The Rev. Chuck Currie

The End Of Sarah Palin

I just watched Sarah Palin’s news conference. Governor Palin said that four years ago (really it was two and a half) that she promised voters effectiveness in government to Alaska voters. And then she resigned. That might have been the most effective act undertaken during her failed administration. What was the real reason she resigned? More scandal (link via NYT)? That wouldn’t surprise anyone. Regardless, what America saw today was a politician that couldn’t handle the pressure of serving as governor of a small state. Another reason to celebrate the vice-presidency of Joe Biden.

Imaginary Gay/Black Warfare

Related Link: The Right Explains Prop. 8's Success

Related Link: California's Prop 8 passage prompts UCC ad

South Carolina Roman Catholic Priest Says No Communion For Obama Voters

A priest in my home state of South Carolina has told his members that Obama voters shouldn't present themselves for communion. 

"Exit polls showed that Obama won 54 percent of the Catholic vote," according to The Washington Post.

A number of prominent pro-life Roman Catholics supported the Obama campaign (see here and here).

So if they start excluding Obama voters from the table a lot of people are going to go missing (this reminds of a story four years ago from North Carolina).

What else is going on in South Carolina today?  A new report was released that should be of interest to people of faith:

There are 132,000 uninsured children in South Carolina-more than one out of nine children in the state (12.2 percent)-according to a new report released today by Families USA, the national organization for health care consumers.

The report, based on new Census Bureau data, shows that the number of uninsured children continues to grow in the state. The most recent data are for the three-year period 2005-2007 and therefore do not reflect the worsening economic situation in 2008.

You'll remember that the outgoing president vetoed legislation to extend health care benefits to children.  President-elect Obama has promised to sign such legislation. 

And what's going on across the world?

In developing countries nearly 16 million children die every year from preventable and treatable causes. Sixty percent of these deaths are from hunger and malnutrition.

In the United States, 11.7 million children live in households where people have to skip meals or eat less to make ends meet. That means one in ten households in the U.S. are living with hunger or are at risk of hunger.

16 million kids die each year from hunger.  16 million actual living kids.  Bread for the World has more.

Communion shouldn't be used as a political weapon.  It's God's table.  All are welcome.

If The Rev. Jay Scott Newman, preist at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Greenville, doesn't understand that there is a new church start in nearby Greenville - Peace Congregational United Church of Christ - that will. 

US Rep. Paul Broun: Obama = Hitler

"It may sound a bit crazy and off base, but the thing is, he’s the one who proposed this national security force. I’m just trying to bring attention to the fact that we may — may not, I hope not — but we may have a problem with that type of philosophy of radical socialism or Marxism. That’s exactly what Hitler did in Nazi Germany and it’s exactly what the Soviet Union did. When he’s proposing to have a national security force that’s answering to him, that is as strong as the U.S. military, he’s showing me signs of being Marxist.”

- U.S. Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA)

Frankly, it sounds more than a little crazy.  It's down right nutty.

There is nothing wrong with opponents of the president-elect arguing their differences.  Democracy, of course, is built on the notion that ideas ought to be debated and whatever policy proposals made by the new administration are fair game.

But Broun is continuing down that dangerous path the Sarah Palin walked:  questioning the loyalty of the president-elect to the most basic of America principles.  How did that turn out for Palin (besides getting trounced at the polls)?  Newsweek reports in their current edition:

"I'm worried," Gregory Craig said to a NEWSWEEK reporter in mid-October. He was concerned that the frenzied atmosphere at the Palin rallies would encourage someone to do something violent toward Obama. He was not the only one in the Obama campaign thinking the unthinkable. The campaign was provided with reports from the Secret Service showing a sharp and very disturbing increase in threats to Obama in September and early October. Michelle was shaken by the vituperative crowds and the hot rhetoric from the GOP candidates.

People like Broun and Palin need to know that their words have consequences.  The fire they play with clearly has a cost in the form increased death threats against the president-elect.  Do they really think their own partisan goals are worth the risks to our nation?  You can debate the issues forcefully without endangering the fabric of our democracy. 

Obama Drew More Religious Voters

The New York Times has the story.

President-elect Barack Obama

We gathered with friends tonight – along with our children – watched election returns and then listened to President-elect Barack Obama’s speech. We were awed. Fireworks could be heard outside. On television they are talking about the historic nature of tonight’s election – a theme the President-elect himself spoke of – and all I can think about is how my mother was born in the segregated South and tonight my daughters watched the political equivalent of men first walking on the moon. We did watch history in the making today and I’m so proud of our country. Finally, we can begin to address the deep problems our nation faces. Will there be real and lasting change? The incumbent president has left us in two wars and an economy in crisis. Change will not come easy nor will it be quick. My hope is that our churches will support the new president’s agenda when it is appropriate and push and prod when needed. As a minister in the United Church of Christ, I will pray for our new president and work for the agendas put forth by the church. But for the moment I’m just excited and somewhat astounded at what President-elect Barack Obama has accomplished.

Alice Smith On World Have Your Say

Alice Smith, an attorney from the Bay Area monitoring voting in Ohio, was on BBC's World Have Your Say both yesterday and today.  Besides being a world class attorney, Alice is my mother-in-law.  You can download the programs here.

The GOP Wants Me To Vote

The RNC left messages yesterday and this morning reminding us to get our ballots in.  Don't worry.  We already did.  But please, please keep calling Multnomah County residents.  I appreciate the RNC's efforts to turn our Obama voters.

Oregon Ballot Drop Off Sites

If you live in the great state of Oregon please remember it is way too late to mail your ballot back to the election division.  Here is a county-by-county list of places where you can drop-off your ballot.  "Ballots must be received at a county elections office or a designated dropsite by 8pm on election day," reports the Secretary of State.  Now go vote! 

The Future of Sarah Palin

Since the end of World War II the United States has seen successful politician after successful politician exploit race, national security, gender, religion, sexuality, class, etc. Running fear based campaigns has generally worked. Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush are good examples at the White House level but the same tactics that put those men in 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue have put others in the House, Senate and State Houses across the country. Think Joseph McCarthy, George Wallace or Strom Thurmond. All these figures ran on different issues but they shared in common a willingness to divide the American people and to exploit sexism and racism (or other “isms”) to win their offices.

The person in the 2008 elections who most personifies this class of politician is Sarah Palin. She has campaigned on the notion that there is a “real” America and thus a “fake” America. Palin, of course, represents what is real and for her real America is found in culturally conservative small towns. New York City, Pennsylvania, and Washington, DC – all places the terrorists attacked in 2001 – aren’t part of Palin’s real America.

She has also been the loudest voice to try and link Barack Obama to terrorists. Right-wing extremist groups have been attempting this for years by falsely linking Senator Obama to Islam. Palin declares we don’t know enough about Obama at her rallies – where people have been heard to yell “kill him” and where her supporters have asserted before the media that the senator is a secret Islamic follower. Senator Obama is, of course, a Christian. He was baptized in the United Church of Christ, my denomination.

Thus far Palin’s tactics seem to have backfired. Polls suggest that she is a drag on John McCain’s ticket. Tomorrow might find her on a plane back to Alaska with a lot of Republicans blaming her in large part of a GOP defeat.

