The Moral of Saddleback
18 August 2008 12:32 am by Taylor Marsh
BY TAYLOR MARSH
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Was he or wasn’t he? Um,
well, no: Despite Assurances, McCain Wasn’t in a ‘Cone of
Silence’
Senator John McCain was not in a “cone of silence” on Saturday
night while his rival, Senator Barack Obama, was being interviewed at the
Saddleback Church in California.
Does it matter? What are the details?
When asked if McCain overheard anything, Charlie Black, a McCain adviser who was with him at the time, told CNN: “We were in motorcade until 5:30 p.m. ET; then a holding room in another building with no TV.”
Warren said, “I trust the integrity of both” candidates, and said he “knew they would abide by the rules.” He joked McCain may not have been in the cone of silence, but “he was in the cone of a Secret Service motorcade”.
Just one email I received:
Taylor, I am a long time lurker who have never posted. Just wanted to share
with you that while watching CNN about half hour after Barack Obama started,
Rick Sanchez announced he had word that John McCain had just arrived. I am
no conspiracy theorist but it is not out of the realm of possibility that
he was feed (not via the Pastor the questions)…Odd that on question 3 he
wanted to know if he could comment on the Supreme Court yet….You are a smart
woman Taylor, don’t discount the repubs… PS: this was a forum not a debate…it
is obvious that McCain was playing to the right and Obama was going for moderates/indies.
– GH
John McCain’s performance at Rick Warren’s Saddleback faith forum has absolutely
nothing to do with Barack Obama’s performance. They live separately of each
other. That’s the truth of it, no matter the spin. It doesn’t matter whether
McCain heard the questions or not. He still had to deliver, though the issue questioning McCain’s “cross story” is a whole separate issue.
Obama’s problem is that he accepted the forum in the first place, which no
doubt Hillary would have too, trying to out faith the wingnuts, getting caught
in Warren’s cross hairs in the process.
A win is a win. Details don’t matter, except with sore losers. The game is to not get bested in the first place.
Hearing from people that McCain was in front of a friendly audience made me
laugh out loud. In front of a faith forum hosted by Rick Warren? No!
The pandering to the pious in order to become president is against our constitution.
John F. Kennedy running as the first Catholic,under intense scrutiny had
the courage to stand up to the religious bigotry, while being able to pass the political faith test, to say no man (or woman) should
have to prove his faith to become president. That standard is gone, compliments
of the Democrats who think they have to embrace the Republican notion of the
constitution, instead of standing up for what the Founders meant in the first
place. Barack Obama was opining about Jesus, for heaven’s sake. So, in the end he got what he deserved. Hoisted on his own pious petard.
So did McCain hear the questions? Did he know the nature of some of them? If he did, we still got out played. But these are the wrong
questions to ask. Because even knowing the answers it doesn’t preclude Obama being
better prepared for a game he should have known would unfold.
Standing up to talk about faith is something all Democrats can do, especially if policy is the basis. It’s preparing answers that are only meant to satisfy, pacify and mollify the masses that’s the issue.
So what’s the moral? When playing with religious wolves, trusting sheep will
get slaughtered, especially if they don’t have the courage to refuse to get
served up in the first place.
