The Rev. Rick Warren is so prominent and respected that just being seen with him is a boon for any presidential candidate.
For Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama, their appearances at a forum Saturday night at Warren's evangelical California megachurch bring risks along with rewards.
Key quote:"On June 10, presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama convened a meeting in a law office in downtown Chicago with a wide array of about thirty evangelical leaders, in an unprecedented effort to win their support. Obama insisted that the meeting remain entirely off the record, forbidding participants from disclosing his statements to the press. His campaign has kept the names of attendees a closely guarded secret. But through interviews with participants and overlooked statements in obscure publications of the Christian press, a first-hand picture of the meeting emerges, starkly at odds with the news reports that accepted the formal version at face value."
Key quote: "Wright didn't mention church member Obama, who has denounced Wright's inflammatory comments circulated in video excerpts of his past sermons."
Key quote: "It has not been defused," says David Parker, a North Carolina Democratic Party official and unpledged superdelegate. He says his worries about Republicans questioning Sen. Obama's patriotism prompted him to raise the issue of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr.'s remarks in conversations with both the Obama and Clinton campaigns.
Key quote: "Had the reverend not retired, and had he not acknowledged that what he had said had deeply offended people and were inappropriate and mischaracterized what I believe is the greatness of this country, for all its flaws, then I wouldn't have felt comfortable staying at the church,"
Key quote: "Fox News, CNN, ABC ... they're so stupid that they don't even know the word damn is not a profanity but a Hebraic proclivity, meaning God's curse will fall on all those who defy his love. They know not with whom they are messing. Jeremiah Wright might have retired in body, but just like Jesus, he's coming back more powerful than ever! Damn you! Damn anyone who messes with the anointed."
Key quote: "On the eve of launching his campaign for the White House in February 2007, Obama abruptly withdrew an invitation to Wright to deliver the invocation at his announcement speech in Springfield, Ill."
Key quote: "A photograph of Wright and President Clinton, which it says was taken on Sept. 11, 1998 — the date of a White House gathering for religious leaders."
Key quote: "The Rev. Otis Moss III, the new pastor of Democratic presidential aspirant Barack Obama's Chicago church, canceled his appearance Wednesday night in Cleveland."
Key quote: "With incendiary clips from their retiring pastor's sermons playing around the clock on national news and pundits attacking the church motto of "Unashamedly Black and Unapologetically Christian" as racist, members have been urged to fast and find strength in their faith."
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