Rick Warren's Forum To Include Questions About Candidates' Personal Lives

LAKE FOREST, Calif. — Presidential contenders Barack Obama and John McCain differed sharply on abortion Saturday, with McCain saying a baby's human rights begin "at conception," while Obama restated his support for legalized abortion.

Appearing on the same stage for the first time in months, although they overlapped only briefly, the two men shared their views on a range of moral, foreign and domestic issues as they near their respective nominating conventions.

Obama said he would limit abortions in the late stages of pregnancy if there are exceptions for the mother's health. He said he knew that people who consider themselves pro-life will find his stance "inadequate."

He said the government should do more to prevent unwanted pregnancies and to help struggling new mothers, such as providing needed resources to the poor, and better adoption services.

McCain expressed his anti-abortion stand simply and quickly, saying human rights begin the instant a human egg is fertilized. McCain, who adopted a daughter from Bangladesh, also called for making adoption easier.

The men's comments came at a two-hour forum on faith hosted by the minister Rick Warren at his megachurch in Orange County, Calif. Obama joined Warren for the first hour, and McCain for the second. The two candidates briefly shook hands and hugged each other during the switch. McCain said he did not see or hear Obama's session, which would have given him an advantage.

Obama said America's greatest moral failure is its insufficient help to the disadvantaged. He noted that the Bible quotes Jesus as saying "whatever you do for the least of my brothers, you do for me." He said the maxim should apply to victims of poverty, sexism and racism.

McCain said the nation's greatest moral shortcoming is its failure to "devote ourselves to causes greater than our self-interests."

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After the September 2001 terrorist attacks, McCain said, there should have been a national push for joining the Peace Corps and other volunteer organizations. His comment seemed an indirect criticism of President Bush, who had urged tax cuts and more shopping at the time to stimulate the economy.

McCain also said he would pursue Osama bin Laden "to the gates of Hell," another goal that might be seen as a swipe at the Bush administration.

Both men said marriage is a union between a man and a woman. Obama added that he supports civil unions for gay partners, which would give them rights such as hospital visits with one another. He said he opposed a constitutional ban on gay marriage, calling the matter a state issue.

McCain's answer was less clear. If a federal court ordered his state, Arizona, to honor gay marriages allowed in Massachusetts, he said, "then I would favor a constitutional amendment. Until then, I believe the states should make the decisions within their own states."

In several cases, Obama gave a Christian interpretation to his generally liberal political views. He said he is redeemed by Jesus, who died for his sins.

McCain tended to give shorter, less complex answers, winning somewhat more applause than Obama from the large, evangelical church's audience. On domestic matters, he restated his call to "drill now" in U.S. lands and waters for oil and natural gas.

McCain, asked the toughest decision in his life, cited his refusal to be released ahead of fellow U.S. prisoners of war in North Vietnam. "It took a lot of prayer," he said.

He retold his story of a Christmas Day celebration outside his cell, when a prison guard etched a cross into the dirt. "For a moment, we were just two Christians worshipping there," McCain said.

Warren asked each man to name a Supreme Court justice he would not have appointed. Obama cited Clarence Thomas. "I don't think that he was a strong enough jurist or legal thinker at the time for that elevation, setting aside the fact that I profoundly disagree with his interpretations of a lot of the Constitution," Obama said.

He also named Justices Antonin Scalia and John Roberts, although he praised their intellect.

McCain named the court's four most liberal members: Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, David Souter and John Paul Stevens.

When Warren asked Obama to define the word "rich," the Illinois senator teased the pastor about the mammoth sales of his book, "The Purpose Driven Life." Obama noted his plan to add a new Social Security payroll tax to incomes above $250,000 a year.

McCain said, "some of the richest people I've ever known in my life are the most unhappy."

He said being rich should be defined by having a home and a prosperous and safe world. Without mentioning Obama, he said some want to increase taxes.

"I don't want to take any money from the rich. I want everybody to get rich," McCain said.

When pushed on an exact number, he joked: "If you're just talking about income, how about five million?" He added, "I'm sure that comment will be distorted."

Asked to name three wise people they would listen to, Obama named his wife, Michelle; his maternal grandmother, who lives in Hawaii; and, not limiting himself to only a third, named several Democratic and Republican lawmakers.

McCain named Gen. David Petreaus, head of U.S. troops in Iraq; U.S. Rep. and veteran civil rights leader John Lewis, D-Ga.; and former eBay CEO Meg Whitman, a top adviser to his campaign.