But she did manage to rally the party’s base in a way John McCain couldn’t. And she did it back acting like Nixon, Reagan and Bush.

Tomorrow it appears the politics of hope and change articulated by Barack Obama and Joe Biden will triumph over the politics of fear and hate embodied so well this election cycle by Sarah Palin. But don’t count Palin out. Republicans see something familiar in her they like: a candidate willing to do or say anything to win. No matter how badly it divides the country.

"They'll Know We Are Christians By Our Love"

Good blog post from Steve Duin on these anti-Obama e-mails still making the rounds:

You want to laugh. Until you realize that some Christians take this stuff so seriously that they are forwarding it along.

Click here.

You've got to wonder how these folks will act if Obama actually wins. 

The Judeo-Christian View: A Right Wing Hate Group Misuses Faith To Attack Barack Obama

This week my church office has received a series of faxes and a packet of information – including DVDs – that attack Barack Obama on religious grounds. The information comes from a new organization called “The Judeo-Christian View.”

The Chicago Tribune reports the attack faxes and mailings have been distributed across the country:

Dozens of pastors and rabbis across the country are urging their peers to pray for Barack Obama’s repentance and telling their congregations to do the same on Sunday before Election Day. They contend that Obama’s liberal policies on marriage and abortion will fuel tensions with the Muslim world.

Packaged with the inaugural edition of The Judeo-Christian View, a new "multimedia journal" mailed to more than 325,000 clergy this week, is a "video sermon" mixing Bible verses with the positions of the Democratic candidate and his Republican opponent Sen. John McCain. It also includes a copy of "Obsession: Radical Islam’s War Against the West" and a letter signed by dozens of clergy…

The 7-minute DVD sermon—available in mild and graphic versions (the mild version omits the pictures of men smooching)—questions Obama’s policies on same-sex unions, integration of openly gay men and women into the U.S. military, and partial-birth abortion

"Full embrace of homosexual unions by our nation and the next administration would tell violent Islamists that the infidel USA has expressly rejected once-shared Abrahamic, Mosaic and Christian teaching regarding ‘sodomy,'" said the letter. "So too would flagrant ‘gay integration’ of our overseas military forces. We advocate ‘love the sinner, hate the sin’; militant Islamists would murder our fellow Americans for sexual error, as well as us for offering them hope and forgiveness!"

The information contained in the material directly accuses Senator Obama of supporting child sacrifice. The Senator is also linked with fundamentalist Islam. In their words:

Our nation faces a fork, a divergence between the high road and the low road -- and you and your congregation could very well determine the direction we take. The high road upholds America's peaceful tradition of Judeo-Christian tolerance and morality. The low road marches us toward militant secular-paganism, militant Islam, or both.

The high road upholds traditional marriage between one man and one woman, and the sanctity of innocent human life that springs from such unions. The low road favors homosexual "marriage" and child sacrifice (we're not referring to familiar abortion here – see below).

The high road upholds the rights of pastors, priests and rabbis to "speak truth to power" in the tradition of Moses, Elijah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, (and for Christians) John the Baptist, Peter, Paul, Stephen and Jesus. The low road would officially censor the Judeo-Christian view from the public square.

Let’s be clear about what is really is: bigoted hate speech from the fringes of America’s religious community. Among the supporters of this material is Dr. Wiley S. Drake, Sr. He’s the Southern Baptist who recently prayed that watchdogs concerned about his church’s political activity would die.

Dozens of people may have signed on to support this mass mailing but nothing included in their written material or the DVDs is representative of mainstream Christianity or Judaism. In fact, many hundreds of clergy acting in their own capacity have endorsed Barack Obama.

During the Democratic National Convention in Denver - which I attended - religious leaders from across America came to support Senator Obama.  Some pro-choice.  Some pro-life.  But all committed to healing the divisions that face the United States today. 

When I endorsed Senator Obama in June 2007 it was with these words:

As a minister in the United Church of Christ, I trust deeply in the Constitutional principle of separation of church and state and my endorsement is therefore a personal one and does not reflect on the church I serve or my denomination. But as a citizen I believe that all Americans must engage in the political process as individuals for democracy to thrive. So I choose to add my voice today with millions of other Americans concerned about the direction of this nation.

Barack Obama has shown leadership on the most pressing moral issues of our day – such as the war in Iraq and the global AIDS crisis. During his time in the Illinois Legislature and in the United States Senate he has demonstrated that his values cannot be compromised by prevailing political winds.

Christians, Jews, Muslims – all people of faith in America – share in a deep and abiding love for this nation. But many of us, as William Sloane Coffin would have said, have a “lover’s quarrel” with America. We know things can be better. We know all Americans need health care. We know that no one should be homeless in the world’s richest nation. We know that global warming threatens God’s own earth and that as the stewards of creation we are called forth to protect this planet. We are also called to be peacemakers in times of conflict.

Barack Obama shares these values and when elected president will embody them as he makes decisions in the Oval Office. When that day comes we will be a better nation.

Senator Obama's conduct in this campaign has only caused me to believe more deeply in his leadership qualities and character.  It is no suprise that the majority of all religious people in America are today supporting Senator Obama's efforts to change this nation.  Americans see Barack Obama for what he is:  a man of deep faith committed to ending the war, providing health care for all Americans, combating poverty and reconciling the broken parts of our nation. 

The extremists behind “The Judeo-Christian View” have decided that their only chance to defeat Senator Obama is by pedaling hate and fear.  In 6 days we can show them that their rhetoric and their lies have no place in American politics or our houses of worship.   

Les and Sue AuCoin's Ohio Political Journal

Les and Sue AuCoin have been out in Ohio campaigning for Barack Obama.  Sue is a professional photographer and Les served as a U.S. Representative from Oregon's First Congressional District for nine terms.  They've put together a website chronicling their experiences in the "The Buckeye State".  Check out Ohio Political Journal.

I first volunteered for Les in 1982 (when I was thirteen).  Both Les and Sue have been friends ever since and I continue to this day to admire their commitment to public service.          

Obama Continues To Win Over Christian Voters

From the Barna Group via The Dallas Morning News Religion Blog:

(Ventura, California) - Unless a dramatic shake-up of the electorate occurs in the next two weeks, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is poised to win the November 4th election by a comfortable margin. A new survey from The Barna Group, exploring the voting preferences of registered voters who are likely to vote in the upcoming election found that Sen. Obama has a 13-point lead against Republican John McCain (50% to 37%).

One of the surprising insights of the research is the significant inroads Sen. Obama has made among the Christian community, particularly compared to 2004. In fact, among born again voters there is a statistical dead-heat: 45% plan to vote for Sen. McCain, while 43% expect to cast a ballot for Sen. Obama. Even if Sen. McCain were to sweep the 10% who are undecided born again voters, he would fail to reach the 62% who rallied for President Bush in 2004....

If the presidential election were held only among born again Americans, it would be a close contest. When the rest of the nation's voters are factored into the equation, Sen. Obama is staked to a commanding lead among likely voters, 50% to 37%. In large part this lead is due to the substantial support he receives among other self-identified Christians, that is, individuals who describe themselves as Christians but who are not categorized as born again. Among this group, 54% plan to vote for Sen. Obama, compared with 33% for Sen. McCain. This voting segment represents 36% of likely voters.

