Posted by
Andrews on Tuesday, May 26, 2009 3:01:06 PM
I am just stunned at how foolish our "progressive intellectuals" can be. They are now up in arms over
the "revelation" that Rumsfeld used ... gasp!... Biblical quotes in briefings! I shudder to think what they would discover if they looked at the writings of the founders. Not only did the founders often quote the Bible, but they even believed in a delusional system under which the Creator had crafted the United States as a shining beacon to guide mankind! What a sad lot of lunatics they must have been!
Sorry, but quoting the Bible does not frighten me. The fact that quoting the Bible has become unacceptable in "polite society" does. We have come so far that we have completely lost track of any history more distant than Paris Hilton's fashion choices last season. I don't know how to tell these "intellectuals", but the Bible, as well as the writings of Homer, Virgil, Ovid, Shakespeare and others, are part of our legacy, and many men throughout history quoted them in all sorts of contexts, including government documents. No one saw it as a sign of delusion, it was simply common practice among educated men.
At least until "educated" came to mean "politically correct" and "conversant with the films of Quentin Tarrantino".
POSTSCRIPT
By the way, the supposed Bush statement to Chirac ("This confrontation is willed by God, ...") is offered with absolutely no citation. I don't know where it was quoted, or by whom, or to whom Chirac told this quote. Every link I found to it cited this very page, making me question the origin.
It does sound remarkably similar to the quote alleged by Mahmoud Abbas I discussed in my post "
A Mystery Quote, Several Dubious Quotes, More Boring Quotes, and One Very Bad Conclusion", which makes me think this may be yet another pseudo-quote, such as the one about the Constitution being "a damn piece of paper", which is attributed to three unnamed staffers.
Pardon me if I am skeptical of quotes without a definite source willing to stand behind their statements, and without a political axe to grind (as Abbas has). It just seems to me odd that Bush would reveal his deepest beliefs to Abbas and Chirac, political enemies basically, yet not tell the public at large, or ever say anything similar in a venue not filled with political opponents.
POSTSCRIPT II
Just to make clear why I doubt these quotes, would you trust a report which said the following:
Bill Clinton told Pat Buchanan "I really enjoy using drugs. It makes extramarital sex more exciting." Later it came out he had also told Newt Gingrich "I can't really enjoy sex unless I rape someone. I used to have the state troopers bring me two or three teenage girls every night so I could satisfy myself." It was claimed he gave a map to Bob Dole showing the place Clinton buried the body of a teen he accidentally strangled during aggressive sex, but Dole says he later lost it.
You wouldn't buy it? No? Why not?
Because politicians don't make revelations like that to anyone, and certainly not to political adversaries. So why would Bush make what he knows are politically damaging statements to political enemies? And if he is so delusional he doesn't know those statements would be politically damaging, why has he not made them publicly? Or to neutral parties who could confirm them?
It just makes absolutely no sense.