From the Horse's Mouth: Sit-down Candidate Discussions on Beliefs

Both candidates participated in a "faith forum" yesterday where they were asked about all of the hot button issues, from abortion, to same sex marriage, but also interesting questions of character and ethics (each was interviewed separately though, so it wasn't debate style). I especially like the parts of the interviews where you get looks at easily-missed qualities such as how one makes a decision, etc. The videos may end up on the website of the church that hosted it here, but I wanted to check them out and came up with the YouTube videos below (so if some don't end up working because they're yanked off of YouTube for copyright issues, you might try the above link; also, the first three videos for McCain unfortunately were only a still frame picture in the video screen with audio over top, but you can of course still hear what's being said--update: I just came across this website that has full videos of McCain too, but the categories below may still be helpful, although they don't quite match up for McCain now).

As a quick note before pasting the videos, I wanted to mention that the concept of the candidates participating in a "faith forum"--in the way that they did particularly, at an evangelical megachurch--is not immediately appealing to me for a number of reasons (primarily the basic concept that both could be doing so to pander with a capital "P"); however, having admittedly considered myself an "evangelical" in the past (though I do not any longer), I embrace the concept of any political discussion that moves that population beyond the checkbox issues of abortion and same sex marriage (though both those issues were included in this forum, the questions went beyond that too, as I mentioned above). Both candidates seemed to be fairly candid, but judge for yourself and throw any comments below. I purposefully didn't want to summarize what each said because, like I'm getting at with these posts I'm titling "From the Horse's Mouth," I think the issues being discussed in a race such as this--to lead a hugely complex country--can be nuanced enough (at times) that they merit one's full consideration.

So below I just broke it down into the five videos I found and listed the basic topics the candidates were asked about in each (the candidates were supposed to be asked the same questions, but based on the below videos, there were some differences which I indicate).

Update: Each of the videos I posted below were apparently pulled from YouTube, but you can watch the different segments here: http://edition.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/08/16/warren.forum/index.html#cnnSTCVideo

PART 1 - TOPICS: Introduction and the candidates' personal sources of leadership; going against party loyalty (McCain)

McCain



Obama



PART 2 - TOPICS: The "greatest moral failure" of their life and that of America; going against party loyalty (Obama); the "most significant position" held ten years ago that they no longer hold today; the most "gut wrenching" decision they have had to make

McCain



Obama



PART 3 - TOPICS: Faith issues; abortion; same sex marriage; civil unions; stem cell research (McCain)

McCain



Obama



PART 4 - TOPICS: Stem cell research (Obama); the existence of evil; to what conflicts would we commit troops (McCain); religious freedom (McCain); Supreme Court Justice choices (Obama)

McCain



Obama



PART 5 (all Obama, as I couldn't locate any fifth video for McCain, but let me know if you find one) - TOPICS: Federal funding for faith-based initiatives; merit pay for teachers; discussion on taxes and economic fairness across income levels

Obama