Didn't sit through the 40 min. video of Obama. I guess that was his quote from somewhere in there? It's a pretty good quote.

Anyway, yes, there is a clear contrast between faith and religion. One's got nothing to do with the other. I think that's pretty much spelled out in the Constitution.

Sad that the GOP keeps trying to make it an issue, so Romney has to defend his faith to be a GOP contender and Obama has to explain the Constitution from a church pulpit of all places (I guess that's where it was?).

The most interesting thing in all of this was who introduced Romney, not what he said. That's the real story.

All of these candidates just need to say "my faith is my business, and so is yours. Government's got no business in my faith or yours, and neither your faith nor my faith has any business in government."

If candidates want to pander to whatever groups outside that, then fine, whatever.

I've been sharing that Obama clip with friends for several months now. It really is a fantastic speech -- one of the few I've heard in my lifetime (I'm 35) that I would call "inspiring."

What I find so interesting about the races this cycle is that the only Republican who can speak with that "authentic" evangelical voice that propelled Dubya to the Republican nomination in 2000 is Huckabee, which is probably why he's enjoying such a surge right now. That he's also a bit, um, extreme in some of his views will eventually get him in trouble, I think -- at least if he makes it to the general election.

But, speaking as a lifelong occupant of the evangelical world, I can tell you that Obama's got that voice, too, and I'm tempted to believe it's genuine. Any intellectually honest Christian voter would have to give Obama serious consideration. But intellectual honesty is a tricky matter when it comes time to vote. I'm of the opinion that, when they step into the voting booth, many, many evangelicals are Republicans first and Christians second.

Long Pauses

*Sigh.*

This is where that "values voter" b.s. lands us; each party trying to out-Rove the other.

Has anyone ever come up with a fictional politician-cum-superhero whose superpower is that he can spout pleasing political rhetoric to any particular narrow interest?

"This looks like a job for... THE PANDERER!"

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With the possible exception of things like box scores, race results, and stock market tabulations, there is no such thing as Objective Journalism. The phrase itself is a pompous contradiction in terms.

Did you hear the news that Lumpy wants CC to pass a resolution acknowledging that God was the founder of this country??? what is that about??? Except to distract the public from the "ungodly" actions of CC and Knox county Govt...

i got carried away. my apologies.