Well, to say the least - as an American all I have to do is look at Bush and get creeped out let alone hear his voice or any of his BIBLE THUMPING rhetoric…. Schroeder’s got my vote!

I’m German.

Schröder’s comments are a polite version of what most (probably all, but I haven’t asked every single one) Germans think.

You’ve got a mad Hitler-wannabe over there. Remove him before Germany has to enter an alliance against you.

I wish it was only Bush’s “god-fearing” hypocracy I find creepy. A man who grabs power, endorses torture, sets up secret prisons around the world, suspends habeus corpus, puts his friends in charge developing the voting machines; using lies and wedge issues to divide this country further, destroys US diplomacy & 200 years worth of statemanship…the list is endless. Fear-mongering is his constant weapon, and he follows the philosophy of Hitler “say anything often enough, and people will believe you.”
The creepiest thing is the fact we may well wake up after the November 7th election to find the GOP still in power. 80% of voters use Diebold machines and they cannot be trusted.
If they remain in power, our country will be destroyed. That is really creepy.

It has been my experence in life, that, what you fear you get, and what you hate you become.  Hate eats the hater.  No matter what side of this circle you stand on, what prespective of that circle you view, respecting each person as a person of worth is the only way we will every come to terms of peace.  In my studies of the scriptures I’ve found the word Fear in this passage means respect, reveance, awe…not Fear as in God is going to get you if you don’t watch out.  We do that quite well ourselves.  God is not into controling us. I think God wants us to learn self-control, and to stop trying to control everyone else.  (“I want you to change, so I don’t have to” kind of thinking.)  And if we would follow the example of Jesus we would know we need to spend time in silence with God, and LISTEN to hear that still small voice that calls us to be better people.  I wish Mr. Bush were hearing God speak back.  Maybe then we wouldn’t be in this mess right now.  Love and Fear don’t fit well together.  Love casts out fear.  Fear overshadows love and will bring us no good thing.

Maybe Bush really was an alcoholic who bought in to the A.A credo….eventually leading him to his rebirth in Christianity.
If you watch him talk he is a very gullable man.
But his minions are not.
They framed him and milked it all the way to Iraq. This man has some serious mental issues that the neocons overlooked because he was so easy to paint.

I think the neocons got what they wanted in W
and I think the defense economy is stronger now than it was even in the cold war.  If you add D.o.d and Homeland budget together you will see why the cronies wanted someone like W in office.

Unfortunately, the neocons would not have ever imagined the war to go this awry.  But the stubborness of W was his own undoing this isn’t Viet Nam and W can’t tell the difference. 
Bush is a neo Con Christian Crusader that can’t stop now because he went all in with his rant about good vs evil.  What a moron this guy is!
He wouldn’t know good, if it drove up to his ranch in a gas guzzlin’ Hummer!

Schroeder is right about Bush, as is most educated sane people.  Maybe we should all take heed from outside sources and not buy in to this evangelical mentality that seems to have eveyrone in it’s grip.

Geezer - I can’t tell you how sad it makes this old Sunday School teacher to read what you have written here.

Let’s start with your last comment, the rather smug, “God loves me” that so-called Christians like to throw around, with its vague implication of Divine Preference for the Self-Congratulatory. “Beware practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in Heaven.”

God loves us all, equally, you have no more claim to that love than anyone, even Muslims in Iraq, and I have a feeling that you’re going to be in for, you should pardon the expression, one hell of a shock when you finally realize the price your soul has paid for your allegiance to those who have twisted the words of Love, Peace and Forgiveness that we were given to live by.

If you truly had any concept of the love of God and the lessons of Christ, you wouldn’t be smiling about God’s love for you while lauding the Pharisee-like posturing of the most un-Christian leader this country has ever been subjected to. “By their acts you shall know them.” Bush has perversely used a facade of Christianity as a tool to manipulate those who are easily seduced by claims of faith and left a swath of death and destruction that must have satan smiling. He is a plague of misery over the world.

What this president has done to a people who stood defenseless before us is an abomination to those who believe in the teachings of Jesus. He has ordered the murder of people using transparent and arrogant lies while calling himself “Godfearing”.

