Posted on 12/07/2002 2:10:50 PM PST by victim soul
The comedian George Carlin used to do this sketch about the seven words that could never be said on television. The sketch was adored by sniggering adolescents of all ages, but is now sadly obsolete thanks to HBO, the words on Carlins list are routinely broadcast. Now we have different taboos, and high atop the list is the ban on the word Christmas.
So it took some nerve for President Bush to give the speech he did at the lighting of the National Tree on the Ellipse Thursday evening:
With the lighting of the National Christmas Tree, we observe one of the great traditions of our nation's capital. And throughout the Christmas season, we recall that God's love is found in humble places, and God's peace is offered to all of us. ... The simple story we remember during this season speaks to every generation. It is the story of a quiet birth in a little town, on the margins of an indifferent empire. Yet that single event set the direction of history and still changes millions of lives. For over two millennia, Christmas has carried the message that God is with us -- and, because He's with us, we can always live in hope.
Here by instructive contrast is the totality of President Clintons reflections on Christmas at the same occasion in 1999.
In this sacred season, it is time for all of us to renew our commitment to give of ourselves, to reach out to those who are less fortunate, to reach out to those who are different from us, to build the one America of our dreams. In this Pageant of Peace, we celebrate Christmas, also the season of Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa, and others -- all joined by a simple and universal message: that we are to love our neighbors as ourselves.
"This holiday season, we Americans have an awful lot to be thankful for. Our nation is at peace, and all around the world we are privileged to make peace. From Bosnia, to Northern Ireland, to the Middle East -- the land where a homeless child grew up to be the Prince of Peace.
Just today, in this season, I was proud to announce that after a long, long stalemate, the Israelis and the Syrians have agreed to meet again in just a few days to make their peace.
President Bush is a man of religious tolerance. Shortly before lighting the Christmas tree, he spoke at the Islamic Center on Massachusetts Avenue to mark the feast of Eid al-Fitr, the termination of Ramadan. The day before he took part in the lighting of a Hanukkah Menorah in the White House. But Bush is a Christian, and when the season comes for Christian festivity, he refuses to be ashamed of who he is and what he believes.
Some people find Bushs beliefs alarming. They are more comfortable with the kind of tolerance Clinton espoused, a tolerance that rests on belief in nothing at all. But that kind of tolerance too has its dangers, as Clinton himself showed: it collapses easily into a weakness of mind and will, a weakness that Jeremiah diagnosed 2500 years later before Clinton congratulated himself on his adventures in peace-making:
They have healed the wound of my people lightly, saying, 'Peace, peace,' when there is no peace.
Were they ashamed when they committed abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed; they did not know how to blush.
And we all need to follow his lead and not allow the "tolerant" among us keep us quiet with nonsense such as "saying the Bible is true and Christ provides the one path to the one true God equates us with the Islamic murderers."
It is not that they are ignorant of the facts of the story, it is that they are indifferent to the facts and politically depraved.
I watched this tree lighting the other day and President Bush looked terrific in a white cowboy hat. It was clearly freezing out, but very festive. The lighting music was "Joy to the World", which I have noted Laura Bush favors at such events. We are very blessed to have them in the WH.
On the otherhand, I got a Christmas card from the Bush White House. I know it's only because I contributed to the Republicans but it's still kind of neat. The envelope's return address is the White House but the postmark is Crawford Texas. What a sap I am but what can say. And no, the card didn't contain any of that "Happy Holidays" nonsense.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.