About three weeks ago, I expressed admiration for Pope Benedict XVI for bitch slapping Condi Rice by refusing an audience, and now he’s bitch slapping George W. Bush and ODL by refusing to attend a dinner in his honor at the White House.

I think that there are a number of things involved here:

• He is justifiably upset about the gross disrespect shown John Paul II on his statements on the Iraq war.
• He feels that Bush and His Evil Minions^™ consistently ignored his concerns regarding the violence directed towards Christians in Iraq.
• He is far savvier on American politics than was JP II, and realizes that Bush is completely toxic, and that any action that might be considered an endorsement of Bush or his Republican party is simply not in the best interest of the church.
• He realizes that the Republican party is driven largely by right wing Evangelical Christians who at best consider Catholics only marginally Christians.
• He also realizes that the future of the Catholic Church in the US is Hispanics, and that Bush and/or his allies are implacably hostile towards Hispanic immigration.

I think that he’s much savvier in the ways of the world than his predecessor.