Saddleback II: Was there a "Cone of Silence"?
My post earlier today drew a sharp distinction between how Barack Obama and John McCain presented in an encounter on Saturday at the Saddleback Church in California. Essentially, Obama answered questions posed at him haltingly, while McCain responded crisply.
The format of the encounter was to have each man spend an hour responding to the same set of questions. Obama went first by coin toss. To level the playing field, McCain was ostensibly kept in what moderator Rick Warren called a "cone of silence."
Now it turns out that McCain was not in that cone. According to Kathrine Seelye's report in the New York Times, McCain was not in the church during Obama's section, but on his way in a motorcade. A spokeswoman for McCain denied that the candidate had heard Obama's section, but McCain's quick-on-the-draw, succinct responses to Warren's questions raise their own questions.
The formal debates, scheduled for September 26th, October 7th, and 15th , will be face-to-face and more controlled. May the best man win.
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Warren thinks that the Secret Service would have told on Mc.
And the coin toss? "Oh, it was more than a month ago, and neither candidate was involved. It was just me and my staff."
And when Larry King asked him if he, himself, could vote for someone who didn't believe in God, he couldn't. Because, "the job is too big for one person."
Where did this Bozo come from, and how did he ever get to host a Presidential Debate?
Seriously.
This is probably on my list of top 5 things that irritates me most about O; he legitimizes these clowns by participating.
Now there is some question about whether there was really even a "coin toss."
On Larry King Live, a listener asked Pastor Warren to describe how the coin toss was done. Warren ducked the question, admitting that "neither senator" was present at the time and adding something vague about his staff doing the planning months ago. Then he changed the subject, something I have noticed he seems to do a lot in these interviews.
No actual "coin toss," no "cone of silence?" Doesn't Pastor Warren owe the public a bit more of an explanation about what was really going on on Saturday night?
What if Warren had told the truth at the start of his forum? The truth would have been: "We are going to talk to Senator Obama first. Senator McCain isn't actually here yet. He is still in his motorcade on the way from his hotel. But, to keep things fair, he has promised me he won't listen to any of the questions I'm asking Sentor Obama on the way over. When Senator McCain gets here, we will put him in a quiet room that I will later refer to, jokingly, as a 'cone of silence.' There is a TV monitor in the room but we have disconnected it."
Sounds a bit different, doesn't it?
Even if he was in a cone of silence, what's stopping them from putting someone in the audience to text McSame the questions???
McCain doesn't even know how to use the internet, do you really expect him to know how to text?
He's recieving, not sending. All he needs to know how to do is click "open", and read.
It would be his staff, working their Blackberries, cell phones and laptops, and feeding him the question and answer. He doesn't make a move, literally, without at least 10 aides and two Republican members of Congress (or Joe Lieber.man) by his side. He can't even get off a plane without holding on to C'indy.
LOL!
If Warren would accept McCain's word on this he's an even bigger sucker than I already figured he was, and that's pretty big.
I say JM was wearing a sophisticated wire.
that's what I think it was.
This is why I believe McCain knew what the questions were in advance because he answered them so quick and to the point .
If any of you have watched McCain at townhall meetings especially all the ones on YouTube, he takes awhile to answer questions asked to him. He always seems to go off message. Watch and see during the presidential debates, I can guarantee you Obama will do much better than him. The McCain at the Presidential debates will seem so different than the McCain at the forum at Saddleback Church. Watch and see.
Sorry: correction: Rick Warren...
Rick Warre, Yes, you owe Sen. Obama, the church and this Nation an apology for what you condoned and contrived with your forum. This entire matter is reprehensible!!
Open Letter to Rick Warren:
I am anxious to see your appearance as scheduled tonight on Larry King. I am wondering if you will rise to the occasion and admit that the farce you presented to the nation this weekend is YOUR greatest moral failure.
To have led us all to believe that John McCain was in some game-show like "cone of silence", only to find that he was NOT EVEN IN THE BUILDING, is reprehensible on your part. That explains how he was able to "answer" questions that had yet to be asked. Not once, but on several topics. (i.e. the supreme court, teachers, etc).
I am not a believer in organized religion, although I do consider myself spiritual. Learning of your deception has only reinforced my belief that organized religion is of MAN, not of GOD.
I hope you do the right thing, and denounce this whole charade, apologize to Senator Obama, your church members and the NATION. You have the perfect forum to do so tonight. Just ask yourself, as your ilk is so fond of promoting, "What would Jesus do?"
I am listening to Larry King now...Warren is taking McCain at his word, blah blah blah Admit nothing....
Warren's told King that "the Secret Service would have told on him."
Plus, the coin toss? Over a month ago. Neither candidate was involved. It was just Warren and his staff, tossing the coin.
This is what American evangelicals think is honest?
The whole Warren forum was a scripted biased fiasco. All of Warren's questions led entirely to the right-wing agenda. Airtime on 3 major networks was finagled for McCain's war stories, which may not all be true as well as his excuses for not honoring the 'cone of silence'. His story about the cross drawn in the sand was taken from "The Gulag Archipelago" by Alexander Solzhenitsyn, which was released in the US in 1973. The entire GOP ticket it based entirely on lies.
O walks into this time and time again.
Next week, it's the BiII&HiII show.
If this Saddleback resort is a church then it must have some tax free status. I am somewhat confused because the whole gig appeared to be a big media event where it seems money was made or exchanged hands. I am sure ad revenue has some amount of value. Shouldn't we be looking into the cone of money (after all am sure the cone of silence may have been breached anyhow). Albeit, Obama is now an official panderer.
Request:
Please search both, candidates, before each debate for any wires or tools which may provide
outside help in answering questions.
If the "Cone of Silence" wasn't honored, we deserve to know the debates will be fair.
Objections?
There shouldn't be even one.
No one can claim any lack of dignity from this request. Check out their political ads.
I suppose when you're as ideologically driven as the Republican Party you are allowed to do anything to gain advantage, especially if running a distant second. They have so much to answer for yet the questions never get asked. It's reminiscent of the days when the Church controlled everything and to question was a sin. No one dares.
They must not get away with it this time or the light will flicker and fade on everything free people hold sacred.
no bystanders here.
Warren said, "Now, what I decided is to allow for proper comparison, I’m going to ask identical questions to each of these candidates. So you can compare apples to apples. Now, Senator Obama is going to go first. We flipped a coin, and we have safely placed Senator McCain in a cone of silence. Now, each of the interviews will be segmented into four different sections. We’re going to look at four different things, and the number of questions answered in each segment will depend on how succinct the senator is."
If Mc wasn't in the building when it began, when was the "coin toss" to determine who went first?
Thank you for your comment.
There are too many questions about this event.
Credibility has been lost and McCain is the main reason but Pastor Warren
has much explaining to do.
Anyone who still believes that McMaverick didn't hear the questions in advance should be wrapped in cellophane and labeled "Sucker."
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