Obama gets slammed by rightwing evangelical James Dobson:
Dobson used his Focus on the Family radio program to highlight excerpts of a speech Obama gave in June 2006 to the liberal Christian group Call to Renewal...
..."I think he's deliberately distorting the traditional understanding of the Bible to fit his own worldview, his own confused theology," Dobson said.
Obama slams back:
Speaking to reporters on his campaign plane before landing in Los Angeles, Obama said the speech made the argument that people of faith, like himself, "try to translate some of our concerns in a universal language so that we can have an open and vigorous debate rather than having religion divide us."
Obama added, "I think you'll see that he was just making stuff up, maybe for his own purposes."
Then other clerical leaders, even Bush supporters, come to Obama's aid thanks to the respect and outreach he's made to evangelicals, as does the independent Matthew 25 Network of young Christian activists for Obama, who are acting as fast-response debunking squads for combating smears in Christian media:
Like BenGoshi said in the Diary on the Rec List "Read The Beatitudes Before You Vote." The Matthew 25 Network is resolved around policies for the least of these.
This week our first print ads ran and will be seen by over 200,000 Catholics and Evangelicals in the coming days. The next step is Christian radio.
There has been a lot of indignation on Daily Kos today, and rightly so, for the remarks of Dr. Dobson. You can DO something about it! Donate to our Act Blue Account so we can run ads back-to-back against Dobson. He promised today there would be more segments along these lines – lets have an answer ready.
For too long we have not responded on these stations, in these magazines, and with positive Christian voices. This year, this cycle, that all changes.
Meanwhile, McCain comes up with offshore drilling and a battery-making sweepstakes, but the next moment revealing that he knows it's all placebo:
Mr. Obama was responding to remarks that Mr. McCain made on Monday in Fresno, Calif., when he observed that even though the nation might take years to benefit from offshore drilling, “exploiting those reserves would have psychological impact that I think is beneficial...”
“...‘Psychological impact’?” Mr. Obama said. “In case you’re wondering, that’s Washington-speak for ‘It polls well.’ ”
He added, “It’s an example of how Washington politicians try to convince you that they did something to make your life better when they really didn’t.”
Asked in Riverside, Calif., about his remarks on the psychological effects of lifting the moratorium on offshore drilling, Mr. McCain said: “I think Americans want hope. They want some trust and confidence.”
Way to build both, John.
What's happening here is that Obama is taking it straight to him on the issues, not on the distractions or caricatures we've gotten so used to thanks to a whole generation of political consultants.
What Obama does is much more powerful, because he's actually going after McCain's political character. Not his personal character, as Obama is if nothing else a dignitarian, so as long as the game gravitates towards Obama's terms and away from, say, Karl Rove's, the effect is all the more devastating for being fair play.
Maybe that why even a Republican Senator, perhaps starting a trend, is grabbing at Obama's coattails big time:
This is starting to get interesting.
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