Other voters who do not identify themselves as Christians comprise 14% of all likely voters. Among those who are associated with other faiths, the Democratic Senator generates a 60-point gap over the Republican Senator (74% versus 14%). While not as pronounced, atheists and agnostics also strongly prefer Sen. Obama over Sen. McCain (50% versus 28%).

Americans continue to see back Barack Obama for what he is:  a man of deep faith committed to ending the war, providing health care for all Americans, combating poverty and reconciling the broken parts of our nation.

Visit People of Faith for Barack Obama for more.

Related Post:  Why I’m Joining Obama For America: “People of Faith for Barack”

Christian Principles in an Election Year

What are the Christian values voters need to consider this election?  I took a stab at answering that question during the 2006 election cycle and the answers seem to same to me this year.  Check out A Sermon On Christian Principles in an Election Year.

I Voted For Barack Obama Today

Today I voted (here in Oregon we vote by mail).  Like millions of others, I've waited for this day for a long time. 

Barack Obama has run a campaign with a platform that is central to the concerns of mainline Christians:  ending the war, combating global climate change, reducing poverty, and reconcilling the broken parts of our nation. 

My deepest hope is that my little girls will look back on 2008 and say to their children and their grandchildren that 2008 was the year the people of the United States embraced reason and once again decided that working together as a united national community was much more important than trying to go it alone.  We have too many problems now and a go-it-along approach will not work.

America can be a better place.  We still have the capacity to overcome any challegne.  Don't think so?  Remember 9/11 and the out-pouring of relief after Katrina.  Barack Obama appeals to the best in America. 

We're coming down to the wire.  15 days until the votes are counted.  So don't forget to vote.      

Guest Post: Obama’s Executive Experience

Written by The Rev. Robert Chase

It was months before the launch of his Presidential bid. Back in the spring of 2006, Senator Obama’s office was a quiet place when The Rev. John H. Thomas, General Minister and President of the United Church of Christ and I arrived to see the junior Senator from Illinois. We were there to ask him to keynote the UCC’s biennial General Synod meeting in June of 2007 in Hartford, CT. There, 10,000 faithful would gather to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the denomination to which Barack Obama belonged.       

It was one of those April days common to Washington, after the cherry blossoms had fallen, when the temperature seemed more like July than mid-spring. Rev. Thomas and I were early and we were asked to wait while the Senator completed some business on the Senate floor.       

We shared the waiting room with one other—a solitary figure who was sitting on the sofa, trying to collect herself and sweating from the heat. She was muttering softly and it didn’t take long to realize that she was not fully in charge of her faculties. Elderly, white, possibly homeless, she struck a sad figure there in the halls of power. Barely functional, or so it seemed, she was clearly no high-priced lobbyist, represented no well-heeled interest group, promoted no influential demographic. She was a constituency of one, the epitome of powerlessness. Actually, she gave no indication that she even knew whose office she was in, or why she was there.        

But then a remarkable thing happened. Not once, not twice. But four times. Four different members of Obama’s staff asked the unnamed woman if they could help. “Is there anything I can get for you?” “It sure is hot, would you like some water?” “Can I help you make a call?” Joshua DuBois, a legislative aid, who would become the campaign’s Director of Religious Affairs, got down on one knee so he could look in her eye, and spoke quietly to the woman. A few minutes later, Michael Strautmanis, Obama’s Chief Counsel at the time, asked if he could assist.       

Four staffers—white and black, male and female, receptionist and Chief Counsel—inquired about the wellbeing of this lost and fragile soul. No cameras. No campaign slogans (indeed, there wasn’t a campaign yet). Just a genuine desire to help, with nothing in return. The woman refused all entreaties, seemingly content to just sit…and whisper to the voices in her head.       

Obama came in, apologized for being late (he wasn’t) and we retreated into his office. Rev. Thomas and I made our pitch. He ultimately agreed and, fourteen months later, he would speak eloquently about the role of faith in public service. By then, he was deeply engaged in the campaign.       

We had our twenty minute meeting and when it was time to leave, we returned to the waiting room just as one of the staffers was leaving with the woman, gently accompanying her to the elevator and chirpily talking about the weather and other matters important in the day-to-day lives of our nation’s lost and homeless. She had been there, out of the Washington heat, for the better part of an hour: a time of respite from the onslaught of her world.       

Much has been made recently of Senator Obama’s “executive experience.” But, executive ability is demonstrated as much in the quality of those you hire and the tone you set for your administration, as in the size of your staff or the largesse of your budget.       

We Americans have a short attention span during election seasons. Maybe the imploding economy or an unexpected international incident will cause challenges to Obama’s executive credentials to pale as November 4 draws near. But if they should linger in the minds of some, I offer this experienced as a counterweight. What we witnessed back then is indicative of someone who builds a staff, from top to bottom, with sensitivity to the neediest among us, to those without any power. I left Washington that day struck by the notion that perhaps the sense of service to that unnamed woman might someday become the model for our nation’s government.

The Rev. Robert Chase was Director of Communication of the United Church of Christ; he is currently the Founding Director of Intersections International, based in New York City.

McCain, Obama at Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner

Very funny. This is from the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner, held last night, that normally brings together the two candidates for president each year to a night of laughs and fund raising for important Catholic Charities.

Portland Is Better Than This

Leslie B. Luedtke and Kevin C. Robinson are idiots.  And any harassment faced by Gene and Karen Scrutton is an embarrassment for our entire city.   

U.S. Hurt By McCain’s Campaign Of Division

We're witnessing a moment in history that might be recorded as the implosion of the modern day Republican Party. Economic policies in vogue since Ronald Reagan have dragged the country into economic ruin and foreign policy goals in force under George W. Bush have left the nation battered and increasingly vulnerable to both terrorism and the threats inherent in the global climate change crisis. The Republican standard bearer in this election – John McCain – has fallen behind in the polls and there is talk of a Democratic landslide. Unleashed by McCain and his running mate has in recent days been a torrent of ugly and sometimes racist rhetoric at rallies and in interviews that instead of bolstering McCain's November chances have served to further divide America at a time reconciliation is needed to address fundamental challenges that threaten America's financial health and the stability of the planet.

All people of faith ought to be concerned about what direction this campaign is taking.

NPR introduces the subject of McCain tactics in recent days with these words:

In the final lap of the U.S. presidential race some believe Sen. John McCain's (R-AZ) attacks against Sen. Barack Obama's (D-IL) character have gone too far and, for some, are even racist.

McCain was sharply criticized after the debate between the two candidates at Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn., for referring to Obama as "that one" — a reference that many interpreted as racially loaded.

Dan Balz of The Washington Post writes:

There is a scene early in "Dead Certain," Robert Draper's book about President Bush, when the Bush campaign, reeling from its loss to John McCain in New Hampshire in the 2000 primary, is plotting its moves for a do-or-die struggle in South Carolina.