He is the antithesis of every lesson Jesus gave us. He was born to worldly power that he has never renounced, in fact he openly covets more power than any president has ever had. When you think of the comparison of Satan raising Jesus up and offering Him all the power in the world, which Jesus renounced, with the thought of Bush being raised to a position of more power than any other man in the world, and using it not for good, or peace, or protecting the weak, but to accrue even more power and make war on those who cannot fight back - all while posturing as a man of faith - the thought should wake you up. Or does your pridefulness in aligning yourself with so much worldly power prevent you from seeing what it is you serve?

The antichrist won’t sprout horns in public, granny, remember? He’ll be powerful, he’ll be charming, he’ll have unlimited worldly wealth and power, he’ll quote Scripture, he’ll start world wars and tell people God wants it. He’ll do EXACTLY what Bush is doing.

Christ was VERY specific about the things we are to do, wasn’t he? Including turning the other cheek, loving our neighbors as we love ourselves, forgiving as we would be forgiven and, last but certainly not least, never falling for false prophets who make a show of their faith but base all their actions on arrogance, pride, greed and the love of worldly power.

As for your comment, “I don’t recall anywhere in the New Testament it tells me to disregard the lessons and information found in the books of the Old Testament.”

Actually, it isn’t about disregarding the lessons and information from the Old Testament, is it? “Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets; I am not come to destroy; but to fulfill.”

If you want to use the Bible to justify murder and war because they existed in the Old Testament, aren’t you missing the point of pretty much EVERY lesson Jesus taught us????? Where in the teachings of Jesus is there any justification for pre-emptively attacking anyone to stop them from maybe attacking us? Where in the teachings of Jesus is there anything about “fighting them there so we won’t have to fight them here”?

There isn’t, but there is this: “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth’. But I say to you, do not resist him who is evil; but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn to him the other also.”

And finally, “Whatsoever you do unto the least of you, you do unto Me.” What Bush has done to the people of Iraq goes against every teaching of Jesus, no amount of rationalization will change that.

I do believe that the former chancellor was creeped out because there is no place in the job of being president of the United States and talking to another head of state for one´s religious beliefs. If you believe in the Easter Bunny it has, or should have, nothing to do with the governance of a country. Especially, it should play no part in the governance of the United States since the founding documents go to so much trouble to say so. That this president has chosen to disregard this and so many of our other documents bodes only ill for the rest of the world and this man, not being an idiot, sees that.

G. Granny:
“In my opinion (humble or not) a person who doesn’t do his homework before speaking to the press is behaving like a fool…”

Are you kidding? You actually made that statement in the course of defending ‘your’ president? Mr. Bush can hardly put a sentence together without botching the English language. He can’t think on his feet; it even appears he can’t think for himself, as he often blurts incomprehensible fragments of pre-determined sound bites that, when strung together by him rarely make much sense. I seriously doubt that this C-minus student, who didn’t do his homework when he WAS a student, is doing any homework nowadays.  He barely reads, by his own admission (except for “My Pet Goat”). Just because he says he reads the Bible, and says he’s a born-again Christian, you see him in a glowing light and give him WAY more credit than he could ever deserve. Your religion is blinding you to corruption and failure. The man must be removed from his undeserved lofty office.

Does anyone know if Bush invokes biblical scripture in his signing statement?

Reply to Comment #32593 by Rhonda on 10/23 at 10:11 am

The Germans were famously put through the mill by their infamous elected psychopath.  It’s not surprising that they were among the first to recognize America’s Caligula for what he is: deranged and dangerous.  As for the christians on this thread:  their own book states that anti-christ will operate with the approval of the church—they were warned, but are to arrogant to hear

Oh, yes - every time some Christian starts talking to me about the end times, I tell him to keep a close eye on W, because from what I read in the Bible, he’s the most likely candidate for the Antichrist. Actually, I see him as a sort of incipient Antichrist. God willing, we can end his political career before he turns into the real thing!

We must all remember that Bush is the “Great decider” and the “War President”.

It’s great to see people like Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice, and Rove march to war while none of them have never gotten near one themselves.

