fivethirtyeight.com - 8/18/2008
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In yesterday's Saddleback Forum , pastor Rick Warren on two occasions referred to John McCain's "cone of silence", implying strongly that he had not been able to hear the questions posed to Barack Obama ahead of time. This was Pastor Warren during Barack Obama's segment last night . Apologies for the capitalization -- it is in the original transcript -- but emphasis is mine: NOW WHAT I'VE ...
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Rick, next time just fax him the questions in advance.
INSTAPUTZ —
Unreal.
Rick, next time just fax him the questions in advance.
INSTAPUTZ —
Unreal.
Saddlegate?
The Moderate Voice —
... Nate Silver of 538 fame adds his two cents and reiterates that Warren gave the impression that McCain was not in the building during Obama’s performance and that McCain could not have access to the questions. It’s very possible that Warren genuinely believed that McCain was in the building. But the fact that he was not, in fact, in any sort of “cone of silence,” suggests that the event on television was not what it seemed. ...
Saddlegate?
The Moderate Voice —
... Nate Silver of 538 fame adds his two cents and reiterates that Warren gave the impression that McCain was not in the building during Obama’s performance and that McCain could not have access to the questions. It’s very possible that Warren genuinely believed that McCain was in the building. But the fact that he was not, in fact, in any sort of “cone of silence,” suggests that the event on television was not what it seemed. ...
John McCain wasn't really in a "cone of silence" last night during Obama's questioning as Pastor Rick Warren stated
AMERICAblog News| A great nation deserves the truth —
... Now, Nate Silver asks if Pastor Rick Warren was actually telling us the truth. (Nate runs the blog, FiveThirtyEight.com, and is one of the smartest people I've met in a long time.) ...
John McCain wasn't really in a "cone of silence" last night during Obama's questioning as Pastor Rick Warren stated
AMERICAblog News| A great nation deserves the truth —
... Now, Nate Silver asks if Pastor Rick Warren was actually telling us the truth. (Nate runs the blog, FiveThirtyEight.com, and is one of the smartest people I've met in a long time.) ...
The Cone of Silence Brouhaha
PoliBlog: A Rough Draft of my Thoughts —
... That the appearance was given, by Warren’s reference to a “cone of silence” that McCain was in the building and isolated from electronic media, is uncontestable as Warren mentioned said cone at least twice (see 538.com for details). As such, there is at least an image problem here. ...
Despite Assurances Of Fairness, NY Times Lies
Pirate's Cove —
... floated the idea that McCain cheated. FiveThirtyEightis digging for dirt, and thiks they have found it. And the New York Times? Sigh. You know what is coming. ...
Despite Assurances Of Fairness, NY Times Lies
Stop The ACLU —
... floated the idea that McCain cheated. FiveThirtyEight is digging for dirt, and thiks they have found it. And the New York Times? Sigh. You know what is coming. Here’s the headline: ...
Like Bushie, like McBush
WTF Is It Now?!? —
Integrity: Instead of being in a "cone of silence" so he wouldn't hear Sen. Obama's part of the Rick Warren interview Saturday night, Senile McCheater and his handlers were in his motorcade heading to the event, listening in. ...
McCain camp is whining because Andrea Mitchell reported that he was not in the “cone of silence”
Crooks and Liars —
... So now it’s a silly term that he pulled from “Maxwell Smart!” Is he kidding me? This is unbelievable. Why would he mislead the American public like that? I believe McCain was not even in the green room for the first 30inutes of Obama’s time. It looks like Warren got caught and has to cover up for Rick Davis and McCain. Nice job, Rick. ...
Related: cone of silence warren
McCain’s ‘cone of silence’
thecarpetbaggerreport.com 8/18/2008 — Before the candidate forum at the Saddleback Church got underway on Saturday night, the Rev. Rick Warren explained that both candidates would get the exact same questions. Barack Obama would go first, and John McCain had been “safely placed ...
More on the Cone of Not-So-Silence
blogs.abcnews.com 8/18/2008 — Regarding the revelation that Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., was not in a "cone of silence" after all while Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, answered questions from Pastor Rick Warren, a couple points…. 1) The McCain campaign's vitriol against NBC's Andrea ...
"Despite Assurances, McCain Wasn’t in a 'Cone of Silence.'"
althouse.blogspot.com 8/18/2008 — Says the NYT. McCain wasn't enclosed in a soundproof room when Rick Warren began asking Obama the questions he would later ask McCain. He was on his way to the forum. So what does this mean? If McCain was not held in an isolation chamber at ...
McCain Violated the Rules: That's Cheating
anonymousliberal.com 8/18/2008 — The McCain camp (along with every conservative blogger/commentator) is absolutely indignant at the suggestion that McCain may have cheated at the Saddleback forum on Saturday. As the New York Times reports, McCain was not in the "cone of silence" that ...
