Bestowing this honor on Warren was a conscious — and glib — decision by Obama to spend political capital. It was made with the certitude that a leader with a mandate can do no wrong.

Warren, whose ego is no less than Obama’s, likes to advertise his “commitment to model civility in America.” But as Rachel Maddow of MSNBC reminded her audience, “comparing gay relationships to child abuse” is a “strange model of civility.”

the dawning realization that the old religious right is crumbling

young evangelicals care less and less about the old wedge issues and aren’t as likely to base their votes on them

On gay rights in particular, polls show that young evangelicals are moving

away from what John McCain once rightly called “the agents of intolerance.”

But we’re not there yet.

When Obama defends Warren’s words

he is being too cute by half. He knows full well that a “viewpoint” defaming any minority group by linking it to sexual crimes like pedophilia is unacceptable.