As Bush's South Carolina team sketched out one tough step after another, Mark McKinnon, Bush's media adviser, listened with amazement. Draper writes that McKinnon was thinking: "They're letting the dogs off the chain."

John McCain was the victim in that campaign eight years ago. Now, struggling to overcome Barack Obama's lead in the polls, he is unleashing attacks and empowering forces that lead him in the same direction.

Through television ads by his campaign and by the Republican National Committee, Obama is under attack for his association with William Ayers, the 1960s radical. On the campaign trail, McCain's rallies have at times turned into angry rants by his supporters aimed at Obama and the Democrats. Frank Keating, the former governor of Oklahoma and a McCain surrogate went on television this week and played the race card, saying Obama should own up to the fact that he was once a "guy of the street" who used cocaine.

Politico reports on the tone of the McCain rallies:

With McCain passing up the opportunity to level any tough personal shots in his first two debates and the very real prospect of an Obama presidency setting in, the sort of hard-core partisan activists who turn out for campaign events are venting in unusually personal terms.

"Terrorist!" one man screamed Monday at a New Mexico rally after McCain voiced the campaign's new rhetorical staple aimed at raising doubts about the Illinois senator: "Who is the real Barack Obama?"

"He's a damn liar!" yelled a woman Wednesday in Pennsylvania. "Get him. He's bad for our country."

At both stops, there were cries of, "Nobama," picking up on a phrase that has appeared on yard signs, T-shirts and bumper stickers.

And Thursday, at a campaign town hall in Wisconsin, one Republican brought the crowd to its feet when he used his turn at the microphone to offer a soliloquy so impassioned it made the network news and earned extended play on Rush Limbaugh's program.

"I'm mad; I'm really mad!" the voter bellowed. "And what's going to surprise ya, is it's not the economy — it's the socialists taking over our country."

Rhetoric like this has one purpose: to demonize your opponent. McCain hasn't tried to calm his crowds and in fact has worked to incite them. The risk isn't just to McCain's campaign but to the safety of all the candidates and the stability of the democratic system.

Barack Obama is responding with the right words:

It's easy to rile up a crowd by stoking anger and division. But that's not what we need right now in the United States. The times are too serious. The challenges are too great. The American people aren't looking for someone who can divide this country -- they're looking for someone who will lead it. We're in a serious crisis -- now, more than ever, it is time to put country ahead of politics. Now, more than ever, it is time to bring change to Washington so that it works for the people of this country that we love.

I know my opponent is worried about his campaign. But that's not what I'm concerned about. I'm thinking about the Americans losing their jobs, and their homes, and their life savings. We can't afford four more years of the economic theory that says we should give more and more to those with the most and hope that prosperity trickles down to everyone else.

The National Council of Churches USA (NCC) – which does not endorse candidates – notes this week that: "A recent contention by Governor Sarah Palin that Barack Obama has befriended a domestic terrorist elicited a lone call in a Florida crowd to "kill him.'"

The Rev. Dr. Michael Kinnamon, general secretary of the NCC, warned last spring about how the political debate of this election might further divide the America people:

The Golden Rule of Ecumenism has brought vastly different Christian traditions together for conversation and action, and the rule should be applied to American politics.

The rule: “Try to understand others even as you hope to be understood by them.”

That simple axiom is a radical critique of an age in which ideological lines are hardening and real dialogue diminishing in the public arena.

Church folks, like most Americans, have strong political views, many of them based on the biblical mandate to bring peace, feed the poor, uphold the downtrodden and speak God’s truth and justice in all things. We argue all the time about the best ways to fulfill that mandate. But ecumenically-minded Christians start with the assumption that Christians with different ideas are just as committed to Christ as they are.

This is an amazing reality in the 35 member communions that comprise the nation’s oldest and largest ecumenical body, the National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA. Our member churches are Orthodox, historic African American, peace churches, Anglican, Main Line. The startling fact that we continue to work and talk together is one of the most underreported stories of our time.

Contrast this with the rhetoric of political campaigns, which are often based on divisiveness, hyperbole, half-truths and innuendo. How much can politicians learn about issues or one another if their positions harden into inflexible dogmas and their ears are closed to opposing ideas?

We profess to be a nation that values diversity – pluralism – as a central virtue, and yet our leaders so often govern, I fear, by surrounding themselves with an isolating barrier of like-minded cronies. Pluralism is affirmed as a social reality and grudgingly accepted as a legislative principle, but virtually ignored as a methodological basis for executive decision making.

That strikes ecumenically-minded Christians as utterly backwards.

There are indeed divisions in political life that need to be confronted and fully discussed, just as there are genuine differences among Christians over the nature of the sacraments or the role of the Church in social struggles or the authority of scripture – difference that cannot be eliminated simply by irenic rhetoric. And it is true that all government policies are not the same; some will be more effective in protecting the rights of minorities or prompting economic growth. But from an ecumenical perspective, the most basic division in American political life may well be between those who insist on splitting the world into polarized camps and those who don’t, between those who claim that they or their party (or their church) have a near monopoly hold on truth and those who acknowledge that their perceptions of complex issues are inevitably partial and that they, therefore, need the input of those with whom they disagree in order to lead this nation in safe and prosperous ways.

Doris Kearns Goodwin, in her book Team of Rivals, describes President Lincoln’s strategy of bringing into his cabinet public figures who disagreed strenuously with him – and with one another. Lincoln’s practice assured that diverse points of view were aired in the very center of the executive decision-making process. Nearly five decades ago, President Kennedy brought hawks and doves into the special committee that recommended action in the Cuban Missile Crisis, and their sharp disagreements enabled the President to choose a path that avoided nuclear war.

An “ecumenical president,” instead of minimizing internal debate and maximizing external differences in the name of ideological truth, would expand the circle of internal discussion and, yes, dissent as a way of identifying those lines of division that, as a last resort, need to be drawn.

This discussion implies a particular understanding of the ecumenical vision of the Church. It is easy and tempting to approach unity as a commodity which, if achieved, would result in certain benefits. I want to argue, however, that ecumenism is much more fundamental than that. It is, as I have already suggested, a worldview that resolutely refuses to absolutize relative perspectives (a tendency that H. Richard Niebuhr identified as the single greatest source of evil). It is a biblically-grounded spirituality that dares to live trustfully with differences in community, not as a result of polite tolerance of a pragmatic acceptance of pluralism but on the basis of a common commitment to Jesus Christ. It is an approach to reality which insists that truth is seldom discovered in splendid isolation but through dialogue in community. The ecumenical movement is, indeed, a spiritual battle for truth; but it is a common battle against error and not a fight between partners in dialogue based on the assumption that one is already right and one wrong.

So long as political candidates continue to vie for votes by rendering complex ideas into misleading slogans, demeaning one another in television commercials, attempting non sequitur sound-bytes in a televised debate, or submitting to television interviews aimed at eliciting faux pas or outrageous statements about an opponent, there will be very little dialogue. And without dialogue, the next president of the United States is likely to spend the next four years in an enclave of like-minded polemicists.

Yes, political decisions matter. But our willingness to live trustfully with differences, because we know that God’s will is always greater than our grasp of it, is the best testimony ecumenists can make in this political season.

