[Gypsy]

Next the candidates were asked if they would support a constitutional ban on gay marriage. Obama’s answer was another dodge. He said he would oppose it because historically, gay marriage has not been defined in the U.S. Constitution, so it should be left up to the states. If we used this logic, slavery might still exist and women might not have the right to vote in some states, among other things.

Pastor Warren asked Obama and McCain if evil exists and what to do about it. Obama’s answer was a bit strange, saying that it exists in Darfour and also in U.S. cities. The obvious response would have been terrorism and al Quaeda, but he was noticeably silent. Of course, it came as no surprise that Obama blamed evil on U.S. cities, toeing the liberal “America is bad” line.

McCain’s response on evil was much better. He interrupted Pastor Warren saying “Defeat it…If I have to follow him to the gates of hell, I will get Osama bin Laden and bring him to justice….Not long ago in Baghdad, al-Quada took two young women who were mentally disabled and put suicide vests on them, sent them into a marketplace and by remote control, detonated those suicide vests. If that isn’t evil, you have to tell me what is…”

The candidates were asked which U.S. Supreme Court justice would they have not nominated. Obama responded saying Clarence Thomas, claiming he wasn’t experienced enough. This was a poor criticism considering – as Charles Krauthammer pointed out during the interim forum on Fox News – Obama has so little experience himself. But more importantly, it was disturbing considering Obama named Thomas over Scalia or any other justice. Scalia’s and Thomas’s opinions are very similar, and very well-written, but Scalia has been particularly biting in his opinions. The fact that Obama singled Thomas out raises suspicions that Obama harbors a deep resentment against Thomas for daring to be a conservative instead of toeing the Jesse Jackson liberal position expected of African-Americans. It was sadly apparent that Obama buys into the liberal mentality that those of a certain skin color must all think alike.

McCain said he wouldn’t have nominated Ruth Ginsberg, Breyer, Souter, or Stevens. Considering Stevens has been a bit of a swing vote on the bench, it was impressive to hear McCain include him among the three liberals he wouldn’t have nominated. His reasoning was because they don’t strictly adhere to the Constitution and legislate from the bench, which is where some of the worst damage has been done.

The candidates were asked about paying schoolteachers based on merit. Obama had some wishy-washy answer. McCain’s response? “Find bad teachers another line of work.” Pastor Warren interjected and accused McCain of replying too quickly. McCain shot right back, “Can I just say choice and competition, home schooling, charter school vouchers, all the choice competition I want….home schooling works, vouchers in our nation’s capitol works….New York City is reforming….New Orleans now has over 30 charter schools in the city and guess what? It’s all coming up…what kind of opportunity is it if you send them to a failing school?”

Obama said that he thought a family making over $150,000/yr is rich, and he would increase their taxes. I can think of several friends of mine who make that income, who are married, have kids, and are saddled with huge college loans on the 25-year repayment plan. They certainly aren’t living high and mighty, but are living in modest homes with basic cars. Looking at it the other way, compared to people in the third world, blue-collar Americans making $40,000/yr are doing quite well. Income and wealth are all relative depending on the circumstances and for Obama to assume that he can make general assumptions about certain income levels is dangerous, considering the wealthy create jobs for the rest of us and contribute the most to charity. To remove that incentive is a step towards a socialized economy, which we know doesn’t work.

McCain had a much more realistic answer, “I don’t want to make money from the rich. I want everybody to get rich. I don’t believe in class warfare or redistribution of the wealth. But I can tell you for example there are small businessmen and women who are working 16 hours a day, seven days a week that some people would classify as rich, who [some] want to raise their taxes and their payroll taxes.”

The last segment focused on national defense and foreign policy. Warren brought up Georgia, and it was painful listening to Obama, whom you suspected until recently didn't know the differences between Georgia the state and Georgia the country, much less find it on on a map. McCain's grasp of the conflict with Russia was impressive, as he rattled off the list of surrounding countries that are standing up to Russia, "don't think it was an accident that the presence of Lithuania -- the presidents -- Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Poland and Ukraine -- flew to Tbilisi to show their solidarity with the president of Georgia because they all have something in common with Georgia. They lived under Russian domination for a long period of time."

It was a revealing forum and although Pastor Warren leans too liberal for most evangelicals, he did the country a big favor by putting it on and emphasizing faith and government issues.

Some of the better lines from the forum:

McCain: “By the way if you haven’t noticed we now have a pro-America president of France, which proves if you live long enough, anything can happen in America.”

Obama: “When I started, saying you know, we’re going to eliminate meals and gifts from corporate lobbyists, I remember one of my colleagues whose name will be unmentioned who said, well, where do you expect us to eat, McDonald’s? And I thought well, actually, a lot of our constituents probably do eat at McDonald’s so that wouldn’t be such a bad thing.”

McCain: “We spent $3 million of your money to study the DNA of bears in Montana, now I don’t know if that was a paternity issue or a criminal issue, but the point is – it was $3 million of your money.”

So, the question one wonders at the end of this is, who is Pastor Rick Warren going to vote for?