Which candidate will really get the most out of Saddleback?

So many say that the political outcome is the most important factor (we have to vote "D" even if the candidate and party are not representative of "progressive" values) in the coming election (and the campaign being run - move to the right, draw those undecideds, etc...).

And given that most Americans were more interested in watching the Olympics or anything else, the resulting political payoff will come from the media "reporting" who "won" the god-fest. So...

What did the spewing mouths on the tube say in their "post-game analysis" of the event?

I do not think it does any good to give "our" review of what transpired. We can say that McInsane was predictable, rehearsed, and just delivered his stump speech to pre-ordained (sarc.) questions while Obama really impressed with his depth and consideration in presenting his answers. But the truth is that America, or at least that great unwashed, uninformed (by our standards), undecided "middle" will simply take what Faux, NBC, The NY Times and hate-radio reports to inform their vote.

We know that the media will promote Five-plane McCain as the victor - I have even seen positive statements here on his performance.

So I ask the question when in reality, I suspect/fear the answer will be what we have seen so far in this campaign.

The followup question is - what can be done to counter the spin that is coming?

I wrote this letter to 5 Newspeople:

In reference to the Saddleback Church Forum with the two presidential Candidates, please know that as a Born Again Christian (Baptist), I will be casting my vote in November for Sen. Obama. What the forum displayed was one candidate who gave thoughtful profound answers, and one candidate who had either gotten the questions in advance, or simply repeated parts of his stump speech. John McCain demonstrated no Humility whatsoever during his talk of how he will defeat evil (man cannot defeat evil, which is why it has been with us all of this time), says he knows how to catch Bin Laden (he should have told George Bush), only wants right wing judges on the Supreme court (although he voted for Ginsburg, Breyer and Souter) which is not how one works "across the aisle", and believes that his first marriage, when he should have been most contrite meritted only one quick vague sentence. Attendees at the church may have been clapping, but true Christians all over America saw John McCain for the politician that he is; and he is no Maverick, simply a more transparently opportunistic panderer than even George W. Bush was to the Christian Right.

Respectfully,
XXXXXXXXX

and wrote this other letter to 12 others:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=6649359&mesg_id=6649794

It is beyond a rant. It is a ramble. Punctuation is your friend, sadly, this will not be published.
It should be.

about the forum. I didn't sent it to newspapers to publish as an LTTE.

I just "edited" the punctuation as to not have run-on sentences and sent it to Meet the Press, a few minutes ago. I sent it here: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6872152/

I just want them to be PUBLISHED, that takes structure and grammar. Love is involved. Love of language and you. You sound so much smarter than that and you know it...

It's all about what you want in a leader.

And because this was a faith forum and not a debate, it won't get all that much coverage beyond tomorrow. The media won't make much of an impact with their coverage.

I'm hoping some deep people of faith will be moved by Obama tonight.

I think those who were genuinely open will be impressed with the one candidate who was being real tonight.

Really what I meant was McCain's demos will like his performance. The rest won't be moved by it very much.

If the RWers own the media, they can sway the election by suggesting that you be like "everyman" or "concerned Americans" and vote McCain. They ttell you how to vote and why you should. It's surprising how the herd mentality takes over and they all march down to the polls and vote the "right" way.

vague, unsubstantial comment Obama made out of context and claim Obama is offensive. Just more ammo to hide the fact that repukes have the vote rigged.

It's not who votes that counts, but who counts the vote.

And the MSM will cast this as a clear win, even though there was no head-to-head exchange of views -- or even real comparison. And yes, the people who are not paying attention today (can you spell "Michael Phelps?") will take away the impression that McCain is cogent and convincing -- when we know for a fact that he's not.

On the other hand, a substantial number of religious people who knew nothing about Obama but who watched the telecast now have a picture of him as a thoughtful, caring, credible person. I think that was the strategy going in. One thing the McCain people are trying to do is define Obama as the "other" so that the timorous won't vote for him -- thinking that they know John McCain and what they know is mostly good. Some of the people that strategy targets now know differently.

There was no way to administer a knockout blow in this forum unless McCain popped his cork (which could happen at any time, remember -- and if it happens it'll doom his campaign). Obama did a solid job of "getting to know you," which is the best I think he could have done.

On balance, McCain gets more out of the evening, but it's ephemeral; Obama gets less but it might be more meaningful.

and they didn't indicate that McCain had won. They played the "I want all of us to get rich, I don't want to raise anyone's taxes" quote for McCain, and they used the "if you are making over $250,000 you're doing pretty good. If you are making $150,000 or less, you will see a tax cut. But Americans can't forget that everything isn't free".

Not all evangelical Christians are Republicans. OK, many are "lost souls" to the Democratic flock. But not all. In fact, a recent poll indicated that among all Christians (not all Christians are evangelicals) Obama is leading, and even among evangelicals it is closer than we would have thought.

Obama came into this with the lowest expectations, and he did well. It will be harder to paint Obama in scary ways after this forum, at least among those who watched it.

OK, McCain came through with his stump speech. No surprise. That is what was expected from him. And those who could afford the $500+ tickets to see the forum were likely predisposed to vote for McCain anyway.

What counts is not who got the most applause in the forum, but how many votes were gained.

I don't think McCain walked away with any votes he didnt already have.