Vladimir Putin is building a new Russian empire, Iran is developing a nuclear weapon, terrorists blow up innocent people every day, the US economy is shaky and the world is running out of oil. Meanwhile America’s presidential candidates talk about abortion, gay marriage and their “greatest moral failure.”
More here on Obama and McCain’s Saturday night pitch to evangelical Christians.
Obama at the Saddleback Civil Forum on August 16 with Rev. Rick Warren:
CNN has coverage of McCain’s hour-long chat with Rev. Warren here and here.
Some guy from Focus Action, the political arm of Focus on the Family (James C. Dobson’s organization) does Old Testament shtick, asking folks to “pray for rain” during Barack Obama’s acceptance speech on August 28 at the Democratic National Convention in Denver. Why? Because “I’m still pro-life” and “I’m still in favor of marriage being only between one man and one woman.”
Sound Bite: “We’re not asking for hail the size of canned hams or lighting bolts to set the bunting on fire. Just rain. Beautiful rain. Network cameras can’t see the podium rain. . . ”
The group pulled the video from its site after complaints from its own members, according to The Rocky Mountain News. More here.
The current video featured on the Focus Action site seeks to disprove the existence of a “gay gene.” Unfortunately, no humor in this one. Too bad. Think of the possibilities.
In his homily at the African Methodist Episcopal Church General Conference in St. Louis on July 5, the Democratic candidate weaves Jesus and scripture into his usual stump speech. Somewhere Mike Huckabee is shaking his head and smiling
Sound Bite: “I won’t be fulfilling the Lord’s will unless I am doing the Lord’s work.”
John McCain’s Rev. Wright — Rev. Hagee — withdraws his support of McCain and McCain rejects the support of the Rev. It’s getting to the point that it’ll be safer to get elected as an agnostic or warlock. The Young Turks said it had to happen:
He says — for the first time? — that if Jeremiah Wright had not retired from the church and had not recanted his controversial views, Obama would have quit the church.
Videos captured by viewers, in four parts. The discussion before:
TechPresident reports that a McCain staffer was fired for Twittering a link to the Obama Wright video below.
Says TechPresident:
Twitter has claimed it’s first political victim. Conservative blogger and John McCain aide Soren Dayton was suspended from the campaign yesterday for posting a link to the “Is Obama Wright” video on Twitter. Yup, that’s it. The campaign saw the act as a violation of McCain’s own decree to stay away from personal attacks on Obama. While the move makes sense from the campaign’s point of view, we kinda feel bad for Dayton, who had been a perceptive follower of the race before joining the McCain campaign. Townhall’s Matt Lewis is less diplomatic, accusing the McCain campaign of throwing Dayton under the bus.
Here’s the video of Obama’s speech on race, coming out of the controversy over his minister, Jeremiah Wright, but trying to rise above to a larger statement on race. In earlier videos, Obama pretty much threw Wright to the wolves; here, he does not.
On Bill Maher’s show, Christopher Hitchens et al go after the religious fellow travelers of Obama and McCain.
Sound bite from Dan Savage of Savage Love: “This is America. Australia got the convicts. Canada got the French. America got the Puritans. We’re stuck with them. We’re never going to have a presidential candidate who doesn’t believe some form of religious idiocy.”
Sound bite from Hitchens: “Mr. Lincoln didn’t believe any of this nonsense.”
Mike Gravel lectures on religion and how efforts to teach creationism “corrupt” our youth. He warns that unless we keep church and state separate, we will combine the repressive nature of government with the repressive nature of religion “and that is the repression of human beings.”
Gallup looks at “highly religious Republicans” and, no surprise, they heart Huck. Giuliani, on the other hand, keeps losing their support; he’s down to a single digit in the church pews.
Is it my imagination or is religion on stage more in this election than in memory? Not only are the Republicans tripping over themselves to get God’s vote but yesterday we had Hillary Clinton’s friends talking about her faith and now here’s Barack Obama on religion:
Sound bite: “Should we just stick with the Sermon on the Mount, a passage so radical that its doubtful our Defense Department could survive its application.”
African-American religious leaders (please don’t call them the “religious left”) testify for Barack Obama at a gathering in Charleston, SC.
Sound Bite: [Rev. Dr. Joseph E. Lowery] “There’s bad crazy and there’s good crazy . . . So I think America today is ready to do that what some folk would call crazy but it’s a good crazy. It’s a good crazy. And God takes care of folks who are good crazy.”
Here’s Mitt Romney’s much anticipated speech on religion, given at the Bush library behind the Presidential seal. He’s casting it as question of religious liberty (read: let me have mine) and distance from religion in the White House (read: the Mormons won’t tell me what to do) while also attacking “secularism” (read: I still want the votes of religious conservatives).
Sound bites: “Freedom requires religion. Just as religion requires freedom. . . . Freedom and religion endure together or perish alone.”
“I do not define my candidacy by my religion. A person should not be elected by his faith just as he should not be rejected by his faith.”
“Let me assure you that no authorities of my church, or any other church, for that matter, will ever exert influence on presidential decisions. . . . I will put no doctrine of any church above the duties of the office.”
“When I place my hand on the Bible and take the oath of office, that oath becomes my highest obligation to God.”
Five minutes in before he mentions what his religion is. “I believe in my Mormon faith and I endeavor to live by it.”
“Some believe that such a confession of my faith will sink my candidacy. If they’re right, so be it.”
“Americans are tied of people who would jettison their beliefs to gain the world.”
He testifies to his belief in Jesus as “the saviour of mankind.”
“No candidate should become the spokesman for his faith, for as president he will need the prayers of people of all faiths.”
How he attacks those who he says have taken separation of church and state too far. “It seems as if they are bent on establishing a new religion in America: the religion of secularism. They’re wrong.”
“God bless this great land, the United States of America.”