We must all remember that Bush is the great decider and the “War President”.

It’s great to see people like Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice, and Rove march to war while none of them have never gotten near one themselves.

As time goes by, we’ll see more and more of this, I’m sure:  Former political figures expressing their ‘bad’ feelings about our current ‘Commander’-in-Chief.  My question is, why didn’t any of these ‘leaders’ speak up 3 and a half years ago?

The Germans were famously put through the mill by their infamous elected psychopath.  It’s not surprising that they were among the first to recognize America’s Caligula for what he is: deranged and dangerous.  As for the christians on this thread:  their own book states that anti-christ will operate with the approval of the church—they were warned, but are to arrogant to hear.

“Bush is a warrior for the great cause of the new and Caucasoidal-Approved One-world Globalistic Paradigm of Fascism and Slavery…...............”

My God, take a breath and use some punctuation! (:-<

The only fear is that the “shrub” has no leash; Congress has become a “rubber stamp” for this neolithic “god fearin’” moron.  I just hope he is never close enough to the “button” that will make Armageddon the last thing we all remember.

Put this lunatic away in cell with Saddam and throw the key away.  Let all the “new” nuclear powers use their cell for target practice.

That is a “win” “win” for all humanity.

he oughta quit fearing that imaginary kkk endorsing god of his, and fear ME-the guy that’s gonna see to it he spends the rest of his life in jail, and forfeits all his god damn slave and war assets to the people whose life he has ruined.

Somewhere right now Jesus is saying, “Elvis, what did we do to deserve THIS?!”

Mr. Cahill,

1) My posting did not address who wrote Proverbs; and I certainly never said it was God.  FYI, as I understand Proverbs 1:1, they come from King Solomon, son of King David partially and my study notes say he likely
collected and edited other Proverbs than his own.  By the way, the Rabbinical title is “Sepher Hokhmah” or Book of Wisdom to you and me. So it’s not obsessing about the term; it is wanting to know all I can about it (especially in light of the fact that the Proverb says it is the beginning of knowledge).

2) Your second point (if I am a Christian) is really irrelevant.  While I do believe in the merciful God of the New Testament, I don’t recall anywhere in the New Testament it tells me to disregard the lessons and information found in the books of the Old Testament.  If you can provide such a citation, I’d greatly appreciate knowing it. Of course, I’m not the world’s all knowing or best-educated Christian (in terms of Biblical knowledge). I do not see the God of the Old Testament as “vengeful.”  I see a loving God
there too—he had to love us (mankind) to give us so many tries to obey the law before sending his Son to die for our sins.  Otherwise, we’d have no need of the books of the New Testament (which are the “God-inspired” works of the Apostles.

3) By use of the word “Jew” as it pertains to the Old Testament, I’ll take it you mean the Israelites…or the “chosen people of God.”  They probably do not interpret it as I do.  Why would they?  I’m a born-again Christian who believes that God sent his only son to die on the cross for my salvation.  They’re still waiting because they do not recognize Jesus as the Messiah.

4) Why would you advise me to pay attention to “the German guy?”  Sure, he knows what he’s talking about—President Bush’s use of the term “God-fearing” creeps him out…believe that was the title of his article, so I would hope he knows what he’s talking about.  My criticism of him comes from historical results of people
listening to German Heads of State.  This is why I don’t believe a former Head of State should so publicly criticize a sitting Head of State if he doesn’t know the source of the term and he apparently doesn’t or it would not “creep” him out.  In my opinion (humble or not) a person who doesn’t do his homework before speaking to the press is behaving like a fool and whether you agree or not, my guess would be the former
Chancellor does not study the Bible that my President does.

Mr. Cahill, The webmaster of Truthdigs.com may choose to not publish this reply…that’s his or her choice.  I would ask them to forward it on to you if they decide not to publish it.  I’m not trying to be rude or be a smart alec—I simply do not agree with Mr. Schroeder’s decision to make remarks about my President and felt he had not done adequate research before writing his book.  It was a cheap shot for a few bucks (he surely gets paid for the book—if he doesn’t, he should talk to Kevin Tillman’s agent—he got paid for his Bush Bashing article.

