Too many members cannot be trusted to behave themselves when Pope Francis comes to the Capitol, the congressional leadership has decided. And so, to enforce decorous discipline, some extraordinary measures are being readied.
Each party is assembling teams of lawmakers to essentially act as blocking tackles, willing to restrain any of their colleagues intent on trying to reach out for a papal touch as he walks onto the floor of the House.
And after the historic speech, the doors to the cloakrooms and the hallways will be blocked — and in some cases, locked — to prevent lawmakers from leaving the chamber for perhaps half an hour, until Francis has appeared on a West Front balcony to greet the ticketed throng and then departed the Hill by motorcade.
Those over-the-top precautions are a reflection of the unique protocol, security and political concerns attendant to the first papal address to a joint meeting of Congress. It has come to resemble a state visit, State of the Union address and presidential inaugural rolled into one.
Down-to-the-minute preparations for the papal visit, which is supposed to begin at 9:15 a.m. Thursday and be done 105 minutes later, have created space for some unusual bonding among the bipartisan congressional leadership and their most trustworthy aides.
All of them are on the same page about bending over backward to accommodate the Vatican’s expectations, which can be summarized as “Look, but don’t touch,” lest Congress drive its record-low public approval even lower by coming across as collectively preening and boorish before a global television audience.
The first manifestation of that was last week’s “courtesy notice” delivered to all senators and House members, over the signatures of the top four leaders, offering this behavioral guidance: “Out of respect for the pope’s schedule and the expectation of a timely address, we respectfully request that you assist us by refraining from handshakes and conversations along and down the center aisle.”
But the bosses are assuming their ask is going to be ignored — by the most fervently faithful Catholic lawmakers, who won’t be able to risk trying to kiss the papal ring or touch the hem of his cassock, as well as by many of the most publicity-driven members, desperate to make it into the same TV frame as Francis and get photographed glad-handing or even hugging him.
This is where the sort-of reverse congressional escort committee comes in. Posting the Capitol Police or Swiss Guards in the aisles would look awful, so leadership is looking for about 50 members known for their patience and institutional good manners. On the promise they’ll keep their hands to themselves, they’ll be assigned to wear dark colors (with hems below the knee for women) as papal protocol dictates, show up when the doors open and fill the three chairs on either side of the aisle in each of the chamber’s eight rows of fixed seating.
The aim is to create a physical zone of restraint between the pope and those who might invade his personal space. In other words, Democrats are telling the likes of Reps. Eliot L. Engel of New York and Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas, and Republicans are telegraphing to folks such as Reps. Billy Long of Missouri and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida, that their well-honed spot-saving tactics for presidential appearances won’t work for this event.
I'm both laughing and horrified that there is so little faith/trust in our elected officials that they're having to resort to blocking them from certain seats.
Also, dumb question but when did the pope mobile with the full bullet proof glass enclosure go away?
I'm both laughing and horrified that there is so little faith/trust in our elected officials that they're having to resort to blocking them from certain seats.
Also, dumb question but when did the pope mobile with the full bullet proof glass enclosure go away?
I'm both laughing and horrified that there is so little faith/trust in our elected officials that they're having to resort to blocking them from certain seats.
Also, dumb question but when did the pope mobile with the full bullet proof glass enclosure go away?
It was the request of this pope.
Ah, ok. Cause he's all chill and relaxed and wants to be with the people? That makes sense. Can you tell I don't typically pay attention to the pope? lol
Ah, ok. Cause he's all chill and relaxed and wants to be with the people? That makes sense. Can you tell I don't typically pay attention to the pope? lol
I think so. I don't really pay attention either, being atheist and all.
But there was a national geographic article a month or 2 ago that covered him. He's broken with recent tradition in clothing, lodging, and transportation.
I'm actually curious about where he stayed in DC. It was a long time site of protest. I wonder if there was any activity with this visit.
“If the pope wants to devote his life to fighting climate change, then he can do so in his personal time. But to promote questionable science as Catholic dogma is ridiculous,” Gosar writes, adding: “When the pope chooses to act like a leftist politician, then he can expect to be treated like one.”
What would Gosar rather hear Francis talk about? The congressman appears to have considered that question at length, offering up a lengthy list of topics that he thinks would be far more suitable for Francis to stick to.
“If the pope stuck to standard Christian theology, I would be the first in line. If the pope spoke out with moral authority against violent Islam, I would be there cheering him on. If the pope urged the Western nations to rescue persecuted Christians in the Middle East, I would back him wholeheartedly,” Gosar writes.
