Last week, the Washington Times did some war reporting — on the “War on Christmas,” that is. Today, DC’s other daily enlists, reporting — as we noted in Monday’s blog report — that some of the folks on the First Family’s holiday card list are not happy about what’s come in the mail. (And no, it’s not because Laura cobbled together one of those “newsletter”-style mailings boasting about all of the traveling she and George have done this past year and what The Twins are up to — complete with photos!)
No, as the Post reports, it’s the “generic season’s greeting from the White House,” along with the card’s “secular” cover art that has recipients — like the editor of the conservative Web site WorldNetDaily.com — up in arms. Which is, apparently, newsworthy. No matter that, as the Post tells readers in the first sentence, Bush has always sent “generic” holiday cards and that “Christmas” has been missing from the White House Christmas card since 1992.
Dave Palmer at Life as I Know It wondered if perhaps he’d picked up The Onion rather than the Washington Post this morning. Blogs Palmer: “This kind of ‘controversy’ reminds me of the words of an acquaintance here in Nashville who advised me to ‘always watch the local news thinking it’s a sitcom.'”
The Post piece moved Dolphin at Where the Dolphins Play to pull out his soapbox and declare: “Inclusiveness is not an attack on Christianity, it’s an inclusion and celebration of Christianity along with other faiths and traditions — and frankly, I’m surprised this administration was able to figure that out.” Slightly more sympathetic is Princess Sparkle Pony who wonders what Bush was supposed to do, “Send a Christmas card to Jack Abramoff?”
Over at The Corner, Tim Graham notes that “Poppy Bush stayed un-PC in his four years in the White House and sent Christmas cards” and wonders “why is resolute Dubya looking like he’s the one with a wimp factor?” Answering his own question, Graham fingers “the liberal media like the Post, which went through several spasms when Gov. Bush expressed his love and admiration for Jesus in the 2000 primaries.” K-Lo chimes in that “as I write this post I have in my hands a White House Christmas card.” To K-Lo, the card is sufficiently Christmas-y, what with Psalm 28:7 being quoted inside and all, and “any tempest complaining about it seems quite silly.”
And finally, Broadsheet’s Lori Leibovich picks up on a Village Voice report that gift certificates for cosmetic treatments like Botox and liposuction are “hot” holiday gifts this year in New York City. Imagining the note that might accompany the gift of a “lipo certificate” Leibovitch writes, “You seem to be jiggling more than usual lately — Merry Christmas!”
You think that’s offensive? Now imagine if that same card read, “You seem to be jiggling more than usual lately — Happy Holidays.”
Liz Cox Barrett is a writer at CJR.