It's interesting to speculate about what's implied by
this AP article concerning Carter's omission from the five-party official US delegation to the Pope's funeral.
The piece states:
It wasn't immediately clear why former President Carter was not going along as well. McClellan said the White House reached out to him but would not elaborate. A spokesman with his Carter Center in Atlanta, Jon Moore, also would not explain.
According to the oh-so-reliable CNN coverage of the Pope's death over the weekend, Carter committed himself to attending early on, and he likely still will attend. So is Chimpy still angry at him over things said during the course of the campaign? Does he only travel with Democrats who will put on a happy face to him (Bill Clinton)? Or did Carter just prefer to go on his own?
Also notable is the fact that there is not one practicing Catholic among the five attendees (Chimpy, Laura, Poppy, Condi, and Bill). A bigger man might have invited his opponent from the last presidential race, i.e., the most prominent practicing Catholic in US politics. I recall Bill Clinton frequently asking Bob Dole to accompany him on state trips in the late 1990s. Still, no one's ever accused Chimpy of being a big person.