This is backward looking mindset trying to influence a rapidly evolving society, and frankly, people like this have had their hands on the wheel for just too long without really solving any of our social problems.

See! Women who vote McCain need their heads examined...you will be voting away the reproductive rights for all future generations of women!  Heck, he even voted against equal pay for equal work...meaning he doesn't believe a woman should get paid at least the same as a man for the same work!

McCain is a disgrace! He's horrible!  He's the anti-Christ!

Evangelicals should actually practice their faith like promoting peace, eliminating poverty, helping the less priviledged, etc and not supporting one whose platform is to launch wars on other people.

Hey, Phil, it is soooo not in your best interests to vote Republican if you are a true follower of Christ. "Blessed are the Peacemakers," remember that? McCain supported the invasion of Iraq for the sole purpose of protecting our oil. "It is easier for a camel to get through the Eye of the Needle than it is for a rich man to get into heaven." Remember that? Under Republican rule, more wealth has moved to the top 1%. I swear, we are living in an era when 23% of the vote is cast by Pharesees. Personally, I think Jesus would throw the evangelicals out of His House. I really do.

Too bad the senior leadership for many evangelical groups do not understand that Obama will be better for them than McCain.

Obama is open-minded and will certainly embrace many of their goals such as a reduction in abortions, stuartship of the earth and faith-based community initiatives.

I think the young evangelicals get this but the older (and angrier ones) do not.

http://laststopmidwest.blogspot.com

Use the Google to check out Phil Burress, and you'll find that he's one of those Larry Craig Repubs.  Apparently, he is a strong opponent of pornography, but he used to indulge quite a bit himself.

I give McCain a week before he rejects and denounces this piece of evangelical trash.

This is one part of the electorate that Obama doesn't need.  In fact, I'd feel really uncomfortable if these closed-minded, one-issue, holier-than-thou fanatics were on our team.

Obama 08

What a sad state you are in when your evangelical leader is also a flip=flopper!,,,I'm guessing that Burress didn't like the idea of the chuch and goverment getting together and trying to help out some famileys that are in need!

Well McCain AND Obama still need to get vice presidents, and there is a weekly poll at http://www.votenic.com . The results are worth looking at.

So - another evangelical leader has sold his soul to the Republicans...I wonder what that cost - a promise of an influential consulting role?

"Personally, I can't wait any longer and can't take the chance that Obama will be our next president," Burress said in a memo he sent to evangelicals across the country. "I spent an hour sitting next to McCain, questioning him and listening as the group took him to task on issues like embryonic stem cell research... For me this election is primarily about the next Supreme Court appointments, even though McCain is with us on many other issues as well."
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Really? This is what "clearly impressed" with McCain sounds like?   LOL

How to choose the next President depends on the direction in which you wish to see this country go.

~ I want out of Iraq,
~ I want diplomacy first, sanctions second, war last.
~ I want our infrastructure attended to.
~ I want a real, comprehensive, oil-weaning, energy policy.
~ I want OSHA, MSHA, FDA and the EPA (at a minimum) to be fully functioning, protecting the American Consumer from those who worship at the altar of greed.
~ I want a non-Partisan DOJ, and a thinking, compassionate, people oriented, Supreme Court -- one that follows the intent of the Constititution.
~ I want a President who won't embarrass this country every time s/he opens their mouth to speak.
~ I want our President to be the smartest person in the room.

McCain is not going to take us in that direction.

McCain was a slacker at Annapolis, he graduated 894 out of 899 from the Naval Academy at Annapolis because he admittedly preferred strip clubs and bars to studying. This was your tax dollars at work.

He crashed a total of 5 planes during his flying career and he is considered to be the probable cause of the worst shipboard fire in Navy history on the USS Forrestal.  His incompetency killed several American sailors that day.  

McCain dumped his first wife because she gained weight after an almost fatal auto accident.  Then after he returned from Vietnam, he was constantly committing adultery, including with future wife Cindy, before he finally divorced his first wife.

He went to flight school because he was an admiral's son and bumped someone who earned the right to go.

Except for the fact that he actually went to Vietnam, he is just like Bush43 -- a poster child of nepotism.

Despite being promoted to Captain (probably because of daddy, the admiral) and his time as a POW, he was never given a command befitting that rank, once again, nepotism at work.

He's flipped on every issue that he used to have a firm position on, including the issue of torture. Ironic huh.

His judgement also includes being part of the S&L scandal (he was a member of the Keating Five, but Cindy's money got him out of that) and condoning the Swift Boat attacks on John Kerry. Hypocrisy much!

We've already had one undeserving President that got everywhere because of his father, we don't need another.

Politics is the art of compromise. An uncomfortable, painful giving over of part of your soul, sometimes.

G-D, have mercy on us.

