I will have more to say, likely tomorrow, on the contrast between the candidates as illustrated during MSNBC's Special: "McCain and Obama--Forum on the American Presidency" hosted by Rick Warren at Saddleback Church.  If you have two hours to spare and have not seen the special, click the link above because the interview-style "debate" gives a good sense of the candidates' positions and abilities.

What I want to focus on in today's blog, however, is the inexcusable bias presented during the five-minute, post-debate wrap up by MSNBC correspondent David Shuster and his two conservative commentators, Pat Buchanan and Michelle Bernard.

By way of background, David Shuster was with Fox News from 1996 to 2002 and was their lead correspondent on McCain's "Straight Talk Express" during the 2000 campaign.  Shuster's background doesn't necessarily make him biased, but it does help explain a post-debate "analysis" that began with Shuster saying:

"John McCain, of course, came across as very energetic, passionate--even seemed very comfortable in the format.  Barack Obama by contrast in his hour perhaps thoughtful, intellectual...um, maybe even more deliberate."

I've searched the internet for video of Shuster's introduction because it's even more clear that he's cheerleading for McCain and denigrating Obama when one hears the manner in which he says, "intellectual."

Pat Buchanan, by contrast, found Obama "tortured and almost tentative...like a college sophomore who had not studied theology and was now facing his orals." 

Shuster noted a few minutes later that McCain received 3 applause interruptions for every Obama applause line.  (Now there's an intellectual argument, eh?)  Of course, neither Shuster nor his conservative pundit guests bothered to contextualize the audience.  The forum took place at a conservative, evangelical church in the heart of Orange County, a Republican stronghold.  McCain got more applause than Obama because he was talking to his base while Obama was talking across the aisle.

Then Michelle Bernard joined in the love fest for McCain saying he was "comfortable" and "at ease."  "A real contrast," she added, "with Barack Obama.  With Barack Obama tonight you really saw a lot of gray areas...whereas with John McCain things were either black or white."

Shuster went on to say, "I thought the contrast was so clear.  For example, John McCain was asked what to do about evil and he simply said, 'Defeat it' and left it at that whereas Barack Obama gave this sort of winding intellectual answer."

There's that word again.

So tell me, when did being intellectual become a negative quality in a president?  Dictionary.com describes intellectual as "appealing to or engaging the intellect...possessing or showing mental capacity, especially to a high degree." 

Oh no.  We don't want that!

Seriously, a grown man said that we should DEFEAT evil.  Really?  How is McCain going to do that?  Does he have a cape and secret powers of which we are unaware?  Is he Super-McCain?  If not, how does he merit praise for his simplistic, even naive, statment?

Because McCain is not Super McCain.  He's going to defeat evil the old fashioned-way (which is to say not really) by defining it narrowly (in this case as "radical Islamic extremism') and then by announcing victory (presumably on some aircraft carrier to be named later).

Obama's answer to the question?  We are not able to erase evil from the world, that's God's job.  But evil has to be confronted.  We are responsible to do so on an individual basis.  And we are to do so humbly, mindful that much evil has been perpetrated in the name of good.

Give me the intellectual man, who acknowledges his humanity and his limits, who answers with thoughtful nuance and genuine hope.  I'll take him any day over the glib good old boy who promises no new taxes, wealth for everyone, and declares himself able to defeat evil.  (Why does the refrain, "meet the new boss...same as the old boss" run through my brain when I cover McCain's positions?)

So...two thumbs up to Pastor Warren for putting together and pulling off this forum.

Two thumbs down to MSNBC for biased coverage.

Let's hope people listened to the forum and the issues, not the post-forum punditry.

I expected to have something for you (dear reader) about the Obama/McCain visit to Saddleback Church in nearby Lake Forest.  I watched the first hour...but then our tee time came up so we have a golf delay until tomorrow.

Fitting since golf is all about expectations, eh?

(Golf?  Did someone say golf?)

So after I watched Obama's hour with Pastor Rick Warren, Dan and I headed out for a midday outing at Aliso Viejo Country Club.  We played the first nine holes with Ryan and Tara...also local residents.  (They were a fun pair who enjoyed each other and were only enduring a minor golf obsession).  After Tara left to catch a plane, we played somewhat less dismally as a twosome during a five-hour round. 

Not a horrible result for either of us.

but if I may say, not what we were expecting, either.

So...somewhat like life, eh?

Which leads me to the Sunday Question (C'mon, ya'll...chime in!)

Is it better to have high expectations and be disappointed?  Or low expectations and be satisfied?

Discuss...

There's a very provocative op-ed in today's LA Times in which authors Linda Bilmes and Joseph Stiglitz call for Iraq to start footing the bill for reconstruction out of the budget surplus they currently enjoy. 

The surplus comes, of course, from oil--which, if I recall from Dick Cheney's pre-war assertions, was going to fund the war and the reconstruction.  Instead, we keep pouring money, training, time and the precious lives of our soldiers into Iraq.

