[Desdemona]

Don't forget that some states vote on the Second Ammendment. If the perception is there that the right to bear arms is threatened, the threatening party has an uphill fight.

I think you're right. Bush is in no danger right now. He means what he says and leaders like that are few and far between.

As for the pope, he knows that this war is dangerous from many fronts and that all war is human tradgedy, but he has not outright condemned military force. He just cautioned that it should be the absolute last resort. The call of the last resort is the one that's hard, and who's right is anyone's guess. My own take is that this war had to happen. The sooner the better, else the fight would have been far more precarious.

[ultima ratio]

My quarrel is not with the Pope's opposition to the war itself. My quarrel is that he undermined Bush's diplomatic efforts to get Saddam to disarm without a war. The Pope threw in his lot with France, meeting privately with Tariq Assiz at a time when Bush needed support. As long as people such as Chirac and the Pope gave hope to Saddam that he could ride-out the storm, what incentive did that monster have to quit the scene, let alone to disarm? It was a disgraceful scene on the Pope's part--just more liberal bad judgment in a papacy full of foolish gestures and scandalous novelties.