if she thinks she's going to run against Obama.

I heard John Edwards speak in Dallas Friday. He gave a wonderful speech. It was a damning indictment of the incompetence of the Bush administration, yet he didn't mention W. a single time. He spoke from the heart about values in the context of issues like Katrina, Guantanamo, and Abu Ghraib. Poverty in America and about how half the world's population lives on less than $2 a day. Violence in Uganda and Darfour. I don't remember whether he mentioned the Bible once, but even if he did, nothing he said would offend a secular Democrat, but everything he said would likely resonate with an evangelical who would consider voting for a Democrat.

...ok, maybe I do, since we're not supposed to be a theocracy, but actually are (as evidenced by the fact that it's political suicide to even mention separation of church and state), but at this point I'm willing to tolerate it as long as it doesn't mean turning against abortion, gay marriage, and stem cell research in order to win over the troglodytes. Obama doesn't seem like he plans to do that, but who knows what kind of administration he'll pick, or what the Democratic leadership in general might decide to do if his faith strategy works. They might just go all the way and become the pre-1960's populist redneck Democratic Party all over again.

Other than feeling noble and Christian, what do Evangelicals plan to DO about AIDS, etc? I mean other than hoping they all die and heaping abuse and neglect on them?

Rick Warren is a pretend peacemaker. I hate the fact that he wants

his inner circle to pay 10% of their income to his "church" in order

to build a shopping mall worship center.

This is control in black and white.

The Bible, of course, tells us that when people were made to pay tithes, the

offerings and money were sent to poor widows and not bricks for shopping

malls. Warren, however, follows his own rules.

Jesus comes in a second place. And what about AIDS?

Warren need only visit California. There's no need for him to "save the Africans"

again. Plus, if he really believes in the evils of abortion, then he should have

a WORLD UNBORN DAY and not a WORLD AIDS DAY. Go figure.

But this is all about politics. This is shopping mall Christianity all over again.

Money, money, money. Politics, politics, politics.

Idea 1: Warren sells his shopping mall church and gives the money to "save the Africans."

Idea 2: Warren asks politicans to divert money from "sex change" operations in California

to kids in Africa.

No, please ignore all of the above. Warren is not real. He just loves the spotlight.

And another thing: Listening to a fat American pastor pontificate about skinny

Africans is beyond parody.

I'll preface my comments by acknowledging that it couldn't be more anecdotal, so take this as you will.

My mother, who I would describe as

--a Dallas Republican who likely has never voted for a Democrat in an open election. Ever.

--somewhat racist, though a better description would be "racially insensitive." Barbara Bush is one of her heroes. 'Nuff said.

--a Christian regular church-goer, though not necessarily "evangelical"

--about as informed as the someone of the above description could possibly be (has watched the Sunday morning news shows more regularly than going to church for as long as I can remember, and I'm 43)

All that being said, she recently had positive things to say about Barack Obama. He would definitely rank as her current favorite Democrat, whether he's running for president or not. I can't imagine for the life of me that she'd ever vote for him. But what her comments suggested to me are this: She doesn't find him threatening. It means that Obama has a better chance than Hillary to turn the tide of divisiveness. I think my mother's comments and opinion matter in the sense that I think she's a rather typical Republican.

Another thing I'll say about Obama as far as his '08 chances go: Given his current tactics, how will the right choose to swift boat him? There's the black issue, but any obvious effort there will backfire. There's his name issue: referring to him as "Hussein." I think that will backfire as well, hard as that is to believe.

Lastly, I think Obama will have a chance with me, personally, as soon as I get over him voting in favor of Condi Rice's Sec of State confirmation. To this liberal Democrat, that one hurt!

I think it's a little niave to start thinking that conservative christians, even someone like Warren, are going to grow up and learn to play well with others anytime soon. The protester outside the gate and Franklin Graham's speech are further evidence of that. Billy Graham succeeded because he was able to keep a universal message that resonated with people all across the spectrum, his son has no such interest, he has fully embraced the "sex issues only" platform of the religious right.

I recently read an article about how some conservative christians are upset about the newly elected muslim congressman wanting to take his oath of office on the Quran instead of the bible. Their "argument", if you can call it that, is that he is violating "tradition". The fact that to many christian leaders this qualifies as a real problem, should be a sign to many christian churchgoers, and voters, just how out of touch with societies actual problems their leadership still is, even after being delivered a crushing defeat at the polls.

Senator Obama deserves kudos for standing up to Brownback, but I don't think "getting religion" is a particular healthy way for democrats to confront the religious right or the problems that the religious right themselves created. If we are really going to beat the religious right, we must not be afraid to confront them on issues such as making policy decisions based on faith and the constant attempts to put religious texts into public institutions that belong to everyone (ten commandments in courthouses, mandatory bible readings in public schools, etc.).

It's nice that two senators and one pastor from different ends of the political spectrum can get together on a problem that is so big it needs everyones help, but let's not jump to conclusions about where this is going too quickly.