- WORST MOMENT #5 - Biden and Dodd Mocking Other Candidates
- WORST MOMENT #4 - Religious Litmus Test
- WORST MOMENT #3 - No-Hope Candidates
- WORST MOMENT #2 - Tim Russert: Judge, Jury & Limelight Hog
- WORST MOMENT #1 - Spineless Top Candidates on the Iraq War
Near the end of the telecast, Tim Russert asked:
"RUSSERT: Before we go, there's been a lot of discussion about the Democrats and the issue of faith and values. I want to ask you a simple question.
Senator Obama, what is your favorite Bible verse?"
The implications of this seeming innocuous question are profound, and include the following unspoken wrong-headed assumptions about necessary qualifications to be presidential timber:
- There's something questionable about Democrats having credible religious faith.
- There's something questionable about Democrats having credible values.
- A viable candidate must be Christian.
- A viable candidate must be biblically literate.
- A viable candidate must have a favorite Bible verse.
- The particular Bible verse chosen will be used to judge the candidate.
- A viable candidate must put his/her Christian beliefs on public display in order to be electable.
This strange, prejudiced question comes straight from the fundamentalist evangelical Christian political playbook blessed by Rev. Pat Robertson, Dr. James Dobson and the late Rev. Jerry Falwell.
The question shows the questioner for who he is: a conservative partisan. And it shows him as someone who apparently holds an unconstitutional, religious litmus test to determine presidential viability.
The candidates avoided embarrassment by referring to biblical social justice-related passages: Obama and Richardson cited the Sermon on the Mount; Edwards, Clinton and Dodd mentioned passages related to helping others; Kucinich recited part of the famed peace prayer of St. Francis of Assisi; and Mike Gravel rambled on about love.
But Joe Biden wins the award for most ironic comment of the event when he uttered, with a tad of appropriate sarcasm:
"BIDEN: Christ's warning of the Pharisees. There are many Pharisees, and it's part of what has bankrupted some people's view about religion. And I worry about the Pharisees."
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language defines a Pharisee as "A hypocritically self-righteous person." (This meaning is derived originally from an ancient Jewish sect that emphasized strict interpretation and observance of the Mosaic law, and harsh judgment of all who didn't follow their law, per the same dictionary.)
The posing of this litmus-test religious question was self-righteous and obviously partisan. The Pharisees would be proud.
For complete debate coverage, see:
Rating Hillary Clinton - Cumulative Scoreboard for the Debates
Rating Barack Obama - Cumulative Scoreboard for the Debates
Rating John Edwards - Cumulative Scoreboard for the Debates
Rating Bill Richardson - Cumulative Scoreboard for the Debates
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