Bush's 'Comma': Courtesy of Gracie Allen?

By: Greg Mitchell Like many others, I was initially confused -- though appalled -- when President Bush, in a CNN interview with Wolf Blitzer aired Sunday, stated that years from now, when the smoke perhaps settles, the Iraq war will be viewed as "just a comma." Various wags have suggested that he actually said "coma," or meant to say "asterisk" but did not know how to pronounce it. I thought that perhaps he meant "blip" or "footnote" -- though that wouldn't make the sentiment any less revolting, especially for the thousands of dead.

In any case, if you watch the CNN video, you will see the president stumbling a bit after making that statement, as if he hadn't quite finished the thought or phrase, or was afraid to. That sent me googling in search of an answer, which I believe I have found.

This is it: He likely meant to finish it off by suggesting that, looking back, the Iraq war will be viewed as "just a comma, not a period."

Not surprisingly, this is rooted in current Christian teaching, often in reference to Jesus's death, or more generally as "Don't put a period where God puts a comma."

Where does this come from? Not directly from the scripture, apparently. A quote by comedienne Gracie Allen is cited on many religious Web sites: "Never place a period where God has placed a comma." United Church of Christ parishes in Massachusetts were recently urged to put that quote on banners during Lent and color in the words as the weeks went by.

Of course, many of us of a certain age remember Gracie Allen, the actual and TV wife of the legendary George Burns. Memo to the president: She was the batty one who often talked nonsense.

Or as a minister at a United Church of Christ in Los Angeles recently put it, admiringly: "She would have said whatever came to her mind in a full voice, and lived out its conviction." Sound familiar?

Rev. Philip Blackwell of a First United Methodist Church in Chicago opened a sermon last year with this: "I am wearing a comma lapel pin that was given to me by my good friend and United Church of Christ minister, Chuck Wildman. The comma is part of the most recent advertising campaign of the UCC. The punch line is, 'Don't put a period where God has put a comma.' That's a good line. I asked Chuck who said that, which famous theologian. And he replied, 'Gracie Allen.' Some of us remember Burns and Allen. Gracie Allen at her theological best, 'Don't put a period where God has put a comma.'"

An article in the St. Petersburg Times in November 2005, described a new TV commercial by the UCC -- not a conservative, but a progressive church -- which featured a large comma. "Weighing in on the commercial," the article concluded, "evangelist Pat Robertson is said to have remarked, 'Never place a comma where God has placed a period. God has spoken!'"

And so has the president. Did he fail to finish his thought -- linking the comma to the period -- for fear of invoking his Christianity in discussing a murderous war? Or did he want to avoid being linked to Gracie Allen?

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Related: For Americans Killed in Iraq: A Period, Not a Comma

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UPDATE: President Bush again referred to the "comma" in a speech on Sept. 28. This time he said: "We're going to help the Iraqi people. Remember, 12 million of them voted in elections last December. That probably seems like a decade ago to you, but when the history is finally written, it will be just a comma. "