"Liberal Group Hammers Decision For Rick Warren To Deliver Obama's Inaugural Invocation"

By Greg Sargent - December 17, 2008, 4:35PM

This isn't going to help dispel the "Obama stiff-arming liberals" narrative. The news today that bigoted pastor Rick Warren is going to give the invocation at Barack Obama's inauguration is sparking an uproar on the left, with the latest being that the venerable liberal group People For The American Way is sharply condemning the decision.

Here's the group's statement:

It is a grave disappointment to learn that pastor Rick Warren will give the invocation at the inauguration of Barack Obama.

Pastor Warren, while enjoying a reputation as a moderate based on his affable personality and his church's engagement on issues like AIDS in Africa, has said that the real difference between James Dobson and himself is one of tone rather than substance. He has recently compared marriage by loving and committed same-sex couples to incest and pedophilia. He has repeated the Religious Right's big lie that supporters of equality for gay Americans are out to silence pastors. He has called Christians who advance a social gospel Marxists. He is adamantly opposed to women having a legal right to choose an abortion.

I'm sure that Warren's supporters will portray his selection as an appeal to unity by a president who is committed to reaching across traditional divides. Others may explain it as a response to Warren inviting then-Senator Obama to speak on AIDS and candidate Obama to appear at a forum, both at his church. But the sad truth is that this decision further elevates someone who has in recent weeks actively promoted legalized discrimination and denigrated the lives and relationships of millions of Americans.

Rick Warren gets plenty of attention through his books and media appearances. He doesn't need or deserve this position of honor. There is no shortage of religious leaders who reflect the values on which President-elect Obama campaigned and who are working to advance the common good.

To be clear, this isn't only Obama's decision. But the official press release describes the President-elect as one of the co-deciders, and it's unthinkable that it would happen without his explicit approval.

As you regulars know, this blog has argued that it's premature for liberals to get too agitated about Obama's cabinet picks and that we should wait to let his policies do the talking. But I'm not sure how you can defend this one, even if the two men are friends and the choice doesn't necessarily have actual policy implications.

After all, the decision really gives Warren an extraordinary platform -- not to mention yet another data point supporting the bogus notion that the radical Warren is some kind of "moderate." If the first black president doesn't mind him giving the invocation at his historic inaugural, how bad and bigoted can he really be?
More from Atrios, FireDogLake, AmericaBlog. and Steve Benen.

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/12/top_liberal_group_hammers_obam.php

Obama Selects Eliminationist Preacher Warren for Inauguration Pulpit: The Audacity of Hate
By: Kirk James Murphy, M.D. Wednesday December 17, 2008 5:05 pm

President-elect Obama chose eliminationist hate preacher Rick Warren to give the invocation at Obama's Inaguration. With this choice, Obama sends three destructive messages. Number one: In Obama's America, equal rights and reproductive freedom aren't for everyone. Number two: President-elect Obama likes sharing the national stage with hate. Number three: While Obama enjoys his equality before the law, LGBT Americans can go to Hell. Literally. Gee. Is this change we can believe in? Does Obama's America include GLBT's, along with the fundamentalists who want to take away their rights?

Here's what Jonathan Huston, Physicians For Human Rights' chief communication officer, had to say at FDL in July:

When Rev. Warren suggests that gay rights are other than human rights, he is advancing eliminationist rhetoric. When he states that homosexuality is not natural and not to be tolerated, he is advancing the position that homosexuality is unnatural and to be - what's the opposite of tolerated? - oh yeah: eliminated.

Read MORE at...
http://firedoglake.com/2008/12/17/obama-selects-eliminationist-preacher-warren-for-inauguration-pulpit-the-audacity-of-hate/

Throwing shoes at Warren!

after all. :shrug:

" If the first black president doesn't mind him giving the invocation at his historic inaugural, how bad and bigoted can he really be?"

Says it all right there.:puke: