No Science Debate (yet), but…
…Lord knows we’ve haven’t heard enough about the candidates’ religion! Really, I can’t think of the last time McCain or Obama muttered something about the Savior or their faith-walk.
Instead of a substantive debate on, say, foreign policy, human rights, or government spending on science and technology, Senators John McCain and Barack Obama are sitting down this weekend with purpose-driven knucklehead Rick Warren, at his Saddleback Church in California. It’s not a debate really - each candidate will spend an hour of one-on-one time with the Rev., and then shake hands at the end and make nice.
Honestly, neither candidate has been very convincing about his “faith” - McCain hasn’t convinced Republicans that he’s a down-deep Man of God, and Obama isn’t fooling the Democrats into thinking he is. It’s really been pretty pathetic this election season watching the Christly kowtowing. I had a little hope earlier in the year, when not-so-pious John McCain won his primary, defeating more overt godheads like Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney, and when Barack Obama’s involvement with the Rev. Wright crowd nearly blew up in his face. But no, now that they’re in the clear, both men are convinced that the way to win this-here e-lection is to pander to religious folk. Which actually might be true, but it’s another nail in the coffin of the startling idea that maybe, just maybe, the Chief Executive is supposed to execute the law, not be the Most High Ideal of a Good Christian Who Shops at Wal-Mart.
What I find bitterly hilarious is that, whoever wins the election, neither one will be the kind of man the religionists want in the White House. Yet these are the very people the candidates are bowing to to get into office. So in a twisted, fucked up way, America is putting a man in the top spot who isn’t particularly religious; in fact, a honest-to-goodness telepath might discover that neither Obama nor McCain believes any of the watered-down Unitarian psychobabble they’ve been spouting.
So…stock up the beer cooler and order plenty of pizza Saturday night - you’ll want something to throw up while you’re watching this fiasco.
August 15th, 2008 at 7:53 pm
I am afraid that it would take something stronger than beer to get me through two hours of religious pandering. Maybe some Glenlivet but I would sure hate to throw up good Scotch. I think the best idea would be to ignore the “debate” and drink the Scotch.
August 19th, 2008 at 1:43 am
This is how useful a religious debate is:
A: My invisible friends wants me to do it this way.
B: Well my invisible friend says your invisible friend is stupid!
A: Oh yeah, well my MY invisible friend can kick your invisible friend’s ass!
August 19th, 2008 at 1:32 pm
I found the interviews to be surprisingly secular despite being by a pastor in a church. Sure, many of the questions revolved around morals and such that are relevant to the religious, but it was executed in a way that the entire discussion didn’t revolve around religion alone.