He lauded Whitman for turning a five-person business into a billion-dollar piece of the economy. "It's one of these great economic success stories," McCain said.

Obama, asked his most significant policy shift in the last 10 years, cited welfare reform. As an Illinois state senator, he worked to mitigate what he thought could be "disastrous" effects of President Clinton's welfare reform effort. But over time he said he came to embrace Clinton's approach.

"We have to have work as a centerpiece of any social policy," Obama said.

Asked why they want to be president, Obama said the United States should be an empathetic power for good in the world, a mission he fears is slipping away.

McCain said, "I want to inspire a generation of Americans to serve a cause greater than its self interest. . But I also believe we face enormous challenges, both of national security and domestic."

___

Associated Press writer Phil Elliott contributed to this report.

Comments

[research]

I always remember with joy, those passages in the Gospels about Jesus cheating by getting the questions ahead of time.

Oh wait, that didn''t happen , did it?

[Hornist]

It is strange that a question about abortion should fluster the only Constitutional lawyer running for president. At Saddleback, Barack Obama was asked the tired questions: when does life begin, and is abortion a woman's right. Instead of constructing an answer that was politically palatable to the assembled evangelical audience, Mr. Obama should have pointed one undeniable fact. The Constitution gives the president only one responsibility, and that is spelled out in the oath of office:

"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."

In the 1970s, the Supreme Court decided that women have a Constitutional right to choose. Therefore, irrespective of either Mr. McCain's or Mr. Obama's personal views on abortion, as president, one or the other will be Constitutionally bound to uphold that right. Even were abortion made illegal tomorrow, fifty million Americans would still be without health insurance, our manufacturing base would still be decimated, unemployment would still be high, the economy would still be on the verge of disaster, people would still be losing their homes to predatory lenders, and the United States would still be stuck in an endless occupation of Iraq.

[genseric13]

Saddleback. Will it be known someday as Obama's Waterloo?

[NHGranite]

Look, everybody, give John McCain a break; he thought he was playing Jeopardy. backwards no less!

Answer: McCain: YES. YES. AND FIND BAD TEACHERS ANOTHER LINE OF WORK.

And the question was: what exchange proves you were given questions in advance?

[lthuedk 1]

There simply can't be a place in America with a higher density of politicized religionists than Orange County, CA. It's like a taste of Mississippi and Alabama concentrated in a Disneyland setting. So, to our old county of residence, I dedicate Neofascia.

http://www.light-to-dark.com/neofascia.html

[AlexisAshley]

It is going to be so satisfying to watch Bozo Obama's decent into oblivion!!

Then he can go back to being a community organizer!!

[Kristin262]

What are you trying to say? What's your premise? Do you have a spell checker?

[goldnchyl]

just another disrespectful troll. no rhyme, no reason

[evgolightly]

The whole forum was ridiculous. Why would we exhalt Rick Warren to such a position?

Oprah should have gotten the gig, not Warren. He is a religious zealot and we shouldn't be giving such types a forum to test our presidential candidates. If he wasn't full enough of himself before, all you had to do was watch his smug satisfaction in later interviews to see that Rick Warren is now totally and completely in love with ... Rick Warren.

Questions about "evil"? Are you kidding me? Bush's favorite word?

Why are we assuming McCain did so well? Because he got louder applause from whackos for such answers as "defeat it!" and "at conception"? If that the media's gauge for success? An applause-o-meter?

[mdstrummer]

I think people should let go of this "cone of silence" issue - it's a loser and it can't be proven that he got the questions. It just makes Obama and his supporters look like sore heads. Anyone remember Ross Perot complaining after he lost the NAFTA debate that Al Gore must have been fed the answers through an ear piece?

Furthermore, I think it's completely unnecessary to make excuses. I watched the show and I thought Obama did very well. Yes, McCain was much more decisive, but he was also much more simplistic. I was particularly struck by the abortion question. He gave a very definitive answer on that "At conception". Note that he was not asked "When does life begin?". He was asked at what point does a baby/fetus obtain human rights? Now that's a very difficult question that one would do well to give some careful thought to how they answer. Not McCain - he fired off a quick 2 word answer without giving a second thought. And Obama is supposed to be the risky candidate?! Saying that human rights begin at conception opens up a whole host of moral, ethical and legal dilemnas and I'm stunned that no one has commented on it. This is not an issue where black & white thinking are very helpful and I think McCain should be called out on it because it shows a carelessness and rigidity of thought on his part that doesn't serve a president well.