I'm a dem that favors the death penalty, but hates abortion, (though I concur that rare abortions for rape, and the saving of the mother's life, etc., are rational, and moral choices).

McCain is QUALIFIED to lead our country - obama is NOT - very Simple!
Obama is Hardly the one to speak to America about religion - his mother was an athiest - and then - Rev. Wright - Radical, Racist.

Obama is a FRAUD he will CHANGE his message daily to suit his political gain.

Why is stem cell research more important to these so-called religious leaders than the issues of war and poverty? WWJD?

Phil Burress, conservative right wing proponent of "family values", supports John McCain, who cheated on his first wife and dumped her when she became "unattractive". The same John McCain who married his mistress because of her beer money and political position and now refers to her as a c**t and trollop!
I guess Phil Burress and his Citizens for Community Values, is just as big a hypocrite as McSame. Some family values...what a joke these people are.

This is yet more evidence that Evangelicals are being duped by their leaders into following a political, rather than social, agenda. Seriously, what has any Republican done for any Evangelical in the last twenty-five years?

It is shocking that these people want Supreme Court Justices who make decisions based upon religious doctrine instead of wanting jurists of intelligence, wisdom, integrity and a thorough understanding of constitutional principles.  I would be hard put to find a more unpatriotic group in this country. These are issues where McCain's patriotism is in question.

Looks to me like we've got a replay of Clinton
(Obama) vs. Dole (McCain), and we all remember
how that turned out, don't we...

Yeah, I'd agree that this election is, for me, primarily about the Supreme Court -- only my conclusion is exactly the opposite: OBAMA MUST WIN!!! I'm a former Clinton supporter who knows what's at stake.

Molly:  Simply by using all capital letters for the word "qualified" in your post doesn't make it so.

The rest of your post is a non-sequitor.  If it's incoherent you're going for, you hit the nail on the head, sweetie.

Obama 08

The latest round of polls find split decision in Florida but Obama winning in Virginia: http://campaigndiaries.com/2008/07/01/tuesday-polls-split-florida-polls-dole-increases-lead-though-nc-is-a-presidential-toss-up/

Despite being promoted to Captain (probably because of daddy, the admiral) and his time as a POW, he was never given a command befitting that rank, once again, nepotism at work.

Carol in Long Valley, there's so much to comment on in your ignorant post, but I'll just pick this one.  McCain commanded the largest squadron in the Navy as a Captain.   He was not going to get promoted to flag because physically he was in terrible shape (try being strung up by ropes and beaten for hours, and try having a broken leg with no medical attention) and see how you hold up.  As far as 'dumping his first wife because she gained weight', get a clue.  The fact that his first wife doesn't speak ill of him should probably tell you to let go of your bitterness.   Did he behave honorably, no-but is he the first person to go through a divorce?  How many of us are divorced?  He's more than taken responsibility for the end of his first marriage.  It was 30 years ago, get over it already.  Your boy Obama has his share of questionable character traits himself.  

See! Women who vote McCain need their heads examined...you will be voting away the reproductive rights for all future generations of women
----------------------------------------------
Pat in Huntington, speak for yourself and quit speaking for women.  I'd rather have an pro-life President than one who has no problem with partial birth abortion.  Or let me put it another way: infanticide.  

McCain isn't even a member of the church he attends.  Seems they have a rule that you must be baptised in that church to be a member, and that is just too much trouble for Mr. McCain.

These evangelicals are starting to remind me of the rabbi's in Jesus' time. They rejected Christ because He was a challenge to their authority and way of life. Now in no way am I equating Obama with Christ. Obama is NOT a savior of the world or the US. I am only comparing modern day evangelicals to religious leaders of the past that thought they were holier than thou. The day my pastor starts talking politics from the pulpit is the day I leave his church. I go there to learn about Christ and his teaching not my pastor's political views or who he thinks Jesus would vote for.

When will people learn?  We already have a conservative Supreme Court that can overturn Roe vs Wade. The republicans do not want it to go to court, because this is their one and only selling point to evangelicals.  Why do the evangelicals allow themselves to be duped by this issue everytime?  
I guess they don't mind  the 4,113 soldiers dead in 5 years due to another dupe of the republican party.  

Senator Obama has made a profession of faith in Christ, he is just as Christian as any evangelical based on his belief.

It is an outright lie that a McCain presidency will change the courts to favor abolishing legal abortion.  5 republican presidents and 25 years of republican presidency's haven't changed it thus far.  

Actually Molly, someone who is intelligent and has an open mind and has been exposed to many religions and atheism is very qualified to discuss religion.  It is the closed mind who has only heard the teachings of their narrow sect that has nothing to offer in a discussion.  Try opening your mind; you never know what you might find.

