Live Blog Of CNN/Saddleback Church Presidential Forum With McCain And Obama
August 16, 2008 | Permalink
Tonight is the Saddleback Church Presidential Forum with McCain and Obama, we’re live blogging…
7:00: A note on the forum — this is not a debate, thus McCain and Obama will not be engaging each other at all, nor will they be responding to each other’s points too. Obama gets the first round of questions.
7:04: Question Number 1 - Who are the 3 wisest people that you know. Obama says Michelle Obama and his grandmother. Then goes on to say that as President he wouldn’t limit himself to just 3 people; references Sam Nunn and Dick Lugar.
7:07: Question Number 2 - What is your own personal moral failing? What is America’s greatest moral failing? On his own personal failings, Obama says it was experimenting with drugs and alcohol during his teenage years. On America’s greatest moral failing, Obama limits his answer temporarily to in his lifetime. He says that the greatest moral failing of America is not abiding by the principle in Matthew “whatever you do to the least of my brothers you do to me.” Side note: This “least of these” phrase is something that Michelle Obama often used earlier in the campaign during her speeches.
7:09: Question Number 3 - What is the most significant issue/piece of legislation where you worked against your party for the good of America? Obama cites legislation that he “actually worked with John McCain” on - campaign ethics reform. This is somewhat of a bootleg answer because Obama actually pulled out of that specific legislation very early after starting to work with McCain (largely because of party politics). This created a bit of a dust up.
7:12: What is your most gut-wrenching decision? Obama says that it was his decision to oppose the war and also other issues of war and peace. Meh, duh.
7:19: What does it mean to you to trust in Christ? Obama says that he believes that Jesus Christ died for his sins and that he is redeemed through him. Says that if he can get himself out of the way, then maybe he can carry out what he (meaning Jesus) intends. He also says that it means to embrace not only words but deeds.
7:21: Abortion Question - At what point does a baby get human rights? Obama says that answering the question with that kind of specificity is above his pay grade. Says that he recognizes that the issue has a moral and ethical element to the issue, but notes that he is pro-life. Goes on to tout the fact that he added into the Democratic Party platform, the goal of reducing abortions.
7:25: Obama is asked to define marriage. Obama says, “I believe marriage is a union between a man and woman.” Says that he does not support a constitutional ban on gay marriage and adds that he supports civil unions.
7:29: Does evil exist? Obama says that evil does exist.
7:31: Which Supreme Court Justice would you have not appointed. Obama says that he would not have appointed Clarence Thomas. Adds that although he wouldn’t have appointed Scalia, he believes that he is qualified to serve on the court.
7:38: Define rich. He doesn’t give the strongest answer, but ultimately concludes with the number of 250,000 or more a year. I know plenty of folks that make 250,000 a year that are definitely not rich; however, they live in very rich areas, so the cost of living is not anywhere near parity with rest of the country.
7:48: Would you consider an emergency plan for orphans around the world? Obama says yes.
7:50: What would you do about religious persecution around the world? There’s really no way to answer such a vague question, so instead of criticizing Obama for giving a somewhat banal answer, I’m going to go ahead and call the question out for being bad.
7:53: In a minute, tell me why you want to be president. Obama believes that what makes America special is our empathetic spirit that supports the American Dream; he feels that it is slipping and he wants to bring it back.
7:56: Great Question - What would you tell the American people if you knew there wouldn’t be any repercussions? Obama says that he would say that combating climate change is going to require some sacrifices.
8:01: It’s John McCain’s turn. Who are the 3 wisest people that you know? McCain says Dave Patraeus, Sen. Lindsay Graham and the CEO of Ebay.
8:03: What is your own personal moral failing? What is America’s greatest moral failing? McCain says that the failure of his first marriage was his greatest moral failing. In terms of America, he says that it was not pushing for more voluntarism and sacrifice after 9/11.
8:10: What is the most gut-wrenching decision? McCain says that it was his decision not to yield to interrogation during his capture in Vietnam.
8:15: What does your faith in Jesus mean to you? McCain says that it means that he is saved and talks about the fact that faith is a global issue. He goes on to tell a story about the prison guard who drew the cross for him on Christmas (it’s a good story and one that he often tells)
8:19: Define marriage. McCain says that “it’s a union between one man and one woman.” He goes on to say that as a federalist, he believes that states have the right to define marriage how they choose. However, if a federal court were to force states to recognize it, he would support a constitutional amendment.
