Sure, tonight’s Compassion Forum in at Messiah College featuring Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton is being sponsored by a progressive group, Faith in Public Life. But the group says John McCain’s decision not to participate is not for lack its of trying. “Our allies had conversations at the highest levels of the McCain campaign,” says Katie Barge, Faith in Public Life’s director of communications strategy. “We had received an initially positive response.”
“We’re not holding a grudge at all—we are still hopefully that [McCain] actually comes and are keeping lines of communication open with the McCain campaign,” Barge said in an interview late last week. “I will take them at their word that there’s a scheduling conflict.”
God-o-Meter, for its part, is more dubious. Given McCain's troubles with evangelicals over both his positions and his reticence about discussing his own faith, wouldn't this forum give him the chance to open up about his faith before an audience that's less hostile than his party's own base?
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Senator John McCain is not running from the openness of faith by not participating in the Compassion Forum tonight broadcast on CNN. His campaign did say that he had a scheduling conflict. I take them at their word. Where's your compassion for him and his busy campaign schedule?
I'm sure that John McCain will participate in a similar forum/dialogue about compassion/faith in the Presidential campaign at some point during the general election campaign. I hope and pray that it's a Compassion Forum that's conducted in a fair and balanced manner.
Turns out McCain wouldn't have risked anything in attending. The night was full of religious softballs....http://tiny.cc/42xRB
Clinton and Obama carefully answered the questions and the response from the floor was kind and friendly. If McCain had made the effort to come, I would have listened to him as well but his "Conflict" was more important than reaching out to the World of Faith that in NOT Conservative and Dogmatic, Legalistic or Vengeful.
"Where's McCain?" is the wrong question to be asking. It should be"WHY is this event even happening in a country that "promises" (well, USED to promise) that there shall be NO religious tests to hold public office?"
What a sham you all have made of your "Constitution".
A shame. McCain's answer should have been "My religion is my own personal business, and I won't be trotting it out in front of the voters. I am running for President, not for Pope."
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