[genseric13]

Obviously, from a DNA point of view, human life begins at conception. Didn't we learn this in the 7th grade? Liberals are having a mass mental breakdown; I thought they knew more about this then Conservatives.

[Geauterre]

Who is Rick Warren, and why should realists humor him?

[KNadine]

I think this forum was much to do about nothing. Bottom line, McCain was standing in front of his base telling them everything they wanted to hear. I just can't believe they actually buy his bullshit. Let's put McCain to the test and put him in a room full of "Progressives" like A. Huffingtons, Bill Mahrs, Rachael Maddows, Keith Obermanns and everything in between and see how he'll do. My guess is you wouldn't hear so many stories and no "My Friends" (oh, and if I have to hear this for 4-8 years I may just go postal). I also wish Rick Warren would not have done this forum. It has put a nasty taste in my mouth for his book. I would've rather remained in the dark about him.

[IowaKid]

I thought this was a sham Pastor Warren let McCain lie on the first question of the night. McCain knowingly knew HE WAS NOT IN THE "Cone of Silence" and sat there and told a bare face lie in front of the world to see. In my book that is known as BAD ETHICS, but then again what do you expect from a man that ran around on his disabled wife.

[Newjack]

1.) Lewis is an Obama supporter. If McCain really thought Lewis was wise, why is he still running when one of the wisest people he knows doesn't think he'll be a good president?

2.) Lewis released a statement saying that he and McCain have no sort of relationship with one another despite serving in Congress for over 20 years. Also, Lewis made a point of the fact that McCain has never bothered to ask him for advice. Hmmm... maybe if he had, McCain never would have become rapped in the Keating Five controversy and wouldn't have been formally reprimanded for excercising "poor judgment."

P.S.

Anyone think it's weird that McCain is saying that he has the judgment to be president? This is coming from a guy who voted for the Iraq war and a guy who has been rebuked by the Senate Ethics Committee for "excercising poor judgment."

Why isn't anyone covering this!?

[asdfghjkl]

Whatever happened to the separation of church and state? It sets a dangerous precedent to have politicians pander to religious zealots. Secularism is one of the Western society's greatest traditions. The solutions to today's problems can't be found in a book written about 1,500 years ago. I'm sorry to break the news but the earth isn't flat, dinosaurs are real and darwin was mostly right. We let the evangelical spirit invade the Oval Office for eight years and now we fight wars against muslims. Its a shame our candidates would support such an event. Unless Ted Haggard is hosting a 'faith' forum, now thats television!!

[greenrotgut]

After Obama's performance on Saturday he'd be wise not to do any town hall type forums with McCain. Obama appears less decisive and in command when compared to McCain.

[yallkiddn]

Greenrotgut, apparently you have been hiding under a rock. MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell reported two important facts yesterday, on Meet the Press:

1) "McCain may not have been in the cone of silence" and that he
2) "May have had some ability to overhear what the questions were to Obama."

Please note the transcript from "Hueman," below:

SEN. MCCAIN: A union -- a union between man and woman, between one man and one woman. That's my definition of marriage. (Applause.)

Are we going to get back to the importance of Supreme Court justices, or should I mention it?

REV. WARREN: We will get to that.

SEN. MCCAIN: Okay. All right. (Laughter.) Okay.

REV. WARREN: Man, you're jumping ahead. You know all my questions.

SEN. MCCAIN: No, no, that's -- when we speak of the issue of the rights of the unborn, we need to talk about judges. But anyway, go ahead.

WHY GO BACK TO A QUESTION THAT HAD NOT BEEN ASKED??? THIS WAS A FRAUD!!!

[Jim4389]

I do not see Obama's response "above my pay grade" to the question when life begins and is entitled to rights as a dodge. He recognizes the complexity in determining just what may constitute a living human being protected under the constitution. Whatever criteria used is arbitrary and thereby what may be deemed correct or incorrect by consensus is impossible.

On the other hand, I find Mccain's adamancy that life begins at conception perplexing, since he also advocates stem cell research that requires destroying embryos. Although he qualified his answer, mentioning the promise of stem cells taken from skin, the research for such a method has just begun. Researchers in the field stress that a lot more needs to be done before determing whether it'll eventually be viable for human use. Currently, embryo based research is considered the gold standard.

So. if Mccain favors stem cell research, then he also accepts destroying embryos, which by his own criteria constitutes human life entitled to legal rights.