Pressed by CNN, Warren Says Obama Had a Competitive Edge
newsbusters.org 8/18/2008 — On Sunday night’s Newsroom program, CNN anchor Rick Sanchez, pressed megachurch leader Rick Warren about Obama campaign charges that John McCain was cheating by not being in a "cone of silence" during Obama’s interview. " Last night, I ...
Warren Asked Obama and McCain Different Questions
crooksandliars.com 8/19/2008 — Two days after the fact, questions continue to surround John McCain’s surprisingly strong performance Saturday at Pastor Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church. The mainstream media and blogosphere alike are abuzz with rumors that McCain ...
Yet Another Conegate Thread
fivethirtyeight.com 8/20/2008 — I caught Rick Warren on the re-broadcast of his Larry King Live interview right now. When pressed by King on the fact that John McCain had not in fact been in the so-called "cone of silence" during the first half-hour of Barack Obama's interview, ...
The Pure Rubbish Express —
Weekly Standard Blog
Here’s the real scandal behind the whole cone-of-silence non-scandal. Per Rick Warren, both McCain and Obama had a heads-up regarding the tougher questions at Saturday’s forum. The pastor didn’t want the candidates to be struck dumb by the hard ones. Warren specifically cited the inquiry where the candidates had to cite their greatest moral shortcoming and the one where they had to name the ...
Rick Warren responds to the flap over John McCain and Saddleback questions —
Top of the Ticket
As it has turned out, John McCain was not entirely confined in the type of hermetically sealed environment that Rick Warren suggested when the pastor referred to the "cone of silence" surrounding the Republican before his appearance Saturday at Saddleback Church in Orange County.
But Warren, in interview segments posted earlier today on the God-O-Meter at Beliefnet.com (yes, ...
McCain Wasn’t in his ‘Cone of Silence’ —
The Democratic Daily
I didn’t get a chance to watch the Saddleback Forum with Pastor Rick Warren on Saturday, but Stuart has a great post on it below. Apparently, John McCain, who Rick Warren, claimed was in a ‘cone of silence’ during Barack Obama’s one on one with Warren, was not in his ‘cone of silence’ after all:
Members of the McCain campaign staff, who flew here Sunday ...
Maverick McCain Won’t Sit In Jesus’ Silence Cone —
Wonkette » top
We sort of already mentioned this, but apparently not enough, as every single email tip to Wonkette today is about the Invincible Cone of Silence and how John McCain was in his “straight talk” limo watching porn instead of humbly contemplating the Terrible Mystery of Jebus within Rick Warren’s meth-massage Silence Cone. But how is this Barack Obama’s fault?
Simple: ...
Much ado? —
Ben Smith's Blog
Mike Allen has a useful piece of the cone-of-silence story:
So it turns out that Pastor Rick Warren, in an effort to increase the candidates’ comfort level with his pioneering format, gave each of them a heads-up on several of the hardest questions he asked Saturday night during his “the Saddleback Civil Forum on the presidency.”
A source close to Warren tells Playbook ...
Cone of Silence? Not So Much —
News
Despite pastor Rick Warren swearing that John McCain was in a "cone of silence" during Barack Obama's hour-long portion of Saturday's faith forum at the Saddleback Church in California, McCain's staff confirms that the Arizona senator was in fact in his motorcade on the way to the forum during Obama's portion.
Why does this matter? Because [...]
NBC’s Mitchell Reveals How McCain Breached Cone —
ScrappleFace
(2008-08-18) — NBC News correspondent Andrea Mitchell today explained how Sen. John McCain may have violated the ‘cone of silence’ at Saturday night’s forum with Pastor Rick Warren, allowing him to get a sneak preview of questions posed to Barack Obama before he took the stage to answer the same questions.
Rumors that Sen. McCain broke Pastor Warren’s rules for ...
McCain Not in “Cone of Silence” During 1st Half of Warren Forum —
PoliGazette
CNN (relevant part of interview at about 1:20) and the New York Times are reporting that John McCain was not in the “cone of silence” that Rev. Rick Warren suggested he would be in while Barack Obama took questions from the pastor. As you can see in the CNN interview, Rev. Warren admits as much. It turns out that McCain’s motorcade was stuck in traffic and was about half ...
McCain Not in “Cone of Silence” During First Half Hour of Warren Forum —
PoliGazette
CNN (relevant part of interview at about 1:20) and the New York Times are reporting that John McCain was not in the “cone of silence” that Rev. Rick Warren suggested he would be in for part of the time of the hour Barack Obama took questions from the pastor. As you can see in the CNN interview, Rev. Warren admits as much. It turns out that McCain’s motorcade was stuck in ...
Cone of silence —
Ben Smith's Blog
Not so much .
I'm not sure this really has much impact on the credibility of either of the candidates, but if Rick Warren were running for president, this wouldn't look awful good:
"We have safely placed Senator McCain in a cone of silence," he said, when that was not in fact true.
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