We have an opportunity in this moment - all of us - to reject ugly rhetoric no matter what corner of the political spectrum it comes from. 

McCain Supporters Gone Mad

On another day when the economy under the failed economic policies of Bush-McCain continued in a free fall the supporters of John McCain are making themselves heard:

America is better than this.  I hope we'll show that clearly on election day. 

(HT to Politico which got this from Blogger Interrupted)

I'm Voting For Jeff Merkley For United States Senate

I’ll be casting my vote this November for U.S. Senate candidate Jeff Merkley.

Oregonians have a pretty stark choice this election cycle. Gordon Smith, the incumbent Republican is seeking a third term. Yes, we’re talking about the same Gordon Smith who voted for George W. Bush’s disastrous economic policies – policies that have benefited the supper wealthy at the expense of the middle class. Poverty levels have soared under those policies.

Gordon Smith was also an early supporter of Bush’s failed policies in Iraq. It was only when popular opinion began to shift on the war that Smith suddenly became a critic.

Sadly, Gordon Smith has also been a supporter of some of George W. Bush’s extremist choices for the federal bench.

On all these issues – the economy, the war, the courts – Gordon Smith has ignored pleas from mainline Christian groups concerned about the common good of our nation.

Jeff Merkley will be a different kind of senator. Like many other Oregonians, I’ve been impressed with his leadership as the Oregon House Speaker. He took on the pay day lenders and fought for a clean environment. In fact, his campaign has been endorsed by the Sierra Club and League of Conservation Voters. He also has the support of Planned Parenthood of Oregon and NARAL Pro-Choice America. As a member of Clergy for Choice, I know how important it will be for Oregon to have another voice that supports letting women make their own health care decisions. Jeff Merkley will work to rebuild our economy and will fight to confirm mainstream judges.  He's right on the issues.

Every vote will matter this November. Make sure you are registered and join me in supporting Jeff Merkley for U.S. Senate.

Note:  As a minister in the United Church of Christ, I trust deeply in the Constitutional principle of separation of church and state and my endorsement is therefore a personal one and does not reflect on the church I serve or my denomination. But as a citizen I believe that all Americans must engage in the political process as individuals for democracy to thrive.  

Why Barack Obama Won The Second Debate

As a certified political junkie, I can confirm having watched every single presidential and vice-presidential debate since 1984.  Both candidates performed well tonight but there was no "knock-out" victory for either.  However, Senator Obama continues to out perform Senator McCain on the issues.  Voters clearly believe that Barack Obama won the debate, according to a just released CNN poll.  The American people seem to understand with real clarity that the Bush-McCain economic policies of the last eight years have killed our economy and finally - finally - we can put Ronald Reagan's failed "trickle-down" economics in the coffin.

What I don't believe is that this election is over.  The polls are looking good for Senator Obama and his progressive change agenda.  But I suspect in the end this will be a very close election.  It will take an enormous effort and high voter turnout to put Barack Obama in the White House.  This is an achievable goal but it will take all hands on deck to pull off.         

Why Won't John McCain Release All His Medical Records?

John McCain is not a young man.  Age by itself shouldn't be a factor in voting.  But the Republican nominee has had cancer and has chosen a running mate who clearly isn't qualified to be president. 

Health is an issue with McCain and as Frank Rich writes in The New York Times it is an issue that hasn't be fully examined:

Back in May, you will recall, the McCain campaign allowed a select group of 20 reporters to spend a mere three hours examining (but not photocopying) 1,173 pages of the candidate’s health records on the Friday of Memorial Day weekend. Conspicuously uninvited was Lawrence Altman, a doctor who covers medicine for The New York Times. Altman instead canvassed melanoma experts to evaluate the sketchy data that did emerge. They found the information too “unclear” to determine McCain’s cancer prognosis.

There was, however, at least one doctor-journalist among those 20 reporters in May, the CNN correspondent Sanjay Gupta. At the time, Gupta told Katie Couric on CBS that the medical records were “pretty comprehensive” and wrote on his CNN blog that he was “pretty convinced there was no ‘smoking gun’ about the senator’s health.” (Physical health, that is; Gupta wrote there was hardly any information on McCain’s mental health.)

That was then. Now McCain is looking increasingly shaky, whether he’s repeating his “Miss Congeniality” joke twice in the same debate or speaking from notecards even when reciting a line for (literally) the 17th time (“The fundamentals of our economy are strong”) or repeatedly confusing proper nouns that begin with S (Sunni, Shia, Sudan, Somalia, Spain). McCain’s “dismaying temperament,” as George Will labeled it, only thickens the concerns. His kamikaze mission into Washington during the bailout crisis seemed crazed. His seething, hostile debate countenance — a replay of Al Gore’s sarcastic sighing in 2000 — didn’t make the deferential Obama look weak (as many Democrats feared) but elevated him into looking like the sole presidential grown-up.

Though CNN and MSNBC wouldn’t run a political ad with doctors questioning McCain’s medical status, Gupta revisited the issue in an interview published last Tuesday by The Huffington Post. While maintaining a pretty upbeat take on the candidate’s health, the doctor-journalist told the reporter Sam Stein that he couldn’t vouch “by any means” for the completeness of the records the campaign showed him four months ago. “The pages weren’t numbered,” Gupta said, “so I had no way of knowing what was missing.” At least in Watergate we knew that the gap on Rose Mary Woods’s tape ran 18 and a half minutes.

The American people have a right to know about his health status.

Here's the ad CNN and MSNBC wouldn't let you see.

Why Joe Biden Won The Debate

Joe Biden clearly won the debate tonight. He was more informed on the issues and obviously the Obama / Biden platform is more progressive and in tune than anything Governor Palin offered the American people. The governor simply isn’t qualified to be president and John McCain is wrong on the big issues. Her biggest achievement tonight was that she didn’t fall down or offer any horrendous blunders (except perhaps lauding Dick Cheney). What the Republicans needed tonight was a huge victory and instead Senator Biden offered Americans compelling reasons to vote for Barack Obama.

Did This Governor Attend High School?

You've got to be kidding.  Really.  I mean, oh my God.  No one could possibly take her seriously.  Besides Phyllis Schlafly.

Don't Vote

Or, you know, do.

McCain Just Forgets The Middle Class

The First Debate: Why Obama Won

Everyone who tuned into the presidential debate tonight saw a good show. Both candidates performed well. But on the issues the winner was Barack Obama. Senator Obama has a better understanding of America’s economic needs and clearly was right when he questioned John McCain’s failed judgment on Iraq. On the economy and on Iraq – the two most important issues to face America in this generation – John McCain has followed George W. Bush and helped to led America into trouble. And tonight McCain offered what amounted to a defense of the last eight years. Senator Obama offered something more: a vision of an America that is strong and respected across the world once again.

Former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright offered her own assesment:

Tonight was a breakthrough for Senator Obama, who showed himself truly ready to be president. He responded knowledgeably, thoughtfully and confidently to the toughest questions on the economy, Iraq, and terror. Meanwhile, Senator McCain spent so much time attacking his opponent, he neglected to show how a McCain-Palin administration would differ from Bush-Cheney. As a result, Obama answered the threshold question about his candidacy; McCain did not.

