The Revelations of Pastor Warren : The Politics of Evil in the US Elections

[Better Believe It]

August 19, 2008

The Revelations of Pastor Warren
The Politics of Evil in the US Elections
By MARWAN BISHARA

I could only shake my head in bewilderment, as I listened to the interviews Rick Warren, a Baptist pastor, conducted with Barack Obama and John McCain, the US presidential candidates for the Democratic and Republican parties, respectively.

Most absurd during the two-hour special were the exchanges about "evil".

When asked how they would deal with evil if they were elected president - would they ignore it, negotiate with it, contain it, or defeat it - Obama said he would "confront it" while McCain said unflinchingly that he would "defeat it".

After this "civil forum" was broadcast on CNN, the network's so-called "best team on television" commented on the candidates' performance.

One pundit commended McCain's steadfastness and courage in wanting to defeat, not merely confront, evil if elected president.

Obama was also praised for acknowledging the existence of evil. He thought it present in Darfur but also on the streets of the US as well as in homes where parents abuse their children, and so on.

The last time I checked, there was no legal or strategic interpretation of evil. An open-ended war on evil leads to Armageddon.

It makes absolutely no sense for a future leader of a superpower to speak of dealing with "evil" as commander-in-chief unless this term is used as populist propaganda during election season.

Please read the entire article at:

http://www.counterpunch.org/bishara08192008.html

[gratuitous]

1. Dog whistle politics at its finest

Warren and his rabbit horde (making "Warren" an interestingly apt name) know what they mean by "evil," but they're not going to be too forthcoming about the particulars with an outsider. And believe me, practically everyone here would be considered an "outsider" to the folks at Warren's church.

It would have been most instructive for someone to have counterquestioned, "What, specifically, do you mean by 'evil,' Brother Warren?" It probably would have stopped the whole thing right in its tracks, especially if the interviewee wasn't satisfied with some bland mouthings about "bad stuff." Were the 9/11 attacks "evil"? How about the massacres at Kama Aido and Haditha? You seem to be squirming in your chair, Mr. Warren; why is that?