I understand; and I apologize if I conveyed an alternate impression. No offense, unkindness or accusation was intended :-)
It’s just when I see him react to that hatred by increasing his pander to every higher levels,
I have known quite a few devout Christians (oftentimes Evangelicals) as well as some Mormons who place an EXTREMELY high emphasis on "turning the other cheek" and reacting to rude behavior, unkindness and sometimes pure evil put forth by others by increasing their kindness and working toward leading bad people through their own good examples of tolerance, forgiveness and a strong appreciation of redemption. I am assuming that many Quakers might be similarly inclined, but I'm embarrassed to say that I have knowingly met only three Quakers on any more than superficial circumstances and so my experience there is woefully inadequate.
There's quite a range of opinion on this sort of thing within Christianity, as evidenced by some of our greatest and most formidable military leaders such as Generals Washington, Patton and many others who were very devoutly Christian yet quite effective and relentless in using force against an enemy. President Bush is resolute in pursuing the War on Terror but, as we all have seen, slow to slap down America's enemies here at home.
I believe that much of this rests on the weight given to The Golden Rule, but unfortunately my knowledge of other Scriptural relationships to these issues and how they might be guiding President Bush in his actions are inadequate.
Pinging NYer and Salvation to this thread because I believe that you (or another poster...all are welcome of course) will probably be able to provide a much more coherent insight into these sorts of issues as they relate to Scripture and President Bush's motivations than this scruffy, fleabitten stoat is able to :-)
Turning the other cheek when you are slapped is one thing. Forcing an entire nation to turn its other cheek, when it is slapped, is quite another.
And coming down hard on the face of your supporters with your boot-heel is another thing yet again.
Please do not sully the Christian faith by looking there for the motives of what this President has done in recent years in defending and coddling the worst of our adversaries here at home while betraying, at least twice, those who have been his most ardent and zealous supporters.
Bush has made a political calculation. I have read many theories here on this site regarding what that calculation might be. I personally have no idea what the real calculation is. It remains a complete mystery to me. But one thing I am sure of, it does not involve the Christian faith.
Take the case of Libby, just for one small example, to show you how far down Bush has gone and how the reason can’t be Christianity. Here is a man who is being railroaded into prison for making “mistatements” in a case in which the underlying crime isn’t solved, is never going to be solved, and appears, if it were to be solved, to have absolutely nothing to do with the person going to prison. This is a witch-hunt, pure and simple. This case isn’t jurisprudence, it’s a case of Left-Wing Pagan Idolatry.
The Left has created a Pagan god out of the office-worker Valerie Plame and they need a human sacrifice, someone to throw into the mouth of the volcano.
Now, it’s possible that Bush may eventually pardon Libby. But I do not look for him to make a speech condemning the tactics of the Left in this case. And I will not be surprised if there’s no pardon at all.
The fact is, there should be a pardon right now. This is not “turn the other cheek”. This is the Romans throwing a Christian to the lions and Bush obediently opening the lion-cage-door to let the beasts out.
There’s no explaining this. Not by any of us here. Because we are not insiders, we don’t know what all the inside deals are and who he’s cut them with and what’s really going on, in this, the most disappointing administration in the history of the American Republic.
It’s been said that the Palestinians never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity.
There’s a ring of truth with that regarding Bush, and his dealings with the RATs, but in his case it might be more like this:
Bush never misses an opportunity to pull his enemies back from the edge of the abyss, while deceiving his friends and telling them he’ll save them next.