Where's Billy Graham when you need him?

Oh yeah, the National Enquirer is a great source for hard hitting truthful news.

While reading that article I also so that Brad Pitt was caught in a Vegas Brothel and that if I know a secret about a celebrity I can get paid.

Living in DC, I know a few people in the media. In the last few weeks there have been some concerns/suspicions/rumors that maybe, perhaps could be true. It is one of those things that would be really hard, perhaps impossible, to ever truly prove.

Quite frankly, I never believed that he ever stopped drinking. I always felt that perhaps he was using "finding God" etc. etc. to appease the right wing.

[ September 22, 2005, 06:34 AM: Message edited by: billybob ]

this has always been true. All other presidents have found a church to attend in D.C. even if it was for "appearances."

W has never attended church in D.C. http://www.beliefnet.com/story/152/story_15208_1.html Now, this wouldn't bother me if he didn't play the religion stuff in an attempt to pander to the Religious Right.

Wait a minute...is this true? He isn't regularly attending a Methodist church in DC? I find that hard to believe. Clinton and Bush I both were regular churchgoers, as was Jimmy Carter. (I don't recall Reagan being that religious, but I could be wrong.) As religious as W suposedly is, I would be shocked if he were not regularly attending SOMEBODY's church, in DC, Maryland, northern Virginia, somewhere nearby.

Reagan did not attend church, W certainly does not attend church.

edited to add: This has always bugged me that he is the darling of the fundamentalists, but he doesn't play by their rules. I grew up in a fundamentalist church; I know the rules and restrictions and the vocabulary. W doesn't follow the narrow definition of "Christian" as defined by people like Dobson and Robertson. Yet he would promote their agenda and pretend that this is what is best for the country. Hypocrite.

[ September 22, 2005, 11:31 AM: Message edited by: keltic63 ]

If Bush isn't drinking again, he certainly should pick it up again! God knows with all the messes he's created it would help him forget about them for awhile...wait, he doesn't live in reality anyways. OK, the booze would just kill some of the pain. Then again you have to have feelings to feel pain.

I say he needs to go back to the cocaine!

I'll drink to that!! eek!

A serious correction is needed here [edited: but maybe on my part]. The linked site says:

I gather that Bush is not a member of a congregation in DC, though he certainly attends services in DC. This is quite a different matter than saying that he does not attend church at all. He may be a member of a congregration of a church in Crawford.

Al Gore attends a church in Arlington near Crystal City.

Edited to add: It seems I may be the one who needs to make the correction. I had assumed (keep it to yourselves) that he attended, from time to time, church in DC. It seems that such attendance is, at best, sporadic. I may spend more time in church than he does, though in my case, it's to hit the rummage sales.

I guess it shouldn't come as a surprise that he is a no-show in DC. Just look at how much time he spends away from "work." In a mere five and a half years, he has shattered the previous record of vacation time, and Raygun needed eight years to take that much time off. On those rare occasions when Bush is in the DC area, he spends most of his time in the gym or riding his bicycle.

He probably needs a street map to find Lafayette Park.

[ September 24, 2005, 06:49 AM: Message edited by: twin58 ]

Andrew Sullivan, in an October 2004 New Republic piece, writes:

For his sake, I sure hope Bush is boozing once again. It would go a long way to explain his inept performance as president. As for him not attending church, I am not surprised at all. After all, it's tough to be a chronic liar while attending church.

Yeah. The cycle of rapid promotions can be exhausting.

Guys & gals, I am really bothered by this.

My objection to Bush (and company) is his policies. His class war bias. His total disconnect from the world most of us live in. His engrained privilege. His contempt for the Constitution.

His personal life is not my business. If he has a drink or attends church or screws a consenting adult intern, he may have to answer to his wife or his god but not to me.

It bothers me that coarseness and personal insult have all too often replaced political debate. There is such a thing as civil discourse. It's not just "PC", whatever that means, it is vital. Progressive politics are by definition activist. Conservatives may be able to rally their troops with insult, but insults do not inspire activism. All the insults in the world had less of an impact than Camp Casey.

I do understand the temptation. Bush opponents can truthfully claim "they started it". But should we sink to the level of Rush Limbaugh, Michael Savage, Bill O'Reilly et al? Aside from the fact that I'd like to see those who call themselves progressive take a higher ground, I also think it hurts us in the final analysis. I truly believe that stressing how "dumb" Bush was ended up gaining him votes, not losing them. Many Republican and independent voters were very disillusioned by Bush, but hearing over and over that he's "stupid" makes it seem like those who vote for him are stupid. And like those who oppose him are elitist who think they're smarter than everyone else. Quite a few people, it has been documented, voted for Bush despite their disillusion out of dislike for the perception that they were considered stupid; insults are not persuasive.

It was wrong to base an impeachment on consensual sex between adults. It is wrong to spend our time speculating on Bush's drinking. Aside from the fact that the National Enquirer is hardly a reliable source, it distracts from what MUST be a POLITICAL message, that his policies, which are not just those of him personally or even just his administration but are very often bipartisan, are a disaster.

The only thing this really signifies to me is how far Bush's star has fallen, in that the National Enquirer, so far as it has any political slant, has been firmly in the conservative Republican camp (witness their continued trashing of the entire Clinton family, including Chelsea, and their idolizing Reagan, Oliver North and up to now the Bush family).

I have to disagree with you on a key point here. We know that Bush has had a drinking problem in the past that clearly affected his ability to handle his life. If our Commander-in-Chief is once again afflicted with a drinking problem, that is key information that the public has a right to know.

I agree that the Lewinsky affair was not grounds for impeachment, but it was absolutely within bounds for the press to discuss it once it became public. In that case, it was not merely consensual adult sex, but an affair with a subordinate, who was in a position to blackmail the President. Just as when Jim McGreevey hired his unqualified lover for Homeland Security chief, when such affairs affect, or may affect, the judgement of the leader, they are of concern to the public. That was one reason why I called for Clinton's resignation in 1998.

Ms. de B, I have to disagree with you also. Whether an admitted alcoholic with his finger "on the button" has started drinking again definitely is a matter of public interest.

Would you feel the same if he started using cocaine again?

Well, frankly, I've not noticed Bush becoming more incompetent! I mean, was he so great before?

But I guess I should clarify. If alcohol/drug use is impairing a person in a key position then it is the business of his/her employers, in this case the people of the United States. What bothers me is the flat out gloating I have seen and I really can call it nothing else. The fact that there is little to go on aside from a scandal sheet does put us in the same position as those who based the latest Clinton or other scandal on what they heard on AM talk radio.

Again, I say that we should base our opposition on politics. I mean, if Bush was caught in the sack with Condoleezza Rice (and she then had an abortion) I'd have to admit part of me would just laugh and laugh. But that's not what I'd like to see him nailed on.

I knew we'd find commmon ground again.

I beat Condi wouldn't mind being "nailed" by the Pres. Oh the thought just makes me cringe...

"Now here's some sad information coming out of Washington. According to reports, President Bush may be drinking again. And I thought, `Well, why not? He's got everybody else drinking.'"
--David Letterman