8:31: I’ll have to go back an insert some discussion about McCain’s last answers. I got sidetracked while discussing his performance with a colleague. I believe that McCain is performing significantly better than he has been the past few months.
8:33: After giving his oft repeated line about studying bears in Montana, McCain offers this subtle bit of humor: “we laugh, but we cry.”
8:40: Question: As an American what is worth dying for? McCain says “Freedom”
8:43: On Russia: McCain says that he is saddened by Russian aggression. He goes on to talk about Georgia’s long history as a Christian nation. Interesting angle to play.
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I listened from the opening to the ending words of Pastor Warren. It was an excellent affair, with pointed, probing questions. Both candidates presented themselves well. Couple of gaffes, but on the whole an enthralling forum event.
Did Senator Obama say that a TYPICAL BLACK PERSON can’t qualify to be on the supreme court of the US? Justice Thomas grew up in Pinpoint and Savanna Georgia and faced REAL prejudice in his life unlike Barack Obama growing up in multicultural Hawaii and Jakarta with few to no blacks or prejudice against blacks.
I would put up Justice Thomas’ professional and life experiences to Barack’s any day!!!
Justice Thomas could have easily beaten Senator Obama at Saddleback or in any forum/debate!!
I think the idea was good. However, it appears that John McCain cheated, because in the half hour that he was late, he had previous information about what questions were going to be asked. That was not fair to Obama. It should be investigated. No offense to Pastor Warren, but when he said McCain’s integrity was to be respected when McCain said he did not have privileged to the questions before, that same integrity is what has gotten the country in the current disaster state.
McCain also gave himself away doing the forum when he said I have something to say about the “Federal judges, but you will get to that late”….How did he know that Pastor Warren would get to that later? Why was McCain late etc…Investigate, Investigate Investigate !!!
After watching this show on Sat. and thinking that McCain answered the questions as though he had been prepped with the questions, yet assured he was sequestered in a sound proof room, I figured McCain was smarter than the fourth from the bottom student at the Naval Academy he was documented to be. Then Sunday night on Rick Sanchez’ Newsroom on CNN, Rick Warren admitted that he was misinformed. McCain was over a half hour late arriving at the event. He was not sequestered, but according to Warren, McCain said he didn’t listen to the questions so we must take his word. I disagree. I believe this must be investigated since this is a worse affront to the public than Janet Jackson’s clothing failure. We watched Warren’s interviews believing what was not true. McCain may have said he didn’t listen to the show, but did his buddy Rove listen for him and prep him? An investigation is in order!
I wondered how McCain knew that a question about the Supreme Court was forthcoming. I knew when Warren made this admission the next day - he knew the questions. Yet, he came out saying he was listening through a wall, validating the lie that Warren had told us. I have to wonder if Rick Warren really is an authority on morality if he so easily overlooks when morality is being trampled on?
MCCAIN SMOKED OBAMA!
By the way Hank, Obama did not say anything about a black person not being qualified to be on the Supreme Court. He said Clarence Thomas was not on the level of the legal scholars that he would nominate. It has nothing to do with his color. It has to do with his background that many believed and believe is not scholarly enough for this position. I respect Obama for admitting this truth despite having to admit it about a fellow black man. It shows his ability to judge a person by his skill level and innate intelligence, not his color and Clarence Thomas is an embarrassment and continues to be. Obama achieved high stature at Harvard Law School and taught constitutional law at U of Chicago. Thomas headed a government organization that has yet to protect citizens from discrimination and even if he did, this is not a background in constitutional law. But then again, people who make ugly comments without their last name tend to have agendas, while those of us proud of what we have to say will put our name on it. So I consider the source.
“Federal judges, but you will get to that late”…. Barbara, as far as I remember McCain did not state this, he merely asked if there will be a question about that later. Rick Warren was on the news tonight and confirmed there was no way McCain could’ve cheated. I think some people like to think of McCain as of an elderly half-senile guy. Well, yesterday unlike, B. Obama, he proved to be sharp, quick and right on the money. I am sure he did his homework thoroughly - his experience helped as well. Excellent performance! I do not believe McCain cheated. In any event, McCain’s performance did not have anything to do with comrade Obama’s subpar answers. Obama was vague and blah, blah, blah as usually. Besides, it seemed like he did not do his homework - really, how hard could it be to think in advance about the possible questions and answers to them? Some of his answers are simply anecdotal (i.e., abortion is above his pay grade, grandma is one of the top three presidential advisors, etc). Oh, boy, what an embarrassment, what a week candidate!
