John Edwards lost the election today on Meet the Press

And out comes the excuses for Edwards' inability to tell the truth.

Hey Ace, do me a favor: Give him the same slack you give Bushie.

And then tell me what is exactly wrong with a candidate saying what he means and what he's about instead of trying to fake it just to win votes.

If dishonesty is suddenly a virtue for candidates, then shut the fuck up about Bush's WMD argument. That is, if you believe he was lying.

 

My favorite part of this thread is "Biden's malapropism."

Wow. The soft bigotry of low expectations indeed.

 

Or the soft bigotry of a misplaced comma in the transcription.

I didn't hear him speaking, so I can't say.

 

Fenian,

You're splitting hairs and you know it.

If Edwards wants to theologically argue that the Bible doesn't explicitly or implicitly condemn the practice, well, go for it. And good luck.

 

I probably shouldn't be doing this, sleepyhead.

But here goes:

There are a million issues out there. It's smart to try to avoid alienating people over ones that are hardly even front and center to being elected.

What was dishonest? He said he is a Southern Baptist. I assume that's true. He said he doesn't think homosexuality is a sin. I assume that's what he thinks.

I'm not sure what you're point is about Shrub. But please forgive me if I can't let that weasel off the hook for starting a stupid and pointless war over what he knew was a bunch of BS.

 

Yawn,

I think it's this: A lot of people feel bad telling gay people they can't get married. That they can't even be together. It doesn't seem like something we should say. Even on behalf of God.

 

Ace,

I think the point is this: Anyone who says they're Southern Baptist probably shouldn't be saying they don't believe homosexuality is a sin, given the Southern Baptist position on the issue. It'd be like somebody saying "I'm a Calvinist" and turning right around to say: "But predestination is a joke."

 

You can still disagree with the church's position on that issue and be a Southern Baptist. You may be a bit of an odd duck, but they wouldn't kick you out of church over it.

 

Alma --

I'll repeat something I alluded to earlier -- most US Catholics don't abide by every bit of Catholic dogma.

That doesn't make them less Catholic, in my opinion. Unless we're all going to start our own churches.

EDIT: Unless, of course, you see opposition to gay marriage as a CENTRAL tenet of Baptism.

 

Alma hit the nail on the head. It's a point the SBC has made pretty clear in its doctrine.

Ace, again, Edwards suggested when confronted by a previous quote that it was because of his SBC background that he made that statement, which was in opposition to gay marriage. So if the SBC condemns the practice, then what else could he be opposing gay marriage on while citing his SBC faith? If he had been confronted with a previous quote saying he was for gay marriage, the "you don't have to believe in everything your denomination does" argument makes sense. Otherwise, it has to come from a position he challenged, such as if he was Episcopal, where there is a lively debate on the homosexuality issues, instead of Baptist, where it's pretty much a cut-and-dried thing.

 

If an atheist is against gay marriage, does that make him a Baptist?

 

I missed Meet the Press yesterday, so I've been googling in search of a story about how Edwards already blew an election that's more than a year and a half away with his comments on gay marriage. I'm having trouble find a story, which is surprising because this is obviously a monumental gaffe on the part of Edwards that might change the course of U.S. history. Yawn, got a link?