[wagglebee]

"Many critics argue that the media are doing now what they did when former President Ronald Reagan died in June: reducing a deeply controversial figure to a warm, grandfatherly caricature," according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.

The left will never understand that most people never considered the Pope or President Reagan to be "controversial," they actually did seem "grandfatherly" to most of us. Besides, we stood by while the media lamented the death of the mass-murdering terrorist Arafat, we had to hear about how he was the biggest peacenik of all time.

[Puppage]

"This was a very conservative pope. Most of his Western flock was not with his program."

SHUT YOUR GODLESS PIE HOLE!

[WarPaint]

It's just amazing to me how these people want the Catholic Church to bend to their views. Catholicism is Catholcism and has been pretty much the same for 2000 years.

The culture of MEEEEEEEEEEE is so pathetic.

[mainepatsfan]

The left went through hell during Reagan's funeral last summer. They don't want to go through it again for the Pope's.

[Spktyr]

Agreed - that is part of why we elected and loved Reagan, and why so many loved John Paul II. They completely miss the point - witness their absolute astonishment at the turnout for Reagan's state funeral.

[TASMANIANRED]

Rule #5. Since liberals all want deviancy defined down. Anyone who stands for truth, justice, and morality must be characterized as controversial.

[Publius6961]

One critic peddled the current - and dubious - media line that the pope was out step with members of the Church in the West.

Does anyone besides me see this as perfectly fitting the definition of insanity?

If a church has by definition a concept of itself that defines the determination of truth, reality and its circumscribing universe, and "some" members disagree, who is out of step?

That's like buying a pre-cut house, ignoring the assemby instructions and then complaining that the results looks like a 60-year-old Arkansas single-wide ...

[thoughtomator]

I thought it was the "Nixon treatment"... when he died, one would have thought from the coverage that he was an uncontroversial figure.

[dead]

"This was a very conservative pope. Most of his Western flock was not with his program."
- Kathleen Hall Jamieson

Shame the pope didn’t live long enough for Kathleen Hall Jamieson to impart her lessons on how to be a better Catholic upon him.

[GSWarrior]

It makes my day when the lefties are mad. I laugh at them.....

[stm]

"This was a very conservative pope. Most of his Western flock was not with his program."

This woman cannot be Catholic or if she is she cannot be a practicing one. Because this is total falsehood. President Bush used the word "Shepherd" to describe Pope John Paul II. I cannot think of a more appropriate word to describe him. A shepherd's job is to keep track of and tend to his his flock. When a member of the flock strays, he tries to bring him back into the fold. Sometimes he is successful and sometimes he is not. Sometimes the wayward sheep falls prey to the wolves. The same can be said of Christians. We all stray every single day of our lives. But the leadership of the Holy Father, our undertanding of the teachings of the Bible and of Jesus help to bring us back. Sometimes people stray for a while but find their way back. Others do not and are lost to the wolves. The sheep that did not "stay with his program" are the ones that want to be able to pick and choose from the teachings of God and the Pope like a smorgesbord. It does not work that way. It is all or none. The ones that bail and do not come back often are the ones that will accept the easy stuff but do not want to accept the hard things as well.

From this woman's statement it is obvious that not only is she oblivious to what the Pope was about but to what Catholicism is about as well.

[GovernmentShrinker]

The leftists just aren't comfortable with the idea of routine civility. A nice old man, who meant well, and did his best, just died. Civility decrees that we not turn the occasion into a loud and vicious debate of whatever shortcomings anybody can find in his life. Yeah, he should have cracked down harder on the priests-molesting-little-boys-and-bishops-covering-it-up stuff. We can talk about it some other time.

[Old Grumpy]

I can't believe they have the nerve to actually print something like that. Down here, we say a paper like that is only good for wrapping mullet in.

[Brad’s Gramma]

The late Pope John Paul II is allegedly getting the so-called "Reagan treatment" and the liberal media do not like it any more than they liked Ronald Reagan.

From a Protestant view point...I say...NEENER NEENER NEEEEEEEENER.

[LibFreeOrDie]

The left hates anyone who is anti-Communist, and the Pope and Reagan were key figures in fighting Communism.

The left will never be critical of Castro when he dies.

(And some of the leftist media are p*ssed that they didn't get a free trip to Rome out of this!)

[A Ruckus of Dogs]

"The coverage to me is extremely manipulative. It's Hollywood coverage - it's celebrity coverage. It's uncritical. ... I'm not suggesting that he wasn't a remarkable figure - he was. But this is completely out of proportion."

As opposed to the Michael Jackson coverage?

[MikeHu]

The media has an abundance of compassion and deference to dead people.

While they are alive though, they're the ones yelling loudest, "Crucify him," or "pull their plug." I guess that is their attempt to assuage their liberal guilt at always being on the wrong side of moral issues.

[stm]

I think another reason why they hate it so much is it is affirmation of the feelings of the majority of the American people. And the fact that they do not agree with the Democrats and their liberal agendas.

To quote Howard Dean this week:
Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean who has said he "hates Republicans and all that they stand for," may now be suggesting a reason for his feelings. Appearing on liberal Air America radio in Minnesota, Dean said Republicans are "mean. They are not nice people. They want to run nearly every aspect of your life." Dean went on to say that the Democrats' failures in recent elections are merely the result of a national message problem, adding, "We know what we believe in but we have trouble articulating it."

I guess they are still in denial about the fact that is was not the way they articulated it, but what it was they were actually saying.

[baseballmom]

Could it possibly be that the left MSM and the Western Catholics who so disagree with the teachings of the Church, that the Pope has faithfully upheld, are out of step?

[Steve_Seattle]

The liberals are so upset about the supposed uncritical adulation for the pope, but when a liberal icon dies - a Susan Sontag or an Arthur Miller - we hear nothing but adulation about them. As for the pope, of course as he was dying the tone was respectful, as befits common decency, but as soon as he died there HAS been a lot of negativity about him in the press. But I saw NO negativy in the mainstream press about Sontag or Miller.

[maine-iac7]

the pope was out step with members of the Church in the West.

Yeah - he followed scripture instead of man - what a nerve>

He was, I believe, exactly what was needed to bring the church back from the brink...but don't take my word for it, I'm not even Catholic