McCain is QUALIFIED to lead our country - obama is NOT - very Simple!
Obama is Hardly the one to speak to America about religion - his mother was an athiest - and then - Rev. Wright - Radical, Racist.

Obama is a FRAUD he will CHANGE his message daily to suit his political gain.
Molly (Sent Wednesday, July 02, 2008 11:50 AM)
..................................................

Molly:
I've read your posts day after day and have found them to be totaly inane. Having said that, PLEASE post more.  It's reall goof to see how a typical McCain supporter thinks and just how focused they are on the issues.

Way back in March, I attended a big evangelical trade show and conference. It was illuminating to me the total frustration of the evangelicals with McCain and Bush. Bush actually spoke at the conference, (it was still an invitation only thing), but nobody was all that excited to go. But it was the attitude towards McCain that was most interesting. The movement was called "Just my vote". In other words, McCain would get their vote, but not their money or their work. This is where I think that McCain is going to have trouble. The folks that campaigned and worked to get out the vote for Bush, are just not there with McCain. The dollars for mailings and emails are just not there for McCain. It's the enthusiasm that McCain lacks.

Carol from NJ--you said it all!  At the beginning of the primary season, I told my father, a conservative Republican, that the person who would get my vote would be the candidate who argued most persuasively for getting our combat troops out of Iraq; the man or woman who had the smartest approach to improving our ailing economy, schools, and healthcare system; and the one who exhibited our best chance for regaining our respect from other nations around the world. That brilliant, articulate, thoughtful, and compassionate person is Barack Obama.  

My dad, who is fiscally responsible and very attuned to economic affairs, is struggling with his choices this year.  He doesn't feel "safe" with Obama (since he's a younger, less-known candidate), but he sees that McCain's gimmicky ideas for solving our complex economic problems won't work, and his attitude towards war is scary.  

My prayer is that Obama will just continue to stay on message, showing people who he is and what he stands for. Then people like my dad will be able to trust him, hopefully!

They must of passed the collection plate in Burress's church to Cindy McCain...

What kinda CC debt do you rack up Phil?  Are you passing that money on helping the children of God? or are you buying 100k cars and living in million dollar homes??  

My guess is the latter.  Just another pandering lobbyist, only this one speaks in "toungues"

Mark Murray,

I may sound as if I am beating up on First Read today, but I jsut feel that you giuys are not reporting objectively today. You fogot to mention that as recently as lst week, Phil Buress daughter is being mentioned as the possible pick for GOP's Attorney General, so don't you see the link here. It's a really not a conservative or evangelical  approach/support, it's a conflict of interest on Burress' part.........I am sure you conveniently forgot to mention that Phil Buress is former porn addict who somehow found the light and has amde and continues to make lots of moola as an evagelical by first getting started as an evagelical in Hawaai where most people had no idea who he was(the porn addict) and themn got back itno the mainland once he was an established gay/lesbian hater and amikng money from it.......Preacher or businessman?

This is why Church and State should be separate.  There are more at task this year than the Supreme Court, evidently he doesn't mind people being killed in Iraq over a lie tat got us there, not does he care that this economy is in shambles.  

If Obama did nothing for people of faith there would be a problem.  
To be honest I don't care about this, I just do not want 4 more years of Bush; so whatever!

Molly,

What makes McCain qualified to be president or to speak to America on Religion?

Also, there have been many atheist converts to Christianity as well as other religious converts. Does that make them less of a Christian? If I read my Bible correctly, no one becomes a Christian without confessing their love and belief in Christ. Before that they are as lost as non believers. It just seems you think some Christians have more authority than others and that is completely opposite of what Christ taught us.

I like the idea of the "Christian Left" I am actually not christian myself but I believe in the teachings of Jesus the Christ (among others) and I have many christian friends (ok they are Mormons, but believe me, Mormons are Christians. You can't have the word Christ in your name and not be a Christian faith. I say this in defense of the LDS church btw, I think its rediculous that they would get attacked by the RIGHT... Living in Utah, they are viewed as the Right here) and they believe in many "leftist" views. Some christians put some of the ideals of Christ like do unto others as you would have them do unto you, and helping the poor, and caring about all mankind as your brethren, and forgiveness, etc... more then they do about whos screwing who. For such people who are deeply religious, where are they going to go but left?

This is hardly a glowing endorsement.  Just an evangelical getting nervous that his followers might start making up their own minds and decide that Obama's approach to many issues that they care about is much better than John McCains.  Obama has always tried reaching out to people of faith to work together on the issues that bring us together rather than divide.

Molly-who cares that Obama's mom was not religious.  I respect his belief in Christian faith that much more, because it is a choice he made on his own (not one his parents made for him).

