The Shotgun Blog
« Filibuster: Putin's Friend | Main | Teachers in North Texas will carry guns »
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Obama and McCain on Abortion
Last night in Orange County, California, Barack Obama and John McCain participated in a forum hosted by Pastor Rick Warren at Saddleback Church.
Pastor Rick asked each of the candidates separately a variety of questions related to religious and moral issues. I must confess that I didn't get a chance to watch the event on television, so I'm catching up via YouTube.
Apparently, media response has been generally in McCain's favor. As one might expect, McCain's answers were brief and straightforward, while Obama's were a little more... well, nuanced.
Here is a clip I found online of Obama and McCain answering the question: "At what point does a baby get human rights?" While this clip was obviously assembled by a pro-life/anti-choice/whatever source, it does provide an illustrative contrast of the responses of the two candidates.
Maybe I'm wrong, but it doesn't look to me like Obama really answered the pastor's question at all.
By the way, if you want an unedited clip of Obama's answer, you can find that here.
Here's a take on the forum from National Review Online's Byron York.
UPDATE:
If you can stand it, here's another compare/contrast clip of Obama and McCain answering the question, "Does evil exist, and what do we do about it?" (more or less.)
Personally, I think McCain's answer should have been a little growlier.
Posted by Terrence Watson on August 17, 2008 | Permalink
TrackBack
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00d834515b5d69e200e5540864348834
Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Obama and McCain on Abortion:
Comments
I had never heard of Rick Warren two days ago, and I have no idea how he managed to pull off this event, but it was without a doubt the best interview/forum/debate of the election. Great stuff.
I must say, every time McCain turned to the audience and said "my friends" or each time he asked "can I tell a quick story?" I knew we were in for some canned ham. Obama was much better at the conversational structure of the event, but, as you point out on the abortion question, that did not stop him from being weasely at times. (No, he didn't answer the question and, yes, he should have answered it.)
I believe I learned something about both men that 100 hours of cable news nonsense would not provide and I also think my respect for both men was increased. But the real winner of the night was Rick Warren. He was great.
Posted by: Fact Check | 2008-08-17 12:52:38 PM
Fact Check,
Yes, I agree: I really liked this style of event.
Not everyone seems to have appreciated Rick Warren, though. Some are claiming that he (or someone on his staff) fed McCain the questions beforehand, and that the whole thing was a trap for Obama.
Probably not, but the "canned" nature of some of McCain's responses (as you pointed out) could have contributed to that impression.
Best,
Terrence
Posted by: Terrence Watson | 2008-08-17 12:57:02 PM
Stats show that abortion rates increase when Republicans are in power. Don't like abortion? Defeat McVacuum!
Posted by: Hilary Smith | 2008-08-17 3:51:04 PM
I keep trying to check out some of the You Tube videos that are suggested here. Some work, others say the video's are no longer available". Is it just my computer?
Posted by: glen | 2008-08-25 11:13:35 PM
The comments to this entry are closed.