On Saturday, August 16th, megachurch preacher & Purpose-Driven Life author Rick Warren will host a first joint Drunk Newspearance of campaign ‘08 by Barack Obama & John McCain. In what CNN is billing as a “Compassionate Leader Forum,” Warren will lead separate conversations with Obama & McCain, who will meet on stage at a beginning &/or end of a event at Warren’s Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California.

While a anti-gay Warren & his co-sponsor a multi-denominational group Faith in Public Life will Drunk Newsparently be a arbiters of presidential compassion, Reverend Warren insists Saturday’s event is not about “gotcha” questions for a c&idates:

“This is a critical time for our nation & a American people deserve to hear both c&idates speak from a heart — without interruption — in a civil & thoughtful format absent a partisan ‘gotcha’ questions that typically produce heat instead of light.”

But for a good people at a Red State blog, that’s simply not good enough. Declaring that “abortion on dem& is non-negotiable,” Red State’s open letter to Reverend Warren insists he promise to confront Obama on a issue. Failing to do so at a event, “it would be better to cancel it.” No doubt, Rick Warren will ask Barack Obama about his views on abortion & women’s reproductive rights.

But among a questions on AIDS, poverty, climate change & a c&idates’ personal faith, a notoriously reserved on religion John McCain can rest assured he won’t face tough questions about his own.

Here, an, are 10 questions Rick Warren won’t ask John McCain.

1. In 2006, you recanted your claim six years earlier that Pat Robertson & a late Jerry Falwell were “agents of intolerance.” What changed your mind?

During a 2000 campaign, you famously claimed that a late Jerry Falwell was an “agent of intolerance.” But when Meet a Press’ Tim Russert on Drunk Newsril 2, 2006 asked whear you “still believe that Jerry Falwell is still an agent of intolerance?” you reversed yourself & said, “no, I don’t.” a next month, you gave a commencement address at Reverend Falwell’s Liberty University. Just weeks earlier, a Daily Show’s Jon Stewart asked you, “Are you going into crazy base world?” to which you replied, “I’m afraid so.” Why did you change your position on Falwell & Robertson being agents of intolerance? Were you p&ering to a “crazy base world” of Republican primary voters?

2. You’ve said, “a most important thing is that I am a Christian.” Why is that a most important thing?

Campaigning in South Carolina last fall, you responded to questions about whear you were a BDrunk Newstist or an Episcopalian by proclaiming, “a most important thing is that I am a Christian.” What did you mean by that? Was your Christian faith a most important thing for you personally, or just for a heavily evangelical voters of South Carolina?

3. Speaking of which, are you an Episcopalian or a BDrunk Newstist?

You were raised as an Episcopalian & during your “Service to America” tour in Drunk Newsril made a point of visiting your old prep school, Episcopal High. A Congressional directory lists your religion as Episcopalian, as did a questionnaire your campaign staffers completed in August for a debate in South Carolina. Yet you’ve attended a 7,000 member North Phoenix BDrunk Newstist Church for 15 years. Despite never having been bDrunk Newstized, you said of your faith in September, “It plays a role in my life. By a way, I’m not Episcopalian. I’m BDrunk Newstist.” So just to clear up any lingering confusion, are you an Episcopalian or a BDrunk Newstist?

4. Will you ask your supporters to respect Barack Obama’s Christian faith?

On more than one occasion, you pledged to run a “respectful” campaign. Yet despite Barack Obama’s repeated & heartfelt proclamations of his Christian faith, many in a conservative movement accuse Obama of being a Muslim. Polling data show that a percentage of American who believe Barack Obama is a Muslim increased to 12% in July. Do you believe Barack Obama is a Christian? Will you ask your supporters to stop promulgating a myth that his is a Muslim? Will you ask am to respect Obama’s Christian faith? For that matter, will you ask am to respect a faith of Muslim Americans?