Byron York at National Review Online has been looking into this whole allegation of cheating. According to one of the media representatives for the Saddleback Church, A. Larry Ross, both Obama and McCain knew exactly what was coming at the start of the appearance. A. Larry Ross told Byron York that Rick “Warren ‘gave both candidates the first two questions because he didn’t want them to be nervous … so they would be at ease.’ Ross says that in separate phone calls with McCain and Obama, Warren also went through the four general categories of questions and said things like, ‘I’ll probably ask you a question on this, or on that,’ but gave no specific wording. In addition, according to Ross, Obama knew a third specific question that Warren would ask — the one about a ‘president’s emergency plan for adoption.’
“‘[Warren] felt that since that was basically asking for a commitment, he felt that it was fair to tell them in advance that he was going to ask them that,’ Ross told [Byron York].” So Warren did tell Obama and planned to tell McCain when McCain got to the church but he wasn’t able to do so because McCain shows up after the whole thing had started. So according to what A. Larry Ross of the Saddleback Church told Byron York, Obama actually knew one more question in advance than McCain did — and then try this. Here’s a question from the forum. Warren said, “This one is dear to my heart. Most people know there are 148 million orphans in the world, 148 million kids growing up without mommies and dads. They don’t need to be in an orphanage; they need to be in families, but a lot of families can’t afford to take these kids in. Would you be willing to consider and even commit to doing some kind of an emergency plan for orphans like President Bush did with AIDS, almost a president’s emergency plan for orphans to deal with this issue?”
OBAMA: I — I — I cheated a little bit. I actually looked at this idea, uh, uh ahead of time. I — and I think it is a, uh — I think it’s a great idea. I think it’s something that we should — we should sit down and — and figure out, working between nongovernmental organizations, international institutions, the US government. Try to figure out, “What can we do?”
That is the question, the third question that Obama was told in advance, which is why he said, “Yeah, I cheated a little bit. I actually looked at this idea ahead of time.” McCain never got this question. This is the third question that Obama got versus only two that McCain got. So if the truth be known, if anybody cheated — although I don’t think anybody did — it is Obama who had at least a one-question advantage here. And he admits that he “cheated a little bit,” and so there goes Andrea Mitchell parroting what’s on the kook fringe leftist blogs saying that McCain probably cheated, ’cause he wasn’t in the Cone of Silence and he might have been able to hear some of this stuff on TV or on radio or what have you. The point about all this is for you people that want to believe that McCain cheated: What you saw Saturday night was a tremendous distinction.
Here’s McCain who has a lifetime of core values versus Obama with values that shift, amplify, and CHANGE depending on what the wind is doing that day, depending on what polls are doing that day, depending on what advisors and consultants tell you to say; depending on what Reverend Wright has put in your head, whatever Bill Ayers has put in your head. So what was on display, and I think this is a good way to put it: If you’ve got core values, you’ve got core values and no question’s going to stump you. If you don’t have core values or if you’re trying to hide yours — heh, heh, heh, which is certainly what Barry is trying to do here — then you run into the problems that he ran into.
I have heard Pastor Warren say on the news that Barack Obama knew the question about orphans in advance and John McCain did not. Is thorough homework beneath Obama? Is it arrogance or laziness? Does he really think we are stupid? Oh, by the way, if an opinion about when the human life starts is above his pay grade especially after having had a voting record re this issue, shouldn’t Mr. Obama consider applying for a job with a more appropriate pay grade? I here Chicago is in dire need of community organizers. Oh, and choosing his grandmother and mother as his top two advisers is just dandy - some presidential council… Nice going, comrade Obama!
Hi forum users and readers I hope you can solve a stupid problem with my computer
I recently downloaded couple files from limewire and now my computer is acting really messed up, It takes long time to start and after turning on
I get many notifications from my firewall that something is trying to connect to the internet, Im worried if they may be trojans or viruses and
that someone is trying to steal my passwords.
Well thats it, stupid problem and I hope that it has a nice easy solution that you can come up with, Im getting all your replays to my email
so I´ll keep an eye on the topic, take care.
Where is your ?
What is your favour ?
With over 100 species of domestic and ?
Don’t punish me!
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