TV Barn: "Why was Rev. Gene Robinson kept off 'We Are One'? Some transformation."

Of course, it's only on DU that we see this "poutrage".


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....Later, though, I realized something was missing from the two-hour celebration: the opening invocation, delivered by the Rev. V. Gene Robinson, the openly gay Episcopal bishop of New Hampshire. Supposedly Robinson was tapped for the job weeks and weeks ago, but the announcement was only made last Monday, long after Rick Warren, the evangelical pastor who pushed Prop. 8 in California and considers banning gay marriage more important than banning torture, was chosen to say the invocation at Obama's swearing-in.

Mrs. TVB said I was making up Robinson's appearance at "We Are One," because she re-watched the HBO special later that night and confirmed, no bishop, no prayer, at the beginning of the program.

Nor did Robinson's picture find its way into NPR's gallery of images from the concert. Admittedly, the news division did not cover the event -- NPR Music did -- but the website certainly is the domain of NPR News. A search of Getty Images, NYTimes.com and WaPo slide shows turned up nothing. In short, I found no visual evidence that an invocation was ever said.

Suddenly, Barack Obama's minister friends aren't news?

Wait, it gets worse: Turns out half the crowd that had gathered around the Lincoln Memorial and could see Bishop Robinson give his prayer couldn't hear him. "A malfunction in at least one massive speaker tower on the south side of the memorial left tightly-packed crowds on pins and needles chanting thunderously, 'We can’t hear. We can’t hear,'" reported a blogger at NYTimes.com....

As I see it, the Obama campaign has three options when the outcry (which has already started) comes to a boil later today:

1. Claim it was a technical glitch, jumping on the Times blog item. This would not only be a cowardly route, but it would be quickly disproven by one of several gay executives at HBO or a viewer who could point out that the show began precisely and glitch-free at 2:30 p.m. ET.

2. Come clean and admit that they never intended for Robinson to be seen on national TV. Which would mean admitting that Obama cooked up an extremely cynical ploy to pacify gays -- and straights like me who support gay marriage -- with a press release. Well, it failed. Perhaps Team Obama will claim it had no idea Robinson would not be seen giving the invocation. But then what does that say of Team Obama's vaunted preparation, planning, and chesslike working of all the angles?

3. Admit they screwed up and should've included Robinson on camera. If HBO had -- for some reason -- objected to having a gay bishop welcome all of America to "We Are One," then the invocation could have been pushed until after the entry of the presidential entourage. Well, it would not be the first time Team Obama had underestimated a controversial clergyman ... or the second. (How many presidents have gotten into hot water over their ministers three times before they even took the oath of office??)(

Whatever excuse the Obama people choose, exactly zero Americans saw Bishop Robinson on TV welcoming America to a day celebrating a president who is supposedly, to quote Colin Powell, a transformational figure.

And 150 million people will see Rick Warren do the same thing on Tuesday.

Some transformation.

http://blogs.kansascity.com/tvbarn/2009/01/why-was-rev-gen.html

in the beginning of the show. Actually through out the show, but it quickly was restored.

http://www.afterelton.com/blog/michaeljensen/developing-hbo-not-blame-exclusion-gene-robinson

Discussion thread:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x8105292

except for the tail end of a rebroadcast.

It's disgraceful that Robinson's prayer wasn't televised. This is a worse guffaw than inviting Warren to speak.