seasoned political interventionist, and he will not hesitate to support the Bush Dynasty and its best interests, politically, ecclesiastically and ‘spiritually’.” Granted, because the Bush Dynasty has proved to be the most stupid and inept collection of criminals outside of Donald E. Westlake’s fictional gang in Brooklyn, Jeb Bush isn’t going to be the GOP candidate in 2008. Still, Carmichael’s sense of the Vatican’s intention to influence American politics is as on-target now as it was in 2005. The New York Times reported this morning, “President Bush met today for the first time with Pope Benedict XVI, a religious conservative like the American president but who raised his worries in their private meeting about the war in Iraq.” Uh-huh! Okay, maybe it’s true that this is the first time George W. Bush has met Pope Benedict XVI, but I doubt it’s the first time he has met Josef Ratzinger. And one cannot help wondering, what in hell are they cooking up this time?