The Iraqis have recently stated that they want a timeline for troop withdrawal from their country.  Isn't that a good indication that they are (or should be) ready to step up and start sharing the financial burdens of reconstruction?

I agree with Obama that we need a timeline as a critical part of our exit strategy.  And after reading this op-ed, I agree with Bilmes and Stiglitz that we're approaching the point where we've done more than enough financially to fulfill our obligations to Iraq.  Especially when they charge us premium fuel prices for the pleasure of policing their country.

About coming home that feels so darn good?  We arrived about 20 minutes ago after a 6 1/2 hour drive from the "South Bay" and our good friends, Erik and Bob.  Prior to leaving we enjoyed a gi-normous breakfast with them.  This enabled us to push through without much more than a snack break.

Now I am for the couch with a good book and a smile of satisfaction on my face!

We spent the afternoon wandering about Santa Clara and Gilroy with Erik, then headed back to the hotel for a rest.  No A/C in Erik's car, so we needed to "air out."

Once here, I checked out the LA Times and read an interesting article on Rick Warren, head of one of the largest mega-churches in the U.S. (Saddleback Church).  Warren, who also wrote the best-selling, The Purpose Driven Life, has accomplished the feat of bringing together rival presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain on the same stage (scheduled for this weekend). 

The article focused primarily on the clout Warren has developed, resulting in his ability to pull off this coup.  As a recovering evangelical Christian, I was more encouraged by the hope that Warren's ascendency indicates a fundamental shift in American Christianity.

While Warren's compatriots (Falwell, Robertson and Dobson), have been extremely involved in political campaigns and have succeeded in shifting the Republican party to the extreme right on social issues, Rick Warren takes a different stance.  He is more concerned with issues of social justice than divisive focus on homosexuality or abortion.  He does not endorse political candidates.  He is an activist in the fight against AIDS.

His approach reminds me of what originally drew me to Christianity--a focus on compassion, grace and our obligations to our fellow human beings.  Maybe there's hope for Christianity (and followers of Christ rather than followers of dogma) after all.

Got hope?

We've had a lovely day (so far) in Northern California.  It started off with a bit of a "lie in" as they say in Great Britain...Dan and I sleeping in until a bit after 8.  Then we moseyed down to enjoy the Embassy Suites' continental breakfast.

I hit the gym while Dan did a bit of work and before we knew it, it was time to meet Erik.  One of the things I've looked forward to about this trip is that Bob and Erik take such good care of us, come up with fun things to do, and we're not required to do planning of any sort...we can show up and that's good enough.

So it was today.  Erik planned a driving trip to Half Moon Bay, lunch, a bit more driving south along the coast with a short hike to a bird preserve overlook.  Half Moon Bay is a cute little button of a town where we enjoyed a delicious lunch at the Half Moon Bay Inn.  We wandered for a bit through town, stopping in several stores where I bought a sweater and some books.

Who knew it was so cold here in the summer?  Erik relayed a saying of his Dad's that sums it up--"The coldest winter I ever spent was one summer in San Francisco."

The coastline drive was lovely...lots of moody gray ocean, twisting cypress and a few kitesurfers to remind us we were in California.  The hike along the sea bird preserve was suitably breezy and by then, the cloud cover had burned off.  It was still cool but not freezing.  After a short hike, we headed back to the car--windblown and pink-cheeked.

It was an excellent wander made more enjoyable by being able to spend time with two of the best men on the planet.  Tonight should only get better as we join Erik and Bob for dinner...then it's me and three of the best men on the planet.  How lucky can a gal get?

We are safely ensconced in our hotel room (Embassy Suites) in the Silicon Valley after a 7-hour trip from Orange County through the farmlands of the Central Valley.  It was a fairly easy drive, if somewhat dull with all of the hills wearing the scruffy yellow of California summer doldrums.

Driving by various reservoirs, it was clear that the drought is in full swing.  High water level marks are a good six feet above the current level in the local reservoir here.  Global warming contributing quite a bit to this situation, no doubt.

I did enjoy driving through the farmlands about 35 miles east of the Silicon Valley.  We saw corn, spinach and several other unidentified crops.  And we passed semi after semi loaded down with tomatoes.  I wondered if they were headed for the salsa plant, for the tomato sauce plant, for the ketchup plant or for the spaghetti sauce plant.

The next two and a half days we will be spending time with our friends, Erik and Bob.  No specific plans yet beyond cooking a group meal one night and going out the other.  Put Erik and me in a room together and we're able to come up with about 3,000 things we could possibly do in the next 72 hours.  It's a good thing we have Bob and Dan to coax us out of planning and into doing.

By the way, coming through Gilroy the smell of garlic was so intense I couldn't imagine what it would be like to live nearby and attempt to eat anything other than salsa and spaghetti sauce.  Where are those semis?

Before we get to the Sunday Question, a bit of an update on the 30th Reunion.

