Well, the WaPo's Jim VandeHei has just been on a holy-roll of late. First he enlightened us with this article:

Freedom, Culture Of Life United Bush and Pope

and now he looks deeper into the Bush side of the Bush/Pope Unity with

Bush: Funeral a 'Reaffirmation'

So, what exactly was being 'reaffirmed'?

"I knew the ceremony today would be majestic, but I didn't realize how moved I would be by the service itself," said Bush, a Protestant who attends [sic] a Methodist church.

Huh?

"Today's ceremony, I bet you, for millions of people, was a reaffirmation . . . and a way to make sure doubts don't seep into your soul."

What?? To make sure doubts don't "seep" into your soul?

In an interview with reporters aboard Air Force One en route to Texas from Rome, an unusually introspective Bush called the funeral ceremony one of the "highlights of my presidency."

I'll bet it was. I'll bet. It. Was.

"I think John Paul II will have a clear legacy of peace, compassion and a strong legacy of setting a clear moral tone," Bush said, later asking reporters to amend his remarks to insert "excellent" to describe the legacy.

Where exactly was "excellent" to be inserted? An "excellent legacy of peace..."? Or an "excellent legacy of setting a clear moral tone"? Or a "strong excellent legacy"? Or a strong legacy of setting "a clear excellent moral tone"? Which is it, Jim VandeHei?

[The Pope] also attacked what he considered moral relativism inside and outside the church and held a rigid line against contraception, abortion, cloning and same-sex marriage.

Death penalty, anyone? War? Hell-oo-oo?

President Bush's presence at perhaps the largest funeral in history -- and his deeply personal remarks about God and faith afterward -- illustrate how America's views of religious expressions and its role in politics have changed over the years.

Interesting. What, exactly, Mr. VandeHei, does Bush "presence" "illustrate" about "America's"--yes, America's--"views of religious expressions"? Am I out of my mind, or is this writer saying anything at all here?

The pope was an unwavering critic of Bush's support for the death penalty and of the invasion of Iraq, but they shared a passion for promoting religious freedom, liberty and what both called a "culture of life."

"But" is right. Same "passion," same "culture of life." Bush, Pope. Get it?

"My relationship with John Paul II was a very good relationship," Bush said, noting how in their final meeting, on June 4, 2004, the pontiff "made his points to me with his eyes."

Interesting. I've heard Terri Schiavo was also a notable practitioner of this "eye-point" mode of communication. Vladimir Putin's eyes have also been observed to be a window to his [Putin's] soul, which from the best reports is just a fantastic, A-1 soul.

At times using language familiar to Evangelicals, including talking in some detail about faith as a spiritual "walk" with Christ, the president said viewing the pope's body made him feel "much more in touch with the spirit."

"Viewing the pope's body" made him "feel" that. Bush "feels" that. He "feels." Hmm.

I think Frank Rich's new column can shed some light on just what exactly is being "reaffirmed," and what Bush "feels" when he views corpses:

Mortality - the more graphic, the merrier - is the biggest thing going in America. Between Terri Schiavo and the pope, we've feasted on decomposing bodies for almost a solid month now. The carefully edited, three-year-old video loops of Ms. Schiavo may have been worthless as medical evidence but as necro-porn their ubiquity rivaled that of TV's top entertainment franchise, the all-forensics-all-the-time "CSI." To help us visualize the dying John Paul, another Fox star, Geraldo Rivera, brought on Dr. Michael Baden, the go-to cadaver expert from the JonBenet Ramsey, Chandra Levy and Laci Peterson mediathons, to contrast His Holiness's cortex with Ms. Schiavo's.

It goes on. Amazingly, he doesn't mention the Reagan corpsophagofest from a year ago.

But his point his clear: Bush feasts on corpses. And Americans--while sometimes betraying a more squeamish side--generally share this appetite for decomposing flesh. They dig it. Crying corpses, laughing corpses, smiling corpses, holy corpses, damned corpses, celebrity corpses of all stripes. They really dig it.