Pastor Warren needs to apologize for misleading the American people.

He stated "Now Senator Obama's gonna go first-we flipped a coin-and we have safely placed Senator McCain in a cone of silence." Link - http://www.rickwarrennews.com/transcript/ This was untrue - and it gave McSame a huge advantage. He was apparently not in a "cone of silence" According to his campaign McSame was in a motorcade on his way to the forum. Perhaps if enough people contact the Pastor, he will publicly apologize to Mr. Obama and the American people. We can hope, pray, and e-mail.

Lake Forest (Main Campus)
1 Saddleback Pkwy
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for agreeing to do this ridiculous venue. If he uses the same lack of judgment for the debates we are sunk.

this way with his reasoned approach to the problems confronting the nation. If this is how he has to address them so be it. If he influences 1 voter, that's one more than he had.

Even if Obama won over 1/10th of the audience, that's a net gain for him. Going there was a smart move.

I'm glad he went, because now McCain and Warren are shown to be cheats and liars. Obama will get the better of this deal.

The GOP won over lots of moderates in the past with the "He isn't one of us, he hates Christians" type lies. They can't do that now. Obama was able to walk right up to the toughest forum and hold his own. He's a regular guy from now on.

and McCrank for the snake-oil salesmen they are. And despite the unfairness of the setting, Obama made a good showing for himself.

:kick:

McCain was obviously rehearsed.

I don't feel Warren was as even handed as I had thought initially. His reactions to Mccain's statements seemed prideful and smug. He'd look to the audience and quietly nod in agreement etc. There was a gentle, yet observable bias IMHO.

isn't that obvious?

Or is that why some of you insist on doing it?

McCain should be the focus. Obama didn't go to the forum to make enemies. I don't think that should be a job we take on either.

McCain's lies is the story.....

how and why it went down the way it did, and also why he didn't explain to the audience that McCheater wasn't in a "cone of silence".

but you go right ahead and lose focus.

It's what too many Democrats tend to do.

until the cows come home. But Warren ran a fundamentally flawed event--he also bears responsibility.

Warren is hoping to move up and get a bigger piece of the evangelical pie. This was supposed to be a 'groundbreaking' event - the first of it's kind in the national spotlight.

This clumsy and deceptive display is going to cost him. If this story gets legs, he will be looking for a way to apologize or do something to save face.
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IMO, Obama did very well, and McCain is the cheater/loser here.

It will give the story a longer life, more people will hear about what a liar and cheat that McCain is.

to back away from protecting McCain.

this is basic strategy here.

Sorry it eludes you.

And I don't buy for one second that Warren didn't provide McCain with the questions ahead of time. He was simply too well rehearsed, had all his little anecdotes ready, etc.

It is likely that the McCain campaign assured Warren that they would play by the rules and then cheated.

its inappropriate, misleads voters and obscures the real issues facing our country.

Religion has no place in rational, democratic political discourse. I'm surprised Obama is injecting it into his campaign, it will only hurt Dem's chances of winning the WH.

the unfairness of yesterday's forum, and apologize to Senator Obama and the American people.

I agree. This whole thing is a such a shame for this pastor and his church. What a set up.

Does anyone know how much $$$$$ Cindy McCain has paid to get the pastor's questions in advance ???

be subjected to this type of speculation. His credibility is at stake. He may have taken money from the McSame people for all I know. I do know that Pastor Warren assured the American people and Obama that the forum was fair, and it wasn't.

Welcome to DU!

I hadn't heard that McCain was on his way to the debate during Obama's talk. I'd like to find the source for that.

Given that's true, it sure does make sense, whether Warren was complicit or not... It might have been done with a wink and a nod, but it's unlikely in the extreme that McCain would be "accidentally" running late to the debate, conveniently allowing him to be outside the "Cone of Silence" and instead listening to the questions and responses while on his way there.

If that really happened, where's the coverage of this? To me, it sounds like a major news item. It's cheating in the extreme at a debate held in a church.

I will go get the link.

It seems like something that could unravel. Warren admits that McCain wasn't there for the first 1/2 hour and both candidates were on their honor.

The strange part is he said that both were given the first question before hand to make them "comfortable" So watch McCain's answer, one of the few times he seems to be putting a lot of thought into an answer! Very strange.

...The way things played out, I'm sure they had someone listening and feeding him talking points via a blackberry. Even McCain could use one of those.

But there's no way to prove it. The idea that the candidates were "on their honor" is silly on the face of it. This is politics.

When I said that, I meant caught redhanded, cheating. His campaign has denied it, and even attacked the media for suggesting it.

No Secret Service guy is going to rat on him for listening to the debate in the limo. I'm sure any blackberry he uses is secure. There's no smoking gun to find for this. That's what I meant.

I think it's very likely that he cheated. His performance sounded consistent with that. I'm sure his campaign would have considered the option and talked to him about it. And his track record shows him caving in to them on just about any issue that might help him get elected.

I don't have the same confidence about Warren, but I know nothing about the guy. The only issue there is the coin toss, which needed to go in McCain's favor in order to pull this off, and did. He might be in on it, I don't know. I think the circumstances point to McCain cheating. With Warren, it's just not as clear to me. I don't have an opinion on it.

did anyone seriously not know this whole thing was intended to give McCain a chance to pander to the Christian Taliban? Of course he heard every word. Of course it was a set up. Obama isn't a moran, he knew that going in and took the opportunity to grab a few from the competition anyway.

That said, I don't think Preacher Warren is the bad guy. He was pretty dang decent to Obama. In fact, gave Obama a few openings to more fully discuss complicated and difficult issues. If you watch the tape a 2nd time, you'll notice the preacher is MUCH more comfortable and relaxed around Barack and clearly agitated and biting almost his whole tongue off with McCain. That preacher man knew full well Obama is the real deal and McCain was a BS artist.

building." He needs to address this publicly. His credibility is at stake.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/18/us/politics/18mccain.html?ref=politics

How dare you consider a "Pastor" that would lie. Why it's inconcievable!

They should "never" be trusted.

The truth to a Republican is like a cross to a vampire.

Is he just a right wing nut schill? Or is he a pedophile wife cheating POS like the other Xtian preachers?

!!!

Phone number in the OP.

Rick warren and McBush are scumbags . Both should come out and apologize and get the fuck out of America. Take your crazy lemmings with you. Oh yeah take tobie keith ahole with you.

Also we should use that building were the so-called church is to house the homeless.


B-)

For one reason, fundies do not read, they do not play fair and they do not expect their pastor to play fair in order to make Obama look good. At a minimum Obama has at least got to familiarize himself with how these folks play before he goes back to the playground with old man. If he does not get a decent debate format we can expect more of this. Maybe you think Obama did great, maybe you don't mind if your future President talks and talks on a 'religious forum'. You may think he came out smelling like a rose but beware the next time will not be so pretty. I hope to *ell that he does not hang himself out their again without a better format.

But Obama did great, even though it was fixed against him.

And he is a gas bag who parades around in life wearing a mantle of holiness, claiming that God tells him that gay people have no human rights. This liar claims he's so holy he gets to condemn millions of Americans and human beings world wide, this man lies with an ease unknown to decent people.
And McCain lied too. But Warren lied and claims to be righteous, so righteous he claims the seat of judgment, and he drags his bigoted dogma into the public square.
The day before this forum, tons of people here at DU were praising Ricky to the skies, by the way.