August 17, 2008

Rev. Warren's ego-builder

Orange County, Ca.'s Saddleback Church was the site of Reverend Warren's policy discussion with the two candidates Saturday afternoon. Now, Orange County is one of the wealthiest and most Republican enclaves in Southern California, so maybe it's no surprise that the church decided to charge admission to folks who wanted to watch Senators Obama and McCain answer the Rev's questions. But $500-$2,000 per ticket?

Church officials said they'd hoped to have some tickets available for the public but ran out when they couldn't satisfy demand among church members, who got the first crack at tickets that sold for $500 to $2,000.

Church officials said they decided to charge admission for people who wanted a chance to see the Republican and Democratic presidential hopefuls because of the expenses to stage the event and provide television feeds to a host of networks.

Um. You didn't have to upgrade the hall, and what's it cost for TV feeds?

Jay Geer, a public relations crisis consultant, said Saddleback Church officials could have handled the ticket issue better.

"When you have the national stage, shouldn't you be open to everybody? A church that espouses its openness is now catering to the haves and have-nots."

I don't see too many have-nots paying those prices to watch, but Mr. Geer has a point.

Those folks who watched it seem to think McCain got the bigger applause lines and are worried about it. Let me remind them that the demographics of the crowd have an impact on which candidate they're likely to support. In this case, people shelling out that kind of money to attend an event in a Republican stronghold like Orange County are likely to be, all together now. . .Republicans!

Stop worrying.

Posted by Linkmeister at August 17, 2008 12:01 AM | TrackBack
Comments

this is scary...

Posted by: toxiclabrat at August 23, 2008 04:25 AM