The party was held at the Paradise Point Resort in San Diego.  About 200 people from a class of over 1,000 attended...so not the best turnout in terms of numbers.  But it was a wonderful turnout in other ways.

At the outset, I ran into a friend of mine from grammar school, Loreto Remorca and told him that I'd just been thinking of his campaign slogan when he ran for student government--"Vote for Loreto.  He's "Remorcable."  Even though I've never been one for puns, I've always loved that one.

I saw about ten folks throughout the evening with whom I'd gone to elementary school.  I was surprised by the depth of connection I felt to these men and women as compared to individuals whom I'd met in High School (and of whom I would have sworn while in High School that we'd always remain close).  Jackie nee Beaupre, who used to walk with me to Hawthorne Elementary school, was one of my earliest friends and I especially enjoyed catching up with her.

I also ran into folks that I knew I'd been connected with in High School or Junior High...but I couldn't quite place the connection.  No matter.  We would chat amiably and find out about each other's lives.  Hugs abounded.  Old boundaries of social sets were, for the most part, blurred.

The Warhawks 78 class seems to have done an excellent job of procreating.  Most folks had at least two kids.  Only a few of us were childless.  I ran into the wife of an ex-boyfriend, a couple of ex-boyfriends, a number of friends who've come out of the closet since school.  I was surprised by the number of alums who still live in San Diego (about 50% of those attending) and the number who moved to New Jersey/New York (about 4%).

Many of those I spoke to have lost one of their parents.  I feel especially glad that Dan and I have complete sets (and a few spares!) of parents still living, and whom we love and cherish.  Many of those who had surviving parents spoke of troubled relationships.  Again, counting my blessings.

I spent a great portion of the evening with Jean Marie, trying to squeeze substantive conversation in and among the many "Hey, I remember you!" conversations.  It was good to see her, good to hear about her life, her boys, her marriage, her job.  I suspect we'll be back in contact.  And the same with Mona.

It was nice to feel comfortable in my own skin at the reunion; definitely not the case when I went to my 10th.  At that time, I still felt many of the old judgements and insecurities that hampered me in High School.  This time was different.  Sure, I was nervous to go into a room of virtual strangers.  But I no longer felt at the mercy of their conclusions about me, like I did when I first walked through the gates of MHS.  Instead I was curious, eager to see a few specific folks, more than willing to leave if I got bored.  (I couldn't have been too bored, I stayed for four hours.)

All of which leads me to the Sunday Question.  High School was a stressful time for many folks.  If you could go back in time and give yourself a piece of advice about your High School years, what would it be? 

We had a good time playing golf at Cottonwood's Ivanhoe course this morning.  The first tee time was at 6:15 a.m. with Dan and I joining Lori Butters and Steve (whose last name escapes me), both of whom I went to Jr. High with.  I remembered Lori right away but it took a while to remember Steve.  They were delightful golfing companions and we had a good round.

Dan won for closest to the pin on the 4th hole.  I won for lowest gross score (it was me against Lori so I had a 50/50 chance).  I ran into a few other folks I knew from High School; Mike Howell and Perry Wright amongst them.  Very fun to see how folks have turned out.  Nice bunch of "kids" I went to school with. 

Now it's time for a nap and then getting ready for the shindig at Paradise Island tonight.  I think I'll be home pretty early but Dan's betting I'm not home until 10 p.m.  Something about my being chatty.  Hmmm.

 

We're down in San Diego for my High School Reunion (kicking off tomorrow with a 6:00 a.m. tee time at the Reunion Golf Tournament).  The festivities started a bit early today with the marriage of my friend, Mona and her girlfriend, Holly in Chula Vista.

Mona and I met in the fifth grade.  We spent time together in grammar school, had intersecting schedules, classes and interests throughout Junior and Senior High.  As she mentioned tonight, she saw me through my (first) wild child phase to my conversion to Christianity as a teen.  We went to the same church for a while, Clairemont Emmanuel, as did many of my friends.

We've been in sporadic contact through the years and I am so glad we've reconnected given the opportunity both of the reunion and the wedding.  To be there as she joined with Holly, to see her as a beautiful woman and remember the girl she was...what a blessing.  I am proud to be in a state where gays and lesbians are entitled to the same rights as heterosexuals--to marry the person they love, to have that marriage legally recognized with the obligations and joys that accompany the legal and the spiritual state of being a family. That's something new...and something too long coming.

Dan and I also reconnected with my long-ago best friend, JeanMarie, at the wedding.  JM and I have fallen out of touch over the past 10 years or so...and it's been a good fifteen years since we'd seen each other.  She too has matured into a lovely woman, her eyes sparkling, her sardonic humor coming through in almost every word. 

It's an interesting experience to see someone with whom you were so intimately connected and realize that so much has changed, so many of life's challenges have shaped you in unpredictable ways, that you are wholly different and that person is a stranger.  And then to hear a laugh or catch a physical idosyncracy and the stranger becomes an old friend.

Isn't life rich?