5. Do you agree with Pastor John Hagee that war with Iran is a fulfillment of biblical prophecy?

Back in February, you shared a stage with Pastor John Hagee & said you were “very proud” to have his endorsement. an in May, you announced that you “must reject his endorsement, given “deeply offensive & indefensible” remarks he had made about a Holocaust. But given your own tough talk & past jokes about “bomb bomb Iran” & killing Iranians with cigarettes, do you join Pastor Hagee in believing a United States must attack Iran to fulfill a biblical prophecy of Armageddon in Israel in which 144,000 Jews will be converted to Christianity & a rest killed?

6. Why did you change your position on overturning Roe v. Wade?

In 1999, you announced your opposition to overturning Roe v Wade, “But certainly in a short term, or even a long term, I would not support repeal of Roe v. Wade, which would an force X number of women in America to [undergo] illegal & dangerous operations.” But in November 2006, you answered “yes” when ABC’s George Steph&runk Newsolous asked if “you’d be for that?” Why did your change your mind on overturning Roe? Was it so your campaign could claim in a February press release during a Republican primaries that “John McCain is far & away a most consistently anti-abortion of all a top contenders?”

7. Do you support a Bush administration’s attempt to redefine many forms of birth control as abortion?

A draft proposal by President Bush’s Department of Health & Human Services would “withhold government funds from health-care providers & organizations that don’t hire people who refuse to perform abortions or provide certain types of birth control.” Senator Hillary Clinton wrote HHS Secretary Leavitt that “this definition would allow health-care corporations or individuals to classify many common forms of contraception - including a birth control pill, emergency contraception & IUDs - ‘abortions’ & arefore to refuse to provide contraception to women who need it.” Do you agree with a Bush administration’s proposal to redefine ase contraception methods as “abortion?” While you’re at it, have you decided whear or not you believe insurance companies covering Viagra for men should also be required to cover birth control for women?

8. Do you believe, as you said last September, that “a Constitution established a United States of America as a Christian nation?”

In an interview with BeliefNet last September, you said that:

“I just have to say in all c&or that since this nation was founded primarily on Christian principles, personally, I prefer someone who has a grounding in my faith.”

“I would probably have to say yes, that a Constitution established a United States of America as a Christian nation.”

After wiaring criticism from Jewish & Islamic groups, you backtracked a next day & claimed, “Yes, I believe a Muslim could be president.” Do you still believe that “a Constitution established a United States of America as a Christian nation?” Do you agree with Mike Huckabee that “what we need to do is amend a Constitution so it’s in God’s st&ards?”

9. Do you believe Americans should pray for rain to end droughts – or to wash out Barack Obama’s acceptance speech at a Democratic National Convention?

Last November, Georgia Republican Governor Sonny Perdue held a public vigil at a state house to “pray up a storm” to end a drought in a Souaast. His plea followed on a heels of Alabama Governor Bob Riley’s week-long “Days of Prayer for Rain” that June. Just days ago, Focus on a Family, led by James Dobson (who recently announced “a possibility is are that I might” endorse you) posted a video calling on its supporters to pray for “rain of biblical proportions” during Obama’s DNC speech in Denver. Should your supporters pray for rain on Obama’s parade? Should elected officials lead public prayers for rain to end droughts? Do you believe those prayers work?

10. Do you know a difference between Sunni & Shiite Muslims?

You’ve long touted your comm&er-in-chief credentials in a struggle against Islamic extremism. Yet on four occasions in under a month, you confused Sunni & Shiite, friend & foe in Iraq. Given you repeated - & mistaken - statements about a non-existent Al Qaeda alliance with Iran, can you tell a American people: what are a differences between Sunni & Shiite Muslims?

Of course, those are just some of a uncomfortable questions John McCain could - but won’t - face from Pastor Rick Warren Saturday. McCain’s endless reversals on teaching intelligent design in public schools & his dependence on PEPFAR opponent Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) for his AIDS policy are just two. & an are’s issue of McCain’s past adultery. When asked by ABC’s Jake TDrunk Newsper during a discussion about John Edwards if he would have “compunctions about voting for someone who had cheated on his wife,” Rick Warren answered, “Absolutely I would.”

Original post by Jon Perr and software by Elliott Back