Get your popcorn ready for the vice-presidential debate next week.

Flashback: Debate 2004 In St. Louis

In less than a half hour Barack Obama and John McCain will debate (believe it or not).  Liz and I can't help but think back to the night George W. Bush and John Kerry debated in St. Louis back in 2004.  We were at the post-debate rally with the Kerry campaign.

Tonight we are about as far away from the debate site as possible.  We're in Cannon Beach, Oregon with a view of the beautiful Pacific as our backdrop for the festivities.

I suspect we're in a much better place tonight.

McCain Destroys Economic Plan; Resumes Campaign To Destroy America

Chris Cillizza reports:

The news that John McCain will debate Barack Obama tonight in Mississippi is a concession by the Arizona Senator that his attempt to score a quick political victory on legislation to bail out the financial sector did not pan out as he had hoped.

McCain suspended his presidential campaign with much fanfare on Wednesday, insisting that the crisis in financial markets and the seeming stalemate on Capitol Hill required that politics be set aside for the good of the country.

But, over the intervening 24 hours, McCain saw what looked at first like a brilliant political gambit turn into a nightmare as what looked like a done deal to save the financial industry devolved into a partisan shouting match at the White House that left Congressional negotiators back at square one.

Now that McCain has ruined that bi-partisan plan that had been put together to save the economy and created new chaos in DC, I guess I can un-suspend my blog.

I’m Suspending My Blog

Like John McCain, I believe that America's financial crisis - one created by George W. Bush and John McCain's economic policies - should create fear and panic among the American people.  Therefore, taking a cue from Senator McCain, I hereby declare that I am suspending my blog until this crisis is over.  During this suspension I will, of course, continue to blog (just as John McCain continues to campaign and does endless television interviews).  But I will not debate Barack Obama.  I've met the man.  Twice.  And I've taken away a clear sense that Barack Obama is smarter than both John McCain and me.  Unlike Senator McCain, Barack Obama has a detailed economic plan that would help turn our economy around.  Senator Obama understands that our values are reflected in our budgets.  I can understand why Senator McCain would find any possible excuse not to debate Senator Obama.  The risks to his campaign are just to high.

Update:  Once again, Stephen Colbert tries to steal my thunder.  Even if he did do this yesterday.  The man is a mind-reader.  He's clearly still upset that my campaign for vice-president of South Carolina overshadowed his own race for president.

Update:  As you know, just minutes ago I suspended my blog in response to America's economic crisis.  Like John McCain, I can't just handle more than one crisis at a time.  But that isn't true for the folks at the National Religious Campaign Against Torture.  They've just launched a new website - www.nrcatactionfund.org - that includes (in their words) a new "Election Resource Center," a "Lobby Against Torture" section and a "Good Things to Do This Month" section. 

Didn't they get the message from Senator McCain we were suppose to stop thinking about these issues and focus on how he's going to save America from the policies he has fought hard for his entire tenure in Congress?         

"Sexist treatment of Palin must end'

Free Sarah Palin!

David Letterman Asks: Is McCain Suspending Campaign Because Of A Crisis Or Because Of Falling Poll Numbers?

Note To Matt Wingard: Hitting Your Kid With A Screwdriver Ought To Disqualify You From Public Office

Weren’t Republicans supposed to be the party of “family values?”

News today in The Oregonian and on Blue Oregon about newly appointed State Representative Matt Wingard (R-Willsonville) is distressing.

It turns out that Rep. Wingard, now running for election, pleaded guilty to beating his child with a screwdriver in 2002. His ex-wife says it was part of a pattern of abuse. From The Oregonian:

The additional allegations of abuse are in a sworn affidavit that Pico, the boy's mother, submitted to a Clackamas County judge in August 2004. It outlined what she called "a mentally and sometimes physically abusive relationship" that Wingard had with their son.

She said the boy told her that Wingard struck him three times with the screwdriver during a weekend visit in 2001.

In addition, she wrote, Wingard "has a lengthy history of emotionally abusing our son, neglecting his needs, inappropriate punishments and making questionable parenting decisions" that included:

When the boy refused to eat his food, holding him down "and force-feeding him to the point of vomiting."

He locked the boy, at age 4 or 5, "in a dark stairwell and told him that he was going to get over his fear of the dark that night," adding that he wouldn't be let out until he was no longer afraid.

At times when the boy cried, Wingard "would attempt to stop the crying by holding him very tightly to the point of bruising his chest."

At other times, the boy told of Wingard "slapping him during play, leaving fingerprint marks and other bruises."

Court records include notes from the boy's medical files that also reference the abuse allegations.

Wingard denies the allegations – blaming them on his ex-wife – but the record is pretty clear. Voters could do us all a favor by electing Jessica Adamson to replace Wingard. Clearly, Winggard doesn’t have the ethical or moral skills to serve in public office.

Barack Obama Vs John McCain On Social Security

As a clergy person, I'm allowed to opt-out of the Social Security system.  But I'm not dumb.  I opt-in along with making modest investments (in socially responsible funds) available through the United Church of Christ retirement plan.

Without Social Security my grandparents - particularly after my grandmother's stroke - would have been destitute.  The same with my great-grandmother.  Like most Americans, I don't come from a rich family.   

Churches were at the forefront of the movement to create Social Security and we are at the forefront of the movement to defend it. The National Council of Churches USA (NCC) said a few years ago:

The churches’ work to protect the Social Security system has a strong biblical grounding, even though you won’t find the phrase “Social Security” in the Bible. What you will find are Old and New Testament texts that repeatedly challenge us—as a society—to provide for the most vulnerable among us: people living in poverty, the elderly, widows and orphans. Do you remember the story of Joseph, who, inspired by God, dreamed a plan that saved Egypt from famine? Foreseeing lean years ahead, he advised Pharaoh to store up grain. The Bible records the plan: “Let them gather all the food of these good years that are coming, and lay up grain under the authority of Pharaoh for food in the cities …” (Genesis 41:35) So, too, in our time, we the people, acting through our elected officials, should be prudent and provide a safety net to prevent any in our society from falling into poverty. Social Security is just such an anti-poverty program that shares risks and rewards across our whole society.

The Bible is clear that God judges peoples and nations by how well they carry out God’s assignment to care for vulnerable people. At the end of the debate on Social Security, let us be able to say we have met that challenge well.

So I was proud again today to hear Senator Barack Obama defend Social Security and to argue that our economy needs to work for all Americans - not just the rich and powerful.

I'm not using this statement from the NCC to imply that they endorse Senator Obama's position on Social Security.  After all, it was written before the presidential election and NCC does not engage in partisan politics. 

But for me the debate over the meltdown on Wall Street and the fight over Social Security - which Senator McCain has argued should be privatized - is central to this election.

I want a president that is willing to fight for everyone - young and old - and who understands that the moral responsibility of this generation is to protect the most vulnerable among us. 

Jewish Push Poll Tied To McCain's GOP

Last night I mentioned that a new push poll was being used to try and scare Jewish voters out of voting for Barack Obama.

