Random thoughts on Rick Warren.

[WilliamPitt]

In no way am I even remotely trying to defend the man, his crappy opinions, or the choice to have him deliver the inaugural invocation.

But I have two thoughts.

Obama/Biden won Colorado, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, North Carolina, Ohio, and Virginia.

I did some very rough math in order to get a sense of the religious demographics in these states, i.e. I wanted to try and determine what percent of each state's total population is comprised of the kind of evangelicals Rick Warren represents. What I came up with is hardly conclusive, and could be off by several million people, but it's in the neighborhood of accurate.

The total number of "Rick Warren-ish" evangelical/anti-choice/anti-gay/anti-evolution Christians in those states comes to somewhere on the order of 20 million people, maybe more, maybe less, but in the neighborhood for sure.

Obama would not have won without those eight states.

The "Warren" people live in those states are almost certainly GOP voters and make up the already fragile GOP base. Pull 10% away from voting GOP, and no Republican wins those states again.

So.

#1. Right off the bat, having Warren be involved seems like something for the be-careful-what-you-wish-for file re: 2008: we can do great things by winning states like those 8, but lots of people who live there are "Warren" types. Can't avoid the side-effects.

#2. What is better for America in the long run? Keep Warren off that stage, or keep winning Red states and annihilate the GOP? Put Warren up there, and maybe we keep winning, and after enough wins, there won't be any more "Warren" types in enough numbers to bother with.

Just some thoughts.