Reading Joe Biden's forehead

[usregimechange]

Vice President Joe Biden, right, at a press conference in Washington today, with ashes on his forehead to mark Ash Wednesday. Photograph: Mandel Ngan/AFP


Barack Obama's election as America's first black president overshadowed the less exciting but still technically groundbreaking achievement by Joe Biden's election as America's first Catholic vice-president. And today being Ash Wednesday, for the second year in a row Biden appeared at a presidential press conference with his forehead marked by the traditional smudge of ashes received by worshippers who attend services.

Christians celebrate Ash Wednesday as the first day of Lent, which lasts until Easter Sunday. Catholic service-goers who attend Mass today receive the mark of ashes, usually in the shape of a cross on their foreheads, to be washed off after sunset.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/richard-adams-blog/2010/feb/17/joe-biden-forehead-mark-ash

[Captain Hilts]

1. CNN explained what it was. Boy, are people ignorant. nt

[demtenjeep]

2. And your issue with this is?

There is nothing wrong with members of the Democratic party showing their religious preference. Just because I typically vote for the democratic candidates does not mean I am against religion. I attend church almost every Sunday. I try to treat others with kindness and I am proud to say I am a Christ follower. Does that make me any less a Democrat? I think not. No where in the Democratic platform does it say we have to reject Christianity, in fact I think it makes me a better Democrat by caring about others.

[usregimechange]

4. What the hell makes you think I have a problem with it?

[Swamp Rat]

5. With whom are you arguing?

:shrug:

[jkshaw]

14. That's what I was wondering.

[Mojambo]

11. Reactionary much? n/t

[Dappleganger]

3. Leave the Biden alone!

Seriously, wtf?

[Maru Kitteh]

6. Happy Ash Wendsday Joe! You're one of the good guys, for sure.

I don't do the Ash thingy, but kudos to you for following your heart.

[usregimechange]

7. Good for him...

[Quantess]

8. The photo looks like awkward cut & paste photoshop.

[usregimechange]

9. For crying out loud

[HeresyLives]

10. Serious question, is this political?

I ask because Canada has had RC PMs for eons, and never once have I seen that on any politician, here or in the US.

It looks like the Muslim mark of prostration rather than an ash cross.

[dflprincess]

12. It always winds up looking like a smudge

the priest puts a cross on your forhead, but it rarely looks like one.

I went to public school and I remember dropping by the church with my parents to "get ashes" but one of them always wiped my forehead off before dropping me off at school. And this was in an area where nearly half the kids at the public school were Catholics. Joe must have been raised stricter than I was.

[HeresyLives]

13. Maybe it's the lighting then,

cuz it looks brown.

[Pirate Smile]

15. This is just normal for every Ash Wednesday for Catholics who have gone to church.

I've got one on my forehead too. It is a normal Ash Wednesday. I'm used to seeing them on people all over the place on this day for the past 30+ years.

[DesertFlower]

16. i'm a former catholic. as soon as i

saw it, i realized that today is ash wednesday.