JewsVote.org notes:

In recent polls, more than 60% of Jewish voters said they would vote for Senator Barack Obama in the general election; close to 30% said they would vote for Senator John McCain.

I speculated that with the history of those associated with the McCain campaign it might just be someone in the GOP nominee's camp behind the calls.  Turns out I was right.

If John McCain has any honor he will disavow this pull poll and cut all ties with the organization behind it.  He's the leader of his party.  Now he needs to show he understands the moral responsibility that comes with that title.   

Dr. John McCain Will Take Away Your Health Care

One of the greatest economic and moral issues we face is how to expand health insurance to the 45 million Americans who go without.  Churches and other religious bodies have actively worked for universal health care.  The Social Creed adopted in 2007 by the National Council of Churches USA calls for the church body to work for "high quality public education for all and universal, affordable and accessible healthcare."

It turns out that John McCain's perscription for health care reform would cause more problems than it would fix.  The New York Times reports:

Senator John McCain’s top domestic policy adviser, former Congressional Budget Office director Douglas J. Holtz-Eakin, recently said in a conference call with reporters that Mr. McCain’s health care proposal would “put 25 to 30 million individuals out of the ranks of the uninsured, into the ranks of the insured.” In an article released Tuesday, a panel of prominent health economists concludes that Mr. Holtz-Eakin’s projection is off by, well, 25 to 30 million.

The article, published in the journal Health Affairs, argues that “initially there would be no real change in the number of people covered as a result of the McCain plan.” After a short-term reduction of 1 million in the number of people without coverage, the number of uninsured would increase by 5 million after five years, the authors predict. There are currently 45 million people without insurance, or 15 percent of the population, according to the Census Bureau.

Mr. McCain’s plan is designed to create greater equity between the group and individual insurance markets. He would end the exclusion of employer-provided health benefits from federal income taxes, an advantage not enjoyed by those who buy insurance on their own, and replace it with health care tax credits of $2,500 per individual and $5,000 per family.

That, the McCain campaign asserts, would drive more people into the individual market, fomenting competition, reducing premiums and discouraging consumers from buying more coverage than they need or can afford. The economists wrote that many “people are likely to have far less generous policies than those they have today.”

The NYT further reports that Barack Obama's plan would "reduce the number of uninsured by 18 million in 2009 and by 34 million in 2018, according to the Urban Institute/Brookings Institution report."  That would be a huge leap forward - a huge leap forward - but our churches need to keep pressing for full coverage.

Barack Obama: Putting The Health Care Needs Of Kids First

I support Barack Obama because he'll fight to make sure that children get the medical care they need.  It has been a long time since we've had a president who put the needs of children "first."  Barack Obama will do just that.  He knows what true reform looks like and how to bring people together to solve problems.  Barack Obama knows how to address the health care crisis.  That's one reason he has my vote.

Push Poll Targets Jewish Voters

George W. Bush and his allies used push polls to destroy John McCain in 2000.  Now McCain employees much of the same team that claimed he fathered illegitimate children.

Now push polls are being used against Barack Obama.  Gee.  I wonder who might be involved....

Related Link:  JewsVote.org on Barack Obama

Honor

Catch Me (Tuesday) Morning On 1190 KEX

Tomorrow morning Tuesday morning around 8:20 (maybe a little after) I'll be on the air with Paul Linnman on 1190 KEX to talk about why I'm opposed to Oregon Measure 62.

Update:  I was scheduled to be on air this morning but the studio just called and they needed to reschedule for tomorrow morning. 

John McCain: Putting John McCain First

My feelings about John McCain were enhanced by the 2000 election.  I didn't agree with his policies but I kept think "if only he were the GOP nominee it wouldn't be so bad if Gore lost.  At least someone with some integrity would be in the White House."  It turns out McCain's integrity was only skin deep.  The NYT has three stories worth noting on the 2008 race on their website.

On the negative tone of the McCain campaign:

Harsh advertisements and negative attacks are a staple of presidential campaigns, but Senator John McCain has drawn an avalanche of criticism this week from Democrats, independent groups and even some Republicans for regularly stretching the truth in attacking Senator Barack Obama’s record and positions.

Mr. Obama has also been accused of distortions, but this week Mr. McCain has found himself under particularly heavy fire for a pair of headline-grabbing attacks. First the McCain campaign twisted Mr. Obama’s words to suggest that he had compared Gov. Sarah Palin, the Republican vice-presidential nominee, to a pig after Mr. Obama said, in questioning Mr. McCain’s claim to be the change agent in the race, “You can put lipstick on a pig; it’s still a pig.” (Mr. McCain once used the same expression to describe Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s health plan.)

Then he falsely claimed that Mr. Obama supported “comprehensive sex education” for kindergartners (he supported teaching them to be alert for inappropriate advances from adults).

Those attacks followed weeks in which Mr. McCain repeatedly, and incorrectly, asserted that Mr. Obama would raise taxes on the middle class, even though analysts say he would cut taxes on the middle class more than Mr. McCain would, and misrepresented Mr. Obama’s positions on energy and health care.

A McCain advertisement called “Fact Check” was itself found to be “less than honest” by FactCheck.org, a nonpartisan group. The group complained that the McCain campaign had cited its work debunking various Internet rumors about Ms. Palin and implied in the advertisement that the rumors had originated with Mr. Obama.

In an interview Friday on the NY1 cable news channel, a McCain supporter, Senator Orrin G. Hatch of Utah, called “ridiculous” the implication that Mr. Obama’s “lipstick on a pig” comment was a reference to Ms. Palin, whom he also defended as coming under unfair attack.

“The last month, for sure,” said Don Sipple, a Republican advertising strategist, “I think the predominance of liberty taken with truth and the facts has been more McCain than Obama.”

About McCain's new tv spot:

The advertisement is the latest in a number that resort to a dubious disregard for the facts. The nonpartisan political analysis group Factcheck.org has already criticized “Disrespectful” as “particularly egregious,” saying that it “goes down new paths of deception,” and is “peddling false quotes.” Even the title is troublesome. “Disrespectful” is one of those words that is loaded with racial and class connotations that many people consider offensive.

On his VP choice (this one is actually an editoral):

As we watched Sarah Palin on TV the last couple of days, we kept wondering what on earth John McCain was thinking.

If he seriously thought this first-term governor — with less than two years in office — was qualified to be president, if necessary, at such a dangerous time, it raises profound questions about his judgment. If the choice was, as we suspect, a tactical move, then it was shockingly irresponsible.

It was bad enough that Ms. Palin’s performance in the first televised interviews she has done since she joined the Republican ticket was so visibly scripted and lacking in awareness.

What made it so much worse is the strategy for which the Republicans have made Ms. Palin the frontwoman: win the White House not on ideas, but by denigrating experience, judgment and qualifications.

The idea that Americans want leaders who have none of those things — who are so blindly certain of what Ms. Palin calls “the mission” that they won’t even pause for reflection — shows a contempt for voters and raises frightening questions about how Mr. McCain and Ms. Palin plan to run this country.

One of the many bizarre moments in the questioning by ABC News’s Charles Gibson was when Ms. Palin, the governor of Alaska, excused her lack of international experience by sneering that Americans don’t want “somebody’s big fat résumé maybe that shows decades and decades in that Washington establishment where, yes, they’ve had opportunities to meet heads of state.”

