Having a Southerner for a fiancee means that some subtleties of the Bible belt that escape the Beltway types will not get past the Monkette2B (although she is averse to participating in any formal religion). Case in point: the President's reaction to Arafat's death.
Yesterday Bill Sammon (prematurely) told Pres. Bush that Arafat had died, Bush responded "G-d bless his soul."
To you and me, unversed in the subtleties of evangelicals, that seems complementary. But the Monkette2B immediately pegged this as a resounding sign of disrespect. Why? Because a Southerner who feels sympathy would say something like "my heart goes out to ____'s family and loved ones and I feel great sorrow and will pray for them." But a Southerner who is merely remarking on a death, or responding to the death of someone he or she despises, will say "G-d bless ____" or "G-d bless _____'s soul."
Consider Bush's reaction when he signed the death warrant for multiple-murderess Karla Faye Tucker: "May G-d bless Karla Faye Tucker."
In other words, Bush really said: screw you Arafish.
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