True post.  But, all it will take is one prominent evangelical backing Obama and McCain is a goner.  As an aside, a new site that some here in the comments section steered me toward is shaping up slowly to be really good.  Worth checking out a couple of times a day:  www.culturethreads.com.  It's got some good thoughts this morning.... worth spreading around.  www.culturethreads.com

But on anther note, this guy fits McCains mold to the T.

Here's McCain's running and ever growing list of flip flops:

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/9111.html

So who really wil say anything and everything to get elected?

Molly (Sent Wednesday, July 02, 2008 11:50 AM)

McCain wasn't even qualified to lead in the Navy, he doesn't lead in the Senate, why on God's earth would you want to promote him?  

McCain is QUALIFIED to lead our country - obama is NOT - very Simple!
Obama is Hardly the one to speak to America about religion - his mother was an athiest - and then - Rev. Wright - Radical, Racist.

Obama is a FRAUD he will CHANGE his message daily to suit his political gain.
Molly (Sent Wednesday, July 02, 2008 11:50 AM)
---------------------------------------------------

Take a friggen economics class and then look at McCons policies...Here's what you are easily voting for:

War with IRAN and another 5000+ dead american soldiers.

Another 6 trillion in debt most of which would belong to foriegn countries.

Millions of outsourced jobs because of "free but not fair" trade.

Billions spent on increasing our addiction to Oil with no real resolution to kick the habit.

No plans for enhanced educational programs, further distancing our workers skill from the best in the world.

A sink or swim healthcare system that continues to be the most expensive per person in the world, with having a mortallity rate not even in the top 10.

Gas at 7-8 dollars a gallon



You asked for it.

I've done my research on the issues...why don't you turn off the t.v. stop reading political chain emails and get with the program.

OBAMA 08

This election is about 2 major issues-the courts and getting out of Iraq. That's why the democrat will get my vote

A month ago Burress didn't like McFossil. Today he embraces him. Sounds like these two were made for each other. Flip-Floppers (in G-D's eyes). You got idiots like this standing in the way of embryonic stem cell research that would help millions of people; THAT'S why it's so important to keep McFossil OUT OF OFFICE. If nothing more than to stop the conservatives he would appoint to the Supreme Court. Another conservative would send woman's rights back 50 years. NOT THIS TIME! Obama '08.

Molly--the fact that Obama's mother was an agnostic (not atheist) and his stepfather was a Muslim makes it all the more amazing that he was drawn towards the Christian faith as a young adult.  Obama has made a profession of faith in Jesus and been baptized.  Furthermore, the way he conducts his life--his marriage, his relationships with others, his compassion for the poor and less fortunate--show how he lives out his faith.  

What is McCain's faith?  We don't know.  He also has some less-than-stellar people with whom he has surrounded himself.  If you want to bring up Wright, don't forget McCain's advisor Parsley, or his much-sought-after endorsement from Hagee.

Evangelicals are not thinking clearly if they pick McCain over Obama.  

This reminds me a lot of the black leadership in NY backing Hillary.  Clearly the black constituency wants change and Obama will bring it.  The Black Leadership seemed to like things they way they are.  And you saw what happened.  These old timey evangelicals are clearly endorsing against the grain, but the evangelical consitituency, of course the non racists, will go Obama.

Phil Burress said..."And if Obama wins I need to able to get up on November 5th, look at myself in the mirror, and when I pray, say, "Lord, I did all that I could."........Scripture tells uo to pray for our leaders, because Obama will be the next POTUS

Pat Huntington NY
Can you show me one case where a women is not getting paid the same as a man for the same work? another liberal myth.
Why would you think Evangelicals would support someone who faught to allow infenticide? Really

 Thanks Molly. NOW it is very simple since you've explained it to me. We know that McCain is qualified to be president because he was in a fighter plane that was shot down but what makes you say that Obama is hardly the one to talk about religion? We know he is a Christian who was brought to Christ by a very influential pastor and worked with faith-based organizations and churches during his days as an organizer. Since he is putting more and more of his story out there, I was relieved to see that his faith is such a large part of his make-up. I don't think America knows how McCain feels about faith and the Lord but we do know that Republicans traditionally kowtow to the religious right. I guess there is hope among the evangelicals that McCain will come around.

You're exactly right, ejs, and that's what I was thinking as well. Burress did not sound impressed with McCain. He sounded like he planned to hold his nose and vote, hoping getting more conservative judges onto the SC would take the ball out of McCain's court and put it with the judges.

Carol, Long Valley NJ
I would like to see your proof for anything you stated in you post.
Mostlikely all lies.

Molly, please back up your statement on how McCain is more qualified to lead our country. Re Obama and his mom. Regardless of what her religious feelings were, Obama is not the same person! Really! We are all capable of making up our own minds, and I'm sure Obama has done his own soul searching, and developed his own opinions. Same thing goes with his affiliation with Rev Wright.

I don't think Obama is the only candidate to have ever changed his position on an issue.

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