The Get-Together At Saddleback

This conservative California blogger has joined with other Bay Area bloggers to start a new pro-John McCain site. I wish them well in their efforts to keep the junior senator from Illinois out of the White House, which, in my view, is the best reason to support McCain.

I have several comments on last night's "Civil Forum" moderated by Rev. Rick Warren at his Saddleback Church in southern California (which I did not realize until yesterday is a Southern Baptist church).

When asked by Warren to name the top three persons whose advice he would seek as president, Sen. McCain included U. S. Rep. John Lewis (D-Georgia). This is the same Congressman Lewis who, on the House floor, has compared Republicans to Nazis and Ku Klux Klansmen.

Sen. Obamanation named Clarence Thomas as a justice that he would not have appointed to the Supreme Court. McCain, on the other hand, listed justices Ginsburg, Breyer, Souter, and Stevens (a youthful age 88) as ones that he would not have nominated. I like what McCain said about the Supreme Court, particularly in regard to the abortion issue. Let's remember, however, that the Democrats will likely have a bigger majority in the Senate than they have now. A President McCain will have great difficulty getting a justice in the mold of Scalia, Thomas, Roberts, or Alito confirmed-- especially if that justice will be the decisive vote in overturning the Roe v. Wade abortion ruling.

I also find it interesting, as related to the Saddleback event, that there has been absolutely no mention of the "separation of church and state."

Did you know, incidentally, that former Rep. Bob Barr, the Libertarian presidential nominee, filed for an injunction against the Saddleback forum? I haven't seen anything about Barr's suit on the TV news (there couldn't really be a news blackout of the minor party candidates, could there?).

On the subject of McCain's prospective running mate, I trust that he's shrewd enough not to actually pick a pro-abortion candidate. One such possibility is Tom Ridge, the former Pennsylvania governor and Homeland Security director. A pro-abortion Catholic, Ridge was a congressman during the 1980s, when he openly opposed President Reagan's missile defense proposal, the Strategic Defense Initiative. Ridge was also part of the "nuclear freeze" gang.

Another potential McCain vice president is Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, the Democrat Algore's running mate in 2000. Let's not forget that Lieberman (1) has this year donated $100,000-plus to Democratic Senate candidates, and (2) thinks it's copacetic to suck the brains out of babies.

I thought that Obamanation did well at last night's forum, but that McCain had the better performance.