Posted on 08/16/2008 11:59:35 AM PDT by XR7
LAKE FOREST, Calif. — When John McCain and Barack Obama appear on the same stage today, they will vividly demonstrate the reach that has made the Rev. Rick Warren among the most significant evangelists of his generation.
He's a megastar who leads the nation's fourth-largest church and reaches thousands of ministers through the Internet and crusades against poverty and AIDS. That globe-trotting work and his successful book — "The Purpose-Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here For?" — puts him at the vanguard of a movement that inspires young, socially conscious Christians.
But his willingness to soft-pedal political issues once central to U.S. evangelicals, such as opposition to abortion, has opened him to criticism that he has strayed from his calling to spread the Gospel.
Today's forum also is a sign of religion's importance in the 2008 presidential campaign, and the emergence of a new style of evangelical leadership on the national stage that is not tied to a single party and has broadened its social agenda beyond that of the religious right.
"This is absolutely a changing of the guard, and it suggests that the new guard of the evangelical movement is able to generate the attention and focus of both parties," said D. Michael Lindsay, a sociologist at Rice University and author of "Faith in the Halls of Power: How Evangelicals Joined the American Elite."
Warren personally invited the two candidates — "friends of mine" — via their cellphones. His event at the Saddleback Church will be broadcast live on CNN and Fox News Channel and streamed on the Web. It has among its aims "helping the church regain credibility and encouraging our society to return to civility," he said.
It's likely that fans and critics will be watching closely...
(Excerpt) Read more at seattletimes.nwsource.com ...
It’s like a cocky young hitter coming up against a craft old junk ball pitcher.
McCain is Reganesque tonight
Help!
I’m starting to like him!
@@@@@
LOL!
What’s not to like in this terrific performance!
Obama is misery index
McCain is morning in america
if he plays this right it will be 1980 again.
Never heard of him.
The amnesty issue’s a deal breaker for me. If McCain and Congress were to succeed in flushing our sovereignty down the dumper, what’s the rest of it going to matter?
A start-up and a broken heart. What about you?
Like how McCain snuck that secret ballot in for Union Members.hahaha.
Daring!
And the AP? Going to stick your neck out on that one?
(c;
Not enough people watching, unfortunately. Plus, the MSM will do their best to spin this into a huge Obama victory by tomorrow morning.
It's up to us (and Rush and Hannity et al) to get the real news about tonight out.
McCain even looks younger!
Good time to bring up Lincoln, FDR, Clinton.
Just got in, this looks good THANK GOD!
Has McCain mopped the floor with BHO?
......and Obama looked like he had taken a couple of Quaalude.
A question that Obama did not get ?????
Privacy..
have to keep our secrets from our enemies
Yes
He’s really on his game and you just know that he KNOWS what he’s talking about!
If this were a prizefight the referee would have ended it with a TKO.
Suggestion for the McCain Camp - Run ads (a separate ad for each question) showing the question and Obama’s answer followed followed by McCain’s answer.
No gimmicks - ask people to make the choice as to who would be best. The comparison makes the answer obvious.
The enemy of your enemy is your friend.
Obama looked like a lib-bot
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