One more diary regarding the Saddleback Civil Forum on the Presidency.
What's the consensus of the community regarding Rick Warren's motivation for sponsoring and hosting this conference? He's taking a lot of heat today over the apparently leaky 'cone of silence' (and I won't defend him here except to say he may be well-intentioned but misguided to give McCain the benefit of the doubt) but watching the forum last night I couldn't help but read the body language and rapport between Warren and Obama.
Is it possible that Warren might actually be an Obama supporter?
In the forum last night, the coverage moved to commercial immediately following the exchange over taxes. In the cutaway/wide shot, Warren is clearly audible over the audience's applause leaning over to compliment Obama on his answer or performance - he says: "homerun".
(BTW this cutscene doesn't seem to be captured in the YouTube versions of the forum - it is immediately following the portion tagged as section 5 - but I heard it clearly last night on MSNBC and again today on CNN's rebroadcast - other Kossacks apparently heard it as well.)
Contrast also the much stiffer dialog and rapport between McCain and Warren. Where Obama and Warren had a dialog, most times McCain didn't even address Warren with his 'answer', instead looking above and offstage or at the audience. The difference was marked.
We assume voters who attend a church like Saddleback would likely be Republicans and support McCain. It seems like Obama has little to lose in this audience. By giving his congregation this insight into Obama's beliefs - particularly into his views on faith where it is likely the congregation would find common ground - Warren may in fact have been trying to help Obama get a foothold with this audience. Given his views on the trustworthiness of adulterers, it's hard to see why he'd set this event up to promote McCain.