Salon.com got the Rick Warren con-fab totally wrong:

Mike Madden, writing about the McCain/Obama get together at Saddleback Church:

... once Warren walked in wearing jeans and an untucked striped shirt, even someone who knew nothing about him would have recognized that he wasn't trying to be the next Jerry Falwell.

What's that supposed to mean? Apparently Madden never saw Falwell in "causal mode" on television from the Thomas Road Baptist Church (if memory serves, there was a barn as a backdrop). Falewll was often seen in easy-fitting pants with suspenders and a gaudy striped shirt.

Madden continues:

[Warren's] spiritual guidance didn't push any social conservative buttons. "Here's what I want you to do, between now and election," he told the church. "Don't just look at issues, look at character. Issues are important, but you also have to look at character." He set a bar that certainly didn't seem like it aimed to disqualify either side -- pick a candidate who's got integrity, humility and generosity.

Republicans love to change the focus from issues to character. Hey, McCain was stoic while a POW, so his character is sterling - just ask Richard Cohen!

Warrn is not a progressive Christian. He doesn't believe in evolution. And there's this: (via Madden)

Warren did say, though, he couldn't vote for an atheist. "An atheist says, 'I don't need God,'" Warren said. "They're saying, 'I'm totally self-sufficient in myself,' and nobody's self-sufficient enough to be president -- it's too big a job."

Besides Warren't bigotry towards atheists, he's saying that people can be self-sufficient with God, but exactly what does that mean? That a president can't do the job without spiritual guidance? That's very anti-Enlightenment - a trend, by the way, that's gethering steam in the United States.


posted by Quiddity at 8/17/2008 09:34:00 PM