Gosar is also an ardent opponent of President Obama’s policy agenda aimed at tackling the threat of climate change. To top it all off, Gosar recently vowed that he would attempt to impeach Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy
Post by WanderingWinoZ on Sept 24, 2015 5:41:46 GMT -5
eye roll..
SESSIONS: 'Lord commanded Nehemiah to build wall in Jerusalem'... (C&P a few lines)
“So, [there are] many references in the Old Testament about the legitimacy of nations or countries or tribal areas, deciding who goes in and through and who does not. So that’s part of it.”
“It’s always dangerous for church leaders to start opining on complex matters of which they haven’t had a chance to learn over the years. I mean, we’ve been wrestling with immigration for 30 years. That’s a lot of knowledge. So the pope is not invested in that,” Sessions said.
He continued, “It’s all right for him to call on us to establish an immigration law that serves the national interest and assists people, but how that’s done, I think he probably is not sufficiently informed, and I would say that despite some of the biblical things, Nehemiah went back to Jerusalem and the Lord commanded him to build a wall.
Sessions suggested it would be better to help countries understand that “a free market system will eliminate more poverty than a government passing a law.”
Post by secretlyevil on Sept 24, 2015 6:17:23 GMT -5
Anyone know what time the pope is addressing congress? I can't seem to find the actual time. I am hoping NBC will also have it on their sirusxm channel.
Anyone know what time the pope is addressing congress? I can't seem to find the actual time. I am hoping NBC will also have it on their sirusxm channel.
9:20am.
I didn't seek him out, but he unexpectedly went down a big(gish) street a block away from me. I saw him go by as I walked home from a friend's house.
I love that the Pope declined lunch with congress and instead went to eat with the homeless. LOVE.
Good for him! For so many reasons, not the least being the drama/circus involved in a formal lunch, especially given the fact that those yahoos can't even be trusted to behave properly in their chambers.
“If the pope wants to devote his life to fighting climate change, then he can do so in his personal time. But to promote questionable science as Catholic dogma is ridiculous,” Gosar writes, adding: “When the pope chooses to act like a leftist politician, then he can expect to be treated like one.”
What would Gosar rather hear Francis talk about? The congressman appears to have considered that question at length, offering up a lengthy list of topics that he thinks would be far more suitable for Francis to stick to.
“If the pope stuck to standard Christian theology, I would be the first in line. If the pope spoke out with moral authority against violent Islam, I would be there cheering him on. If the pope urged the Western nations to rescue persecuted Christians in the Middle East, I would back him wholeheartedly,” Gosar writes.
Gosar is also an ardent opponent of President Obama’s policy agenda aimed at tackling the threat of climate change. To top it all off, Gosar recently vowed that he would attempt to impeach Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy
"If the pope agreed with me, I would support him!"
Guess what- he is the pope! He doesn't care if you agree with him! He's answering to a higher authority here, not the Tea Party.
The popemobile was made in Toledo, OH. <3 I'm an atheist and disagree with the pope about many many issues, but I liked this piece. (always love Connie Schultz)
He is the only man in the world with this job title, but from the moment Pope Francis was hired, he eschewed the fancy trappings of his predecessors to avoid the isolation of privilege. So there he was Wednesday, pulling up to President Barack Obama's rental house on Pennsylvania Avenue in a boxy little Fiat.
After the pope's brief speech on the White House lawn, he switched cars and headed for the parade, where he waved to thousands of admirers from his popemobile, a modified Jeep Wrangler made by union workers in Toledo, Ohio.
Surrounded by emergency vehicles and swarmed by security, Pope Francis nonetheless managed to persuade grim-faced Secret Service agents to fetch babies from the crowd so that he could kiss them. My favorite moment during live coverage came when agents tried to shoo away 5-year-old Sophie Cruz. The little girl in pigtails made eye contact with Pope Francis, and he waved for her to come to him. An agent lifted her so that the pope could kiss and embrace her.
News organizations later reported that Sophie had traveled from Los Angeles with her parents and a group that advocates for American-born children of immigrants. I confess I read that and thought, "Nice work, God."
Pope Francis is only 5 feet 9 inches tall, but he is a towering figure this week in a country — in our country — full of people yearning for signs of greatness in those who think they're entitled to center stage. Millions of Americans, most Catholic but surely not all of them, are hanging on his every word.
And why not?
I'm not Catholic, and I am mindful of those who continue to suffer because of the Roman Catholic Church's failings. But there is something about this pope. His respectful ease with our president and his words of gentle optimism invited immediate contrasts with what some presidential candidates have been trying to pass off as leadership in recent weeks.
The difference is so stark.
