Press: Bush's Pope visit backfired (headline from the BBC)

[AgadorSparticus]

Press: Bush's Pope visit backfired


President Bush presents the Pope with the Presidential Medal of Freedom
As US President George Bush continues his tour of Italy and France to mark the 60th anniversary of the D-Day landings, some European papers doubt the wisdom of his decision to meet Pope John Paul II on Friday.
He is also warned not to overdo comparisons between the liberation of Europe in 1944 and the war in Iraq.

<snip>
"The Pope's remarks to President Bush were, on balance, more critical than not and on balance Mr Bush will be fortunate if the visit does not lose him more votes than it won him.
Irish Independent - Ireland"

<snip>
"There was no reproach. His Holiness merely reminded Bush that the Vatican's unequivocal position against the Iraq war had not changed an iota...
La Razon - Spain"

<snip>
Bush had really hoped his audience with the Pope would give him a boost in the campaign for the Catholic vote in the presidential elections on 3 November. Now, though, his campaign strategists are worried.
Die Tageszeitung - Germany


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/3779297.stm

[madrchsod]

1. another bush

"rainbow tour" going about as well as evita`s tour of europe

[buycitgo]

11. or Napoleon's little jaunt to Russia?

or, uh, Hitler's?

[Eurobabe]

2. Bu$h's WHOLE visit is backfiring!

He's managing to piss everyone off...

[AgadorSparticus]

5. yes! we should hear more of this! his ultra hype euro tour 2004

that is going straight down the toilet!

[Spazito]

3. I love this comment of the pope's, reported in a Swedish paper...

"It became the shortest Papal visit in history: just 15 minutes. But illness and weakness did not hinder the Pope from giving president Bush sharp criticism.

"Don't try to come here waving a medal. I'm still saying no to the war".


Here is the link to the thread in LBN:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x605000

Here is the link to the article:

http://www.aftonbladet.se/vss/nyheter/story/0,2789,487707,00.html

[AgadorSparticus]

4. oh wow! that's pretty damn scathing! no wonder it was the shortest

papal visit in history. king georgie doesn't like dissent. and it makes you wonder what is going through his head when the pope is telling him this. "but, but, but ONLY I'VE got the direct link to god. how dare you say that?" LOL

[Sannum]

6. Ooh

Go Your Holiness, lol...Never thought I would say that:).

The visit was a disaster, not even mentioning Stepford's ill-advised skirt length...It should have been to the floor following Vatican protocol, but this is the woman who wore a straw hat to the Queen Mother's funreal. They don't teach that in Midland, I guess.:eyes:

[Malva Zebrina]

16. not to mention her constipated, put on, agonizing look

as she bent over the Pope and grasped his hand as if to say she would save him from everything he did that is wrong. It was so obvious a put on look that it was actually funny.

I hope the whole thing is being reported as the flop it was--the pictures certainly are not complimentary to
Bush or to the frump--it is typical of Bush propagandists to try and steal the stage from others, the Pope in this case,as they tried to make a big deal out of some "freedom medal" they were so generously giving to the Pope, who knew of course, the propaganda behind it all. That was really really humble of the Bush entourage, was it not? LOL


I think most will recognize the shallowness and cheapness of it all especially after viewing that constipated, tortured look on Laura's face that was obviously an act and a bad act at that--she was only doing the act as directed.

[Radical Activist]

7. Will this only be in European press?

I'd be surprised if anything negative about the trip is in the US media, especially with the death of the President who planted the seeds of all these problems we're having right now.

[Jackpine Radical]

8. A month ago, I'd have bet the US press would have played it

all as a Bush triumph, regardless of reality. These days, I'm not so sure. Let's see what the WP & NYT do with it.

[lostnfound]

9. kick

[AgadorSparticus]

10. kick

[rumguy]

12. the pope is a hero compared to shrub

[LittleApple81]

13. Not quite...You don't know the power of the church in Latin America.

They have aligned themselves with the oligarchy, the army juntas when they existed, anybody in power.
They have discouraged birth control, women's rights, the right of poor people to try to rebel against bad policies used against them... Not nice.

[diamond14]

14. WP Front Page...bush* insulting the POPE ! shown in papers all across

America....



this is actually a DOUBLE insult...

bush* insults the aging Pontiff by ignoring him and smirking....also by failing to realize that the Pope has Parkinson's disease....bush* stood up and actually shoved his medal into the Pope's shaking hand while the Pope was making every effort to speak out to bush* about his Iraq massacre....showing that bush* wasn't paying any attention to what the Pope was saying...


while pickles insults the Pope, by wearing the old Catholic head-covering, while she is NOT Catholic...pickles appears to be MOCKING the older Catholic Italian women, who still wear these head-covers occasionally, even though most Catholics consider such a CHURCH attire to be very antiquated and outdated....pickles choice of a BLACK veil was more appropriate to a FUNERAL....many older Catholic women here prefer the white veils or blue veils, except in times of mourning....

[Skittles]

15. Bush thinks Catholics are stupid

he makes that mistake a lot.