Who the fuck— many of you are asking today — is Rick Warren? And why is he threatening to stink up Obama's inauguration?
Well, Obama invited him. He invited this Billy Graham-pretender pastor to give the invocation at the big ball.
This is a guy who believes that every abortion is a holocaust, who thinks the Iranian PM should be assassinated by early this afternoon, who campaigned like Atilla the HUN for Proposition 8, and yet whines that he "has eaten dinner with gay people, so don't call me phobic."
Oh yeah, and he will fight stem cell research with his last dying breath. Don't I wish.
My beloved Steve Benen at the Washington Monthly writes:
After having had a chance to sleep on it, does Barack Obama's decision to invite Rick Warren to deliver the invocation at his presidential inauguration look any better? Actually, no. I'm probably even more annoyed about it now than I was yesterday.
That said, I've been curious to see what others have come up with as a defense. I suppose, to borrow Rachel Maddow's phrase, I want someone to "talk me down."
I can't talk you down, Steve, and here's why:
1. The only reason this "invitation" flies at all is because anti-gay and sexually divisive bigotry is still considered palatable, while racial and ethnic bigotry is not.
No one can imagine a pastor being invited to speak at any Presidential event who'd made a career of racist invective— and then compounded it by whining, "I'm not phobic; I love all the little colored people!"
2. Warren has ALL the earmarks in his behavior that we saw with Ted Haggard, Larry Craig, Bob Allen, David Vitter, Jimmy Swaggart, et al. Look at his history... where have you heard ALL this before?
If this dude isn't found in a bathroom with a wide stance and a hooker in the next year, someone's not doing their job. Paging Jeff Gannon!
I have a different nomination, if Obama would like to take a second look.
Of course, my first choice would be an The Giant Spaghetti Monster. But if you have to go X-tian for the inauguration, how about Reverend Angela Denise Davis, a black Southern pastor, graduate of Vanderbilt divinity school, who belongs to CLOUT: Christian Lesbians OUT: "proudly progressive, actively anti-racist, creatively spiritual, milagro-bound."
I'd go to one of her services in a minute!
Photos:
1. Portrait of a drowning man: Orange County Register
2. A real church sign, not a fake! This is from a fundie church outside of Columbus, Ohio. Thanks, Tamara!
3. Some of the nice, equality-loving, caring, Christian Lesbian Ministers that Obama could choose from... from CLOUT.