We know we were all supposed to think of Joe Biden. But it sure sounded like a good description of Mr. McCain. Those decades of experience earned the Arizona senator the admiration of people in both parties. They are why he was our preferred candidate in the Republican primaries.

There was a time when a lot of us thought McCain was something different - a better man than most in politics - but now we know he's as dirty and low down as the man he hopes to replace.

At least we have a solid alternative in Barack Obama.

"McCain admits being 'divorced' from everyday challenges"

This from Politico.com:

After a week on defense, the Obama campaign is roaring back with a new theme for attacking Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.): “out of touch.”

In a conference call with reporters on Friday morning, the Obama campaign seized on a comment by McCain in Thursday night’s ServiceNation forum in New York, where the candidates appeared separately on the seventh anniversary of 9/11.

McCain was defending his running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, a former mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, population 9,800. Asked by Judy Woodruff of PBS about her stint as “a small-town mayor,” McCain replied: “[L]isten, mayors have the toughest job, I think, in America. It's easy for me to go to Washington and, frankly, be somewhat divorced from the day-to-day challenges people have.”

Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) told reporters on the call that is “a critical comment by John McCain that evidences why he really isn’t going to bring change.”

“I have been with John McCain in Washington, and I think what he said reflects the reality of many people,” Durbin said. “But even worse is the situation that his economic policies that he wants to continue with George Bush have failed. If he would, you know, be in the real world of American families in New York, Illinois or Florida, he would understand that.”

Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.): “I think he said it because he knows, in fact, he’s removed from the day-to-day challenges people have faced in their lives. And you see it manifest itself in the thing when he says, you know, I don’t use a computer. I don’t use e-mail. There’s a whole economic revolution going on. And it fundamentally changed the economy, and fundamentally changed people’s lives, and he is removed from it.”

Click here for the full story.

"ABC News on Sarah Palin’s Book Banning Past"

Via People for the American Way

Great democracies cannot allow politicians for their own personal religious reasons to advocate the banning of books from public libraries.  It's clear now that not only is Sarah Palin not qualified to be the Vice-President of the United States of America she never should have been mayor of her township of 9,000 people.

McCain Joins Obama At 9/11 Event

On this - another beautiful fall day that reminds me of September 2001 - we stop as a nation to remember those lost on 9/11.  Thousands died in a terrible crime.  For a brief moment what happened united the American people in a way not seen in generations.  Sadly, that moment was lost as some used the attacks to further divide the American people and to push social agendas and foreign policy doctrines that left America weaker and which must have given the terrorists hope.

So it did the country good today to see the two major presidential party candidates put aside their campaigns for a moment and in the spirit of national unity join together at Ground Zero.  The New York Times reports:

After days of sharp attacks against each other on the campaign trail, John McCain and Barack Obama suspended their political advertising Thursday and made a joint visit late this afternoon to ground zero in New York City to mark the seventh anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Mr. Obama, after a 90-minute lunch with former President Bill Clinton in Harlem, traveled far downtown to the former site of the World Trade Center and met Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg near the pile just before 4 p.m. A short time later, Mr. McCain and his wife Cindy arrived and shook hands with Mr. Obama and Mr. Bloomberg.

Then the two presidential nominees walked shoulder-to-shoulder down a long ramp toward the site, occasionally chatting along the way, as Mrs. McCain and Mayor Bloomberg walked behind. Michelle Obama was home in Chicago with the couple’s daughters on Thursday.

At the end of the ramp, the two senators greeted a small receiving line; each took a rose — Mr. Obama, a pink one, and Mr. McCain, a yellow one — and laid the flower on a reflecting pool at the bottom of the site. They stood silent for a few moments, each clasping his own fingers, and then shook hands with officers of the New York police and fire departments.

The four then walked back up the ramp, which was decked with flags of dozens of nations; Mr. McCain took his wife by the arm, while Mr. Obama walked with his hands behind his back as Mr. Bloomberg appeared to point out sights. Near their separate motorcades, the two men shook hands with several uniformed officers and thanked them for their service. They also posed separately for a couple of photographs by children and other onlookers, chatted with some of them, and accepted a couple of roses and notes.

At the end, Mr. McCain and Mr. Obama shook hands, and Mr. McCain could be heard saying to his rival, “All right sir, see you soon.” Both appeared cordial but somber.

The idea for the two rivals to appear together at ground zero originated last week during a telephone conversation between the men. When Mr. Obama called Mr. McCain to congratulate him on accepting the Republican presidential nomination, aides to both men said, Mr. Obama proposed the idea and Mr. McCain accepted.

We need more moments like this in American politics - where people even when they disagree with each other on the issues - can come together when it matters.  Senator Obama was right to see this as a moment that should be about reconciliation and not politics.

Oregon Ballot Measure 62 - One Christian View Against

OPB's program "Think Out Loud" is focusing today on Measure 62, a proposed Constitutional Amendment that would allocate 15% of lottery funds to public safety for crime prevention, investigation and prosecution.

Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon (EMO) is urging a "NO" vote on this proposal.  I serve as a member of EMO's public policy committee.  Here's why we recommend a no vote:

By dedicating 15% of lottery funding to crime program - despite recent funding increases for state police- this measure would significantly reduce funding available for education, economic development and natural resource programs. This is a shell game that creates no new revenue for badly underfunded programs, but simply writes into the state constitution a permanent preference for funding for law enforcement over funding for education, economic development and environmental protection.

Measure 62 is bad public policy that would have a long-term negative effective on Oregon's future.

Click here to view all of EMO ballot measure recommendations.

Another Pro-Life Leader For Obama

via Obama Politics:

Going back to Ronald Reagan, the Rev. Wilfredo De Jesús—the senior pastor of a 4,500-member Hispanic evangelical church in Chicago—has pulled the lever for Republicans in presidential elections. "I always voted on the issue of abortion and the sanctity of marriage," he says. This time, though, Sen. Barack Obama's message of faith and social justice, combined with strident GOP rhetoric on illegal immigration, has persuaded him to endorse the Democrat.

Visit the site for source links.

Country Last

Susan Brooks Thistlewaite writes for OnFaith:

John McCain has demonstrated, with the Sarah Palin vice-presidential pick, that these days he puts his country last, certainly behind his own ambition. This transparently political move is the antithesis of putting the well-being of the country first, especially in regard to its national security. McCain also showed how much he identifies with George W. Bush; he put her on the ticket.

Click here for the full story.

Sarah Palin's Pot Of Gold

From The Washington Post:

ANCHORAGE, Sept. 8 -- Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has billed taxpayers for 312 nights spent in her own home during her first 19 months in office, charging a "per diem" allowance intended to cover meals and incidental expenses while traveling on state business.

The governor also has charged the state for travel expenses to take her children on official out-of-town missions. And her husband, Todd, has billed the state for expenses and a daily allowance for trips he makes on official business for his wife.

Being governor of Alaska must be a great gig.  Stay home, watch tv, and pick-up a per diem meant for when you're out working.

John McCain & Sarah Palin - More of the same.  We can't afford that.