You know, it really makes you wonder, or perhaps simply confirms what we already know: that high-ranking officials in any government (or church, or business) ar

You know, it really makes you wonder, or perhaps simply confirms what we already know: that high-ranking officials in any government (or church, or business) are often puppets of their own handlers. Advisors will filter their information streams with a carefully-curated list of talking points, PR flacks will handle the public-facing messages, secretaries, ghostwriters, et. al. will handle the internal messages, decrees, statements, etc. Pope Benedict XVI, speaking to a high-ranking prelate in the papal apartments, was known at least once to remark, "My authority ends at that door." And it's true, I mean, aren't Popes, and democratically-elected politicians as well, supposed to be servants of the people? They should be doing our bidding, and hopefully they've put in place a staff that will prop up that public will, even after the official herself has lost the plot.