Editor's note. Please send your thoughts to daveandrusko@hotmail.com and watch the debate tonight.

My operating philosophy is fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me; fool much of the entire nation for an entire two years, and your name must be Sen. Barack Obama.

Tonight, pro-life Sen. John McCain will have the opportunity to help the nation peer behind the curtain that has hidden a pro-abortion zealot from accountability. Tonight's debate at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee, takes place exactly four weeks before Election Day. Moderated by NBC's Tom Brokaw, we read that the Town Hall format will "include questions on both foreign and domestic policy raised by the audience and voters participating through the Internet."

Last night a friend sent me a link to "The Matthew 25 Network," a self-described outreach to "diverse Christian communities." It's actually a political action committee run by Democratic operative Mara Vanderslice.

The name may sound familiar. She served as John Kerry's religious outreach coordinator. Her job is to make straight the way for Obama.

I mention her group in this context because on its web page is a quote from a gentleman who has been in the forefront of the effort to square the circle: convince pro-life people of faith that it's perfectly okay to vote for the ultimate abortion extremist, Barack Obama. "Women facing the moral tragedy of abortion," he writes, "need a supportive community and tangible help, not condemnation."

Agreed. And who does that most remind you of? Crisis pregnancy centers, of course. And what is Barack Obama's position on CPCs?

We can find out by reading "Unholy Messaging: Obama's faith-based try vs. his positions." Written by NRLC Legislative Director Douglas Johnson this must-read article appears at http://article.nationalreview.com/print/?q=OGM5YzIzYTExNjIyZmExODY0MzQyZDUxNmRmNmU1NmM=.

Johnson writes, "Late last year, RHrealitycheck.org, a prominent pro-abortion advocacy website, submitted in writing the following question to the Obama campaign (as part of a candidate questionnaire). 'Does Sen. Obama support continuing federal funding for crisis pregnancy centers?' The Obama campaign response was short, but it spoke volumes: 'No.'"

I would strongly encourage you to read Mr. Johnson's essay. It is the finest overview of a man whose views (for all the candidate's exposure) still have remained almost completely under the radar. Let me make two closing points, using the essay as a jumping off point.

First, crucial to snookering the faith community is to pretend that Obama is what he patently is not, to convince you that he's aiming for the same goal, only by different means.

"One important part of the 'faith outreach' sales pitch has been to insist that Obama would promote 'abortion reduction' policies -- that is to say, policies that would have the practical effect of reducing the number of abortions performed, without actually restricting abortion directly," writes Johnson.

"This spiel was really a public relations strategy cooked up at a liberal think tank called third way, where veteran pro-abortion activists develop 'messaging' strategies to help pro-abortion politicians camouflage their positions. The third way 'Culture Program' (responsible for the 'abortion reduction' strategy, among other projects) is directed by Rachel Laser, whose previous job was with the Health and Reproductive Rights group at the National Women's Law Center, and who before that worked for Planned Parenthood of Metropolitan Washington, a major abortion provider."

Second, beyond his largely successful attempt to hide how he killed legislation to provide legal protection for babies who are born alive during abortions, Obama can best be understood by his passionate support for the "Freedom of Choice Act." FOCA would gut every protective measure that has ever placed a brake on the killing machine and make "abortion on demand a national entitlement that government must condone and promote in all public programs affecting pregnant women," as Cardinal Justin Rigali, archbishop of Philadelphia and chairman of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee on Pro-life Activities, explained it in a letter sent to every congressional office in September.

Cardinal Rigali added, "However, there is one thing absolutely everyone should be able to agree on: We can't reduce abortions by promoting abortion. . . . We cannot reduce abortions by insisting that every program supporting women in childbirth and child care must also support abortion. No one who sponsors or supports legislation like FOCA can credibly claim to be part of a good-faith discussion on how to reduce abortions."