Stuart Shepard, director of digital media for Focus Action, the political arm of the conservative Christian group Focus on the Family, created a two and a half minute video in which he repeatedly asked, "Would it be wrong to ask people to pray for rain?" He wanted a certain sort of storm with a particular effect. "I'm talking-umbrellas-ain't-gonna-help-you rain. Not flood-people-out-of-their-houses rain, just good ol' swamp-the-intersection rain...network-cameras-can't-see-the podium rain." The aforementioned podium of course would be the one Barack Obama will stand behind on August 28 at Denver's Mile High Stadium to accept the Democratic nomination for President.
The video was posted on the organization's website on July 31. Though Mr. Shepherd and his organization called it "a joke," the video was recently removed after some labeled it objectionable.
In my estimation Mr. Shepherd and his Focus Action colleagues (and by association Focus on the Family, Mr. Dobson et. al) weren't really joking, but engaging in what Mr. Shepherd called "hyperbole."
He wasn't joking when he said,"I'm still pro life, and I'm still in favor of marriage as being between one man and one woman. And I would like the next president who will select justices for the next Supreme Court to agree." By implication he wanted his God to show concurrence with a timely "rain of biblical proportions."
The video had an edge, in a mildly mean spirited way. It had an attitude: that Mr. Shepherd's God would want to rain on Mr. Obama's parade, because God doesn't approve of Mr. Obama.
The tone of the video is no surprise, including its questionable bad taste, given the source. What I found most offensive was Mr. Shepherd's protest that it was only a joke. It wasn't just a joke.
I'm tired of those in the populist media who refuse to stand up for what they say, but like Mr. Shepherd hide behind transparent humor. The words disingenuous and calculating come to mind.
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