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The Dalai Lama with President Bush, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi Sen. Robert Byrd during a ceremony 17 October 2007 in the Capitol (Tim Sloan/AFP/Getty Images)
by Frank James
After rhetorically slapping the Democratic Congress around this morning during his press conference for allegedly being a bunch of do-nothing navel gazers, President Bush was up on Capitol Hill this afternoon for Congress's award of the Congressional Gold Medal to the Dalai Lama.
The ceremony was a chance for Democrats and Republicans to declare a brief ceasefire in order to honor a man who represents the aspirations of the Tibetan people for autonomy from the Chinese government as well as the highest aspirations of human kind for spiritual peace.
The Dalai Lama, after all, says things like "The more we care for the happiness of others, the greater our own sense of well-being becomes" and "Cultivating a close, warm-hearted feeling for others automatically puts the mind at ease." That definitely appeals to the better angels of people, even in Washington.
Of course, while the ceremony had a calming effect on the normally tempestuous relations between the president and Congress it had just the opposite result on the Chinese government, roiling Chinese officials who see the supression of Tibet as an internal affair the U.S. has no right to interfere in.
That feeling in China will no doubt be heightened by the Dalai Lama's comments which could easily be seen as provocative since the religious leader referred to the "Tibetan people" as in "It is a great honor for me to receive the Congressional Gold Medal. This recognition will bring tremendous joy and encouragement to the Tibetan people."
That joy was evident inside and outside the Capitol, with smiling Tibetan monks and nuns among the Dalai Lama's compatriots who openly displayed their pride in the world's most famous Tibetan.
Alas, the warm feeling inspired by the holy man's visit didn't last. The Dalai Lama had barely finished speaking when Senate Democrats sent out a press release quoting Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid saying unkind things about the president.
“It is quite disingenuous for President Bush to lecture Congress on our work while he vetoes critical legislation like children’s health insurance and threatens to veto legislation that funds such critical priorities as education, medical research and housing," it read in part.
Comments
Isn't bringing together the Dalai Lama and George W Bush like bringing together matter and anti-matter?
A man of peace and ethics, with a torture approving warmonger.
Posted by: sickened | October 17, 2007 5:02 PM
I'll bet our most esteemed and exhalted President Bush wishes he could trade in his Brooks Brothers suit for a nice saffron robe. Maybe if he wore one it might help to change his perspective on a few things that would render Harry Reid Mute. It's a given that Bush still feels comfortable with everything that has been done, is being done, and will be done in Iraq by his administration. Harry should know that Bush's bowels are hardened as much as ever about the child health initiatives. So forget it. Let Bush bask for a few days in the aura that surrounds the Dalai Lama. Maybe he can reflect on how the United States has helped China become the little communist country that could. That can now do what it wishes in Tibet and elsewhere and who is going to stand in the way. When China ran the Dalai Lama out of Tibet China was then a third world country, remember? Wasn't that about the same time Castro kicked the capitalists out of Cuba? Today we are just as stubborn about Cuba as China is stubborn about Tibet. And it won't be long before the issue of Taiwan takes center stage. After the Olympics, I wager. By then we will be immersed in an election and pending change in administrations and distracted by all the other stuff going on in the World. So Reflect, George. Get some saffron robes to take back to Crawford with you.
Posted by: GW | October 17, 2007 5:09 PM
Nice one, GW.
Here's the thing;
We are China's enabler.
Posted by: C.Morris | October 17, 2007 6:13 PM
Sometimes the ignorance on display in these comment sections is staggering.
Take "torture approving warmonger," for instance. Terrorists whose only goal in life is to destroy the likes of you and me are subjected to the same techniques used in training our Navy Seals, and for a very important reason. Cruel, huh?
And let us not forget, we could have crushed Castro and his communist regime 50 years ago and chose not to. China, of course, chose differently regarding Tibet.
And finally, it's odd, isn't it, that Bush is the first president to invite the Dalai Lama to the White House, much less give him the Congressional Gold Medal?
I'd say he really stuck it to the 'little communist country that could,' in spite of the fact that Bill Clinton did everything in his power to provide them with enough advanced weapons technology to bring them into the 21st century, where they could play with the big boys.
Posted by: Mick | October 17, 2007 6:18 PM
O contrar, Mick. It was our most esteemed and revered Nixon that brought China out of the closet. Remember? The best way to keep the little communist country that could from giving arms to Viet Nam and No Korea was to get them to buy Oldsmobiles and Plymouths. Remember? China was already getting its advanced weapons from Russia. By the time Bill came along the big technology interests were already back dooring their wares into China.
China chose not to crush Tibet? China chose to strangle the Tibetans slowly by saturating their population with Chinese citizens.
Don't forget the Bay of Pigs invasion, whose very purpose was to crush the Castro regime.
Posted by: GW | October 17, 2007 8:45 PM
Now we have seen everything. A fake Buddhist receive an award. The Dalai Lama is no more a Buddhist than Saddam Hussein was and maybe less. Why? the Dalai Lama has close ties to convicted terrorists like Shoko Asahara; convicted Nazi war criminals like Dr. Bruno Beger and a friend of Hitler who was to train Death Squads to carry out the Holocaust like Heinrich Harrer. Don't believe it? there are pictures and documents all over the internet proving it. Just google: Dalai Lama, Hitler.
Posted by: Justice For All | October 17, 2007 11:23 PM
gw, there's a big difference between an oldsmobile and weapon guidance technology. you are right about the tech companies backdooring the systems. It was Clinton who allowed them to do so, the companies were complaining that other countries were doing it, so why cant they? also they made many contributions to the Clinton/Gore campaign for looking the other way. contributions from China, and from our own suppliers.
Posted by: GWB | October 18, 2007 12:44 PM
"Terrorists whose only goal in life is to destroy the likes of you and me are subjected to the same techniques used in training our Navy Seals, and for a very important reason. Cruel, huh?"
It's still torture. It was torture when John McCain got the crap beat out of him by the North Vietnamese and it's torture when we do it.
http://www.hrw.org/english/docs/2005/09/25/usint11776.htm
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/04/06/60minutes/main1476781_page2.shtml
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1223358,00.html
Oh, and mick, it's not just terrorists we are doing it to. We're doing it to US citizens. What did they do to earn it? They blew the whistle on corruption in Iraq.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20430153/
Posted by: sickened | October 18, 2007 3:46 PM