The general consensus? Please. You are applying this false general belief that Bush was soundly defeated during the debates and it was not reflected in the polls because the debates are inconsequential. You have it backwards.

 

Bush went into the debates last year with a slight lead and he nursed it through all three. Kerry's performance was so terribly uninspiring and insubstantial he failed to move the polls against a weakened Bush.

 

In 2000 Gore couldn't overcome himself in the first two. The SNL caricature was deadly accurate, but Bush's folksy, "I'm one of the guys" performance held the day against Gore's boredom and apparent lack of self-awareness.

 

At the end of the day, the debates provide the most massive, widespread audience for the public to examine both candidates, and it is often the moments (or gaffes) during these debates that define an election.

 

Very well stated on all points made Habib.

A couple of things that were uncovered later over those debates though was that Al Gore invented the debate process and John Kerry voted for them before he voted against them.

Very well stated on all points made Habib.

A couple of things that were uncovered later over those debates though was that Al Gore invented the debate process and John Kerry voted for them before he voted against them.

 

At least you all got a new joke. A less creative one I see, but the first one wasn't really that creative anyway.:thumb:

Anyone else think we're about to see a few "above my payscale" ads in the coming weeks? Reminds me of Bush's "it's hard" comments during the 2004 debates.

Anyone else think we're about to see a few "above my payscale" ads in the coming weeks? Reminds me of Bush's "it's hard" comments during the 2004 debates.

Good point. Obama admits to having no clue about when humans get human rights but yet he has been one of the abortionists most reliable political allies. I think we should see a few of the "above my payscale" ads juxtaposed against Obama's extreme views on abortion.

Scan on down to get to the blogs about the Saddleback forum.

http://blog.christianitytoday.com/ctpolitics/

 

In an interview with Beliefnet's God-o-Meter on the day after his Saddleback Civil Forum with John McCain and Barack Obama, the Rev. Rick Warren sounded pretty dubious about Barack Obama's and the Democrats' chances of making inroads among evangelicals. The full interview will run Monday on Beliefnet. Here's a preview:

 

Before last night, McCain had been widely criticized by Christian activists for keeping mum about his faith and about values issues like abortion and marriage Last night seemed to change that. How much headway did McCain make among skeptical evangelicals?

 

I'm a pastor, I'm not a prophet, so I would not predict how evangelicals are going to vote. I will tell you they're not monolith. That's a big myth. They're going to make up their minds based on the hierarchy of their values. For many evangelicals, of course, if they believe that life begins at conception, that's a deal breaker for a lot of people. If they think that life begins at conception, then that means that there are 40 million Americans who are not here [because they were aborted] that could have voted. They would call that a holocaust and for them it would like if I'm Jewish and a Holocaust denier is running for office. I don't care how right he is on everything else, it's a deal breaker for me. I'm not going to vote for a Holocaust denier...

 

It all depends on the hierarchy of their worldview of what matters most to them. My gut reaction when it was over was that Obama will pick up probably some younger votes and McCain will probably pick up some older votes and it might come down to which group winds up showing up that the polls.

 

When you asked Obama about when life begins, he punted, saying 'it's above my pay grade.' Should someone running for the highest office in the land have a clear answer to that, or is that kind of ambivalence acceptable?

 

No. I think he needed to be more specific on that. I happen to disagree with Barack on that. Like I said, he's a friend. But to me, I would not want to die and get before God one day and go, 'Oh, sorry, I didn't take the time to figure out' because if I was wrong then it had severe implications to my leadership if I had the ability to do something about it. He should either say, 'No scientifically, I do not believe it's a human being until X' or whatever it is or to say, 'Yes, I believe it is a human being at X point,' whether it's conception or anything else. But to just say 'I don't know' on the most divisive issue in America is not a clear enough answer for me.

 

That's why to say that evangelicals are a monolith is a myth, but the other thing is that you've been hearing a lot of the press talk about 'Well, evangelicals are changing, they're now interested in poverty and disease and illiteracy, and all the stuff I've been talking about for five years now. And I have been seeding that into the evangelical movement and it's getting picked up and a lot of people are talking about doing humanitarian efforts. But I really think it's wishful thinking on a lot of people who think they're going to drop the other issues. They're not leaving pro-life, I'm just trying to expand the agenda....

 

If an evangelical really believes that the Bible is literal--in other word in Psalm 139 God says 'I formed you in your mother's womb and before you were born I planned every day of your life,' if they believe that's literally true, then they can't just walk away from that. They can add other issues, but they can't walk away from the belief that at conception God planned that child and to abort it would be to short circuit the purpose.

One of the more surprising questions from Rick Warren was, "Which Supreme Court justice would you not have nominated?"

 

Barack Obama said Clarence Thomas.

 

"I don't think that he was as strong enough jurist or legal thinker at the time for that elevation. Setting aside the fact that I profoundly disagree with his interpretation of a lot of the Constitution. I would not nominate Justice Scalia although I don't think there's any doubt about his intellectual brilliance because he and I just disagree, you know. ... One of the most important jobs of I believe the Supreme Court is to guard against the encroachment of the executive branch on the power of the other branches and I think that he has been a little bit too willing and too eager to give an administration whether it's mine or George Bush's more power than I think the constitution originally intended."

 

John McCain said Justice Ginsburg, Justice Breyer, Justice Souter, and Justice Stevens.

 

"This nomination should be based on the criteria of proven record of strictly adhering to the constitution ... and not legislating from the bench. Justice Alito and Justice Roberts are two of my most recent favorites. I’m proud of President Bush for nominating them."