Dubya Is Most Admired Man of 2004

That’s right, George W. Bush tops the list of 2004’s 10 Most Admired Men.
Nearly a quarter of all respondents (23%) to the poll named George W. Bush without prompting. Bill Clinton came in second with 6%. This is the fourth year in a row that Bush has topped this annual survey.
UPDATE: An interesting tidbit I missed before:

George W. Bush, Sen. John Kerry, former South African President Nelson Mandela, Powell, and the pope are each mentioned by 4% of Democrats

President Bush and God

Our Democratic friends, especially the more left-wing types, are fretting over the President’s religion – with his frequent references to God in his public utterances and his programs to use faith-based organizations to assist the poor, he seems to some to be a God-intoxicated man who yearns for a theocratic government for the United States. This is all nonsense, of course, but the fact that some lefties have taken to calling “red” America “Jesusland” indicates their fundamental fear of the President and God.
An interesting article in The Economist goes over God, American politics and how President Bush works with both. Almost as an aside, they point out that former President Clinton talked about Jesus and made more political speeches in church than President Bush ever has. This didn’t bother the left at all – and the reason for this is because the left knew for certain that regardless of what Clinton might have thought about religion, he wouldn’t actually let religion interefere with policy. What bothers the left about President Bush’s religious convictions is that they play a part in his decision making process. Heavens to Betsy, the man is actually acting upon conviction rather than political expediency!
Boldly ripping off a concept first floated by John Derbyshire over at National Review, I ask leftwing friends who are worried about this sort of thing a simple question:
You have a brand new car and you are required to leave it for a week with a person you have never met before. One is a fundamentalist Christian who think that the world was created 4,000 years ago in seven literal days – the other is an athiest sociologist who holds that morality is a social construct designed to preserve the power of the ruling class. Whom do you leave your car with?
What really bugs the left is that President Bush and all people like him are living, breathing indictments of their way of life – they say they are fearful of an American Taliban, but what they are actually upset about is that the believers will not validate their self-destructive life-styles. They wish to excise all mention of religion from the public square because they know they are acting badly but don’t wish to change and don’t wish to be reminded of their moral failings. A Bill Clinton who talks up Jesus and then commits adultery is the perfect man for the thoroughgoing “progressive” – a George Bush who declares Jesus to be fundamental to his life and then does his best to live up to that ideal is anethema.
What I’d like for the left to do is to become a little more mature about things – you know, stop worrying about what we Christians are doing, allow us to live our lives as we wish; stop trying to legistlate their immorality and impose it upon the rest of us.

Bush Meets With NAACP

President Bush met with outgoing NAACP president Kweisi Mfume today at the White House—their first meeting since Bush became President.

“It was a very frank and a very open dialogue,” NAACP President Kweisi Mfume told reporters afterward. “We both have real differences.”
White House press secretary Scott McClellan described the session as “a good discussion about a wide range of issues.”
“The president has a long record of reaching out to the African American community, and he will continue to build upon those efforts,” McClellan said.
The meeting came about after NAACP President Kweisi Mfume sent Bush a letter on Nov. 5 congratulating him on his re-election and requesting the chance to discuss challenges confronting the nation, said John White, the group’s spokesman. Mfume announced Nov. 30 he is stepping down from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People leadership post.

Kind of a surprise move by Bush, to meet with Mfume, who, as the article recounts, “once described Bush’s black supporters as ‘ventriloquists’ dummies.’” Democrats had been accusing Republicans of intimidating black voters in the 2000, undoubtedly fueling hatred for Bush within minority groups&mdash-hence the reason I feel Bush was justified in not accepting an invitation to speak at the NAACP’s national convention earlier this year.

President Bush Press Conference 10:30AM EST

President Bush is scheduled to have a press conference today at 10:30am EST. Watch it on C-SPAN.

Inaugural Launch

The official website for the 55th Presidential Inauguration has been launched. Information on tickets, events, inaugural history, and merchandise is available. There’s even a section for the media.
So this begs the question, are bloggers going to be credentialed as media for the Inauguration?