I agree with your assessment of fear’s result but I do think it sounds a little like a Democrat who’s read President Franklin Roosevelt’s speech (you know the one about “The only thing we have to fear is .....) recently.
I’m not looking to argue with you about religion or politics…I am a registered Republican, but I vote for the person I think will do the best job for my country.  I do not believe any President is perfect (yep, there I go again—believing in only one perfect man); he is only human, but I support his efforts to date and I do admire his willingness to not be afraid to tell the world he is a Christian.

Let’s be friends instead of foes and may my Awesome God bless you everyday whether you need it or not!

I smile because God loves me….even if TruthDigs’ readers don’t!  :>)

Geezer Granny!

Bush is a warrior for the great cause of the new and Caucasoidal-Approved One-world Globalistic Paradigm of Fascism and Slavery for all but especially those whose beliefs differ from the intolerant, suppressive, fnord aggressive and warlike certainty of Supremacy that seems to motivate Christians and others to commit atrocities at which even Jesus would shudder before he smote them with the Undiltute Wrath of the Rightful Ruler of the Universe, the Flying Spaghetti Monster, noodled be She.

In addition, What Would Jesus Do? Unfortunately in the mistranslated Bible that has come down to us we are told he admonished us to turn the other cheek. The Early Roman Church editted out the rest of this statement which read “and grant them the benefit of the doubt at least once before Ye drawest thy sword and advance upon them, and severest the head of they enemy in My Name. For the Tree of Liberty doth grow by the spilled blood of Tyrants. Amen.”

So we see that, in their war to apply the principles of Capitalistic Globalism to even Cancer Vaccines and Aids Treatments and for one hand of the Ruling Class to profit by the common man while the other hand smite him, the Bushes greatest allies may yet be the Islamofascists, Christian Theocrats and Judaic Zionists who too see the populations of the world other than their own number as Chattel Slave or Enemy.

re: instead of being creeped out by President Bush, he should consider becoming “God fearing” himself.

just a note to GeezerGranny: a) “God” didn’t write Proverbs…a normal human person did (yeah, I know inspired by God blah, blah…read on) b) if you are a Christian, you are supposed to believe in the merciful God of the New Testament, not the vengeful God portrayed in the Old Testament.  C)Even the Jews(you know the people who wrote the Old Testament), don’t interpret Proverbs as you do. 

One of the problems with fear is…it’s hard to think clearly or learn when you are afraid.  So what it is with this obsession with “god fearing?”  My advice, learn from the German guy, he seems to know what he is talkiing about.

Bush is a crazy ignorant arrogant freak. What did ya expect?

If there is a god, then god has short changed Bush’s level of intelligence, not to mention that god didn’t help Bush in Iraq War.

Will god please come forward to show your very existence. I know god won’t because there isn’t any god.

This is my first time on your site.  I came because of another article I wanted to comment on and the very first thing I’m greeted with is the FORMER German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder’s creeped out by President Bush’s use of “God fearing” during his talks.  Please let the FORMER Chancellor know that instead of being creeped out by President Bush, he should consider becoming “God fearing” himself.  That is one of the main points we learn in our churches (note they are plural)is that we are to be God fearing.  Let me suggest Mr. Schroeder check out Proverbs 1:7, which says"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.”  Mr. Schroeder, I believe you qualify for the job of “fool.”  You were smart enough to remain Chancellor, so I’m sure the label will fit!  Wear it in good health! You deserve it!

God is there.BELIEVE ME!!

Bukko is right: if there IS a God, than Bush has much to fear.

....and this is why our government has been referred to as a theocracy by other countries for years now. I think the American people are only now catching on to the fact that those other countries have been right all along. Bush is a Christian conservative, and it is feared that he has the commonly held Christian conservative belief in the apocolypse, and is making policy decisions based on the doomsday theory. He has said in interviews that he speaks to God when making decisions. I just hope he doesn’t hear God speaking back to him.

Bush is too “God-fearing” for the ex-chancellor, eh? Bloody right! If there is a God, that genocidal little bastard should be very afraid… (And I don’t mean Schroeder.)