president bush speaks

Dubya doesn't talk to the press much. He's had far fewer press conferences than any president since who knows who and the few interviews that he's allowed with the press have been with conservative-friendly outlets (aside from one Sunday morning show -- I forget which one), I presume because they'll take it easy on him. Now he's talked to the The Washington Times. In an interview done just yesterday, he said some things that I just have to address.

"I fully understand that the job of the president is and must always be protecting the great right of people to worship or not worship as they see fit," Mr. Bush said. "That's what distinguishes us from the Taliban. The greatest freedom we have or one of the greatest freedoms is the right to worship the way you see fit.
"On the other hand, I don't see how you can be president at least from my perspective, how you can be president, without a relationship with the Lord," he said.

First off, I'd like to think that there's more that distinguishes the United States from the Taliban than the right to worship as we please. I'd like to think that we aren't so thuggish when it comes to the freedom of the press, for instance, or that we have a relatively stable system that doesn't rely on militaristic tribal leaders for order (or lack thereof) and drug production and trafficking for our economic base. I mean, we actually have one of those pesky Constitution and a general rule of law that we operate under...something more basic and fundamentally other than anything the Taliban could ever pull off in Afghanistan. Maybe that's just me.

Second off, I have a problem with the President of the United States saying anything that approaches "I believe you need to be a Christian to be President". I mean, I'm a Christian and all, but there's just no way that I could even think that myself. It undermines everything that he says about freedom of religion, and he seems to admit it:

"I think people attack me because they are fearful that I will then say that you're not equally as patriotic if you're not a religious person," Mr. Bush said. "I've never said that. I've never acted like that. I think that's just the way it is."

In other words: "I wouldn't say you're less patriotic if you're not a religious person, but you are."