Pope Francis: As the son of an immigrant family, I am happy to be a guest in this country, which was largely built by such families.
Donald Trump: "When Mexico sends its people, they're not sending their best.
... They're sending people that have lots of problems, and they're bringing those problems with (them). They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists."
Ben Carson: "I would not advocate that we put a Muslim in charge of this nation. I absolutely would not agree with that."
Pope Francis: Mr. President, I find it encouraging that you are proposing an initiative for reducing air pollution. Accepting the urgency, it seems clear to me, also, that climate change is a problem (that) can no longer be left to a future generation. When it comes to the care of our common home, we are living at a critical moment of history.
Mike Huckabee: "I don't pretend to know. Here's what I do know: When I was in college, we were told that (the) climate was changing but we were about to go into a deep freeze and, if we didn't make urgent changes in the way we live, we were all going to be Popsicles within another generation."
Ted Cruz: "If you look at satellite data for the last 18 years, there's been zero recorded warming. The satellite says it ain't happening."
Pope Francis: During my visit, I will have the honor of addressing Congress, where I hope, as a brother of this country, to offer words of encouragement to those called to guide the nation's political future in fidelity to its founding principles.
Ah, Congress — where Ted Cruz is threatening to shut down the government. And his classmate Marco Rubio now claims that women get abortions just to drive profits from fetal tissue sales he knows do not exist. Handoff to Jeb Bush, who said, "I'm not sure we need a half a billion dollars for women's health issues." End this round with Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who's made a second career of ridiculing teachers. "If I were, not president, but if I were king in America, I would abolish all teachers lounges, where they sit together and worry about 'woe is us.'"
These men want to be our next president.
On Wednesday, thousands lined the street to welcome Pope Francis to Washington.
Anyone know what time the pope is addressing congress? I can't seem to find the actual time. I am hoping NBC will also have it on their sirusxm channel.
Post by WanderingWinoZ on Sept 24, 2015 9:18:34 GMT -5
Pope Francis delivered a stinging blow to nativist conservatives bent on keeping illegal immigrants and Middle Eastern refugees out of the United States, saying Thursday in a landmark address to Congress that Americans should show compassion to immigrants of all stripes.
'When the stranger in our midst appeals to us, we must not repeat the sins and the errors of the past,' the Roman Catholic pontiff said. 'We must resolve now to live as nobly and as justly as possible, as we educate new generations not to turn their back on our “neighbors” and everything around us.'
He also dropped coded messages to conservatives about gay marriage and abortion, and made an impassioned plea for a left-leaning approach to capital punishment in an unprecedented visit to Capitol Hill by a sitting Pope.
Ithout naming Syria, the Muslim faith, the ISIS terror army, or any of the European nations that have hedged their bets again welcoming the tide of migrants displaced by Islamist armies, Francis noted 'a refugee crisis of a magnitude not seen since the Second World War.'
'This presents us with great challenges and many hard decisions,' he said.
Ultimately the shepherd of more than 1.2 billion Catholics counseled adherence to a Biblical do-unto-others philosophy.
'Let us treat others with the same passion and compassion with which we want to be treated,' he implored Congress. 'Let us seek for others the same possibilities which we seek for ourselves. Let us help others to grow, as we would like to be helped ourselves.'
'In a word, if we want security, let us give security; if we want life, let us give life; if we want opportunities, let us provide opportunities. The yardstick we use for others will be the yardstick which time will use for us.' Francis did warn against religious fundamentalism of the type that drew ISIS into the fight that has displaced an estimated 4 million Syrians, mostly young men.
'Our world is increasingly a place of violent conflict, hatred and brutal atrocities, committed even in the name of God and of religion,' he said.
'We know that no religion is immune from forms of individual delusion or ideological extremism. This means that we must be especially attentive to every type of fundamentalism, whether religious or of any other kind.'
But he split the baby, Solomon-like, between combating 'violence perpetrated in the name of a religion, an ideology or an economic system' on the one hand, and 'safeguarding religious freedom, intellectual freedom and individual freedoms' on the other.
It's no surprise that the Pope made a point to lecture Congress about the death penalty, a sticking point with the Church as it deals with governments the world over. 'Society can only benefit from the rehabilitation of those convicted of crimes,' he said Thursday.
'Recently my brother bishops here in the United States renewed their call for the abolition of the death penalty. Not only do I support them, but I also offer encouragement to all those who are convinced that a just and necessary punishment must never exclude the dimension of hope and the goal of rehabilitation.'
You could hear everyone gearing up for thunderous applause when they thought he was going to say the global eradication of abortion, but then he said "death penalty" instead.