Yes, I would say that, and did. Extremely conservative Christian churches or fundamentalists are on the fringe that I mentioned and the mainstream doesn‘t take them all that seriously, in my opinion, or they see them as having there place but not much else. Look at Bush. He courted the fundamentalist right but never really did all that much for them. Everyone on the left feared the sky would fall along with Roe v. Wade under the Bush adminstration but he hardly did anything about the fundementalist's pet issue besides the late term stuff.

Why do you think these extremist churches like Trinity are so news worthy? Its because they are so far away from the norm. The largest and more middle of the road Christian denominations like Methodists, Presbyterians and Catholics for the most part keep politics out of their services. Sure they expect you to be for or against what their doctrine teaches but its their doctrine that came first and not the politics. There may be an activist cleric here and there but I think they would be the exception and not the rule.

Trinity is for whatever party is idealistically closest to there agenda, like any other extremist group. While extremist come across as wacky, they aren’t stupid, usually, although there are exceptions. In my opinion, most extremist groups realize that politics is a war of attrition and the more extreme they can come off without totally discrediting themselves, the better chance they will have at shifting the paradigm in there favor or stop it from shifting against them. Its probably not how most of the serious political work gets done but both sides need their extreme elements to counter the other side’s extreme elements. They (extremists) ask for the moon, hope for morsels and laugh all the way to the bank if they get lucky and really accomplish something.

Politics is a strange game and I think likeability is more important than anything. They, the media, can dig up something on just about anyone that they can twist into a negative and make a controversy out of. Its mostly luck of the draw, likeability and how quickly you can effectively address accusations against you. That’s where Obama’s response was left wanting. I think he was torn between old loyalties and the larger issue of the nomination. He should have had the foresight to prepare for the possibility that the Wright controversy might happen and had a better contingency plan for it. He probably was caught off guard because his Senate run went so easy, his opponent had all the problems till he finally dropped out and they (the republicans) ran a caricature candidate against him who had no chance. He could have avoided the Wright controversy simple enough, he could have called up Wright and said sorry Bubb, I love ya like a father but I gotta cut ties for a while cuz I got bigger fish to fry, then rebuke and disavow him in the press. But instead he tried to sugar coat it and not ruffle too many feathers. We all know what happens to nice guys.

Let that be a lesson to you in the run up to the Senate hearings for your future cabinet appointment.

G