VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – President Barack Obama promised Pope Benedict on Friday that he would do everything possible to reduce the number of abortions in the United States, the Vatican said. more…..
A friend of mine summed it up best:
“I’m thinking lying directly to the face of the Pope pretty much guarantees you express line privileges to hell.
Does this shit stain think he can spin things and “nuance” things when he’s talking to God? Or does he think he’s just bullshitting with an equal?
I kept imagining Robert Calvert’s “Captain Lockheed and the Starfighters” album when reading that article.
And a lyric from an old Residents song:
Quick, Brain
Drain the main
Ship’s a’goin’ down.”
—–
-Cnation
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“President Barack Obama promised Pope Benedict on Friday that he would do everything possible to reduce the number of abortions in the United States, the Vatican said.”
Wait a minute. Did Obama actually say “everything possible”? Is that a direct quote? I didn’t see such a quote in the article.
Looked a little further into this.
Vatican spokesman Federici, according to reports (which allseem to be based on the Reuters report), is the person who said this, after consulting with the Pope. So what we have is:
- Obama discussed reducing abortions with the Pope.
- The Pope discussed his conversation with Obama with Federici.
- Federici summarizes Il Papa’s conversation with Obama to the press.
- Then it gets translated into English.
- The Reuters reports it.
Ever hear of Chinese Whispers?
In any case, the Pope would know full well that Obama is pro-choice, and that to him reducing the number of abortions would mean preventive education so that women would not feel the need to make that choice, rather than the outright banning of abortions under all circumstances. I suspect that if the Pope were asked, he would not say that Obama lied to him, because he would be completely familiar with the context within which Obama was speaking. Ratzinger is a brilliant and incisive thinker.
I
Why is it *always* nuances with your ilk? Why are you always trying to explain why you didn’t say what you actually said? Why is it that you are deathly afraid that someone might hear what you actually think?
(note: all the above is rhetorical)
The Vatican spokesman is Father Federico Lombardi, and is the person to whom the quotes are attributed to. That said, the exact wording doesn’t really matter. Obama’s record – unlike his words – is crystal clear that he isn’t just pro-choice, but pro-abortion.
Obama’s opposition to Illinois ‘Born Alive” bills:
…and here
He voted against banning partial-birth abortions in 1997 (Illinois SB230)
Issued an executive order his second day in office to provide funding for overseas abortions:
Voiding the ‘conscience rule
That’s just a sampling, but there’s more, including his support of state-funded abortions and embryonic stem cell research – but the point is that Obama is clearly uninterested in doing anything to reduce the number of abortions. His interest lies in providing greater and easier access and to ensure that the aborted baby does not survive no matter what.
The Pope, unfortunately, does not have the luxury of candor.
If by that you mean that the Pope recognized that he was speaking to a shameless, world-class bullshitter, well…there’s a point on which we can agree.
-Cnation