Most viewers of This Week with George Stephanopoulos were surprised Stephanopoulos began the Easter Sunday broadcast with this announcement.

Exhaustion? Isn’t that the diagnosis Hollywood types use as a euphemism for “wasted on drugs” or “too drunk to perform?” And now Pastor Rick had this very malady? So it ain’t so, Rick!

We admit it probably isn’t, but the only other explanation that comes to mind is the third condition “exhaustion” is often used to shield, and that’s dodging the press and public when you’ve done or said something you will never, ever get away with. It’s this category into which the good pastor’s illness most likely falls.

Jon told us how Warren recently appeared on Larry King Live and denied campaigning last year in favor of California’s Proposition 8, which banned same sex marriage. That abundant video evidence exists to the contrary must not have occurred to Warren, at least until after the broadcast, when it was all over T.V. and the web. Had Warren kept his date with This Week, no doubt much of the interview would have been devoted to explaining what Warren said versus what your lying eyes and ears were telling you.

Now Politico has a statement from the Warren camp that only makes the pastor look lamer.

“My understanding was that Dr. Warren’s condition was related to fatigue and exhaustion — which affected his voice — exacerbated by inhalation of fumes from the newly refurbished (but still drying) pulpit used in the televised services the previous night. After initially informing George Stephanopoulos of his inability to pre-tape on Saturday, I put him directly in touch with his chief-of-staff after doctor consultation to pursue the remote possibility of an early [Sunday] AM pre-tape. That turned out to not be a possibility as he had to cancel half of his sermons today, though he was able to preach several of the six services at which he was scheduled to preach.

“There has been a lot of blog chatter trying to connect the dots with the interviews this weekend and comments Dr. Warren made on CNN Larry King Live, but his cancellations were related to health and fatigue…. I was looking forward to the opportunity for him to clarify his position with Messrs. Stephanopoulos and Huckabee (the latter with whom he was to interview live at 2:45 PM EDT on Saturday) to reframe the picture for television viewers the way we had been trying to do on a per-inquiry basis with print outlets by sending out the statement below:

“Throughout his pastoral ministry spanning nearly 30 years, Pastor Warren has remained committed to the biblical definition of marriage as between one man and one woman, for life — a position held by most fellow Evangelical pastors. He has further stressed that for 5,000 years, EVERY culture and EVERY religion has maintained this worldview.

“When Pastor Warren told Larry King that he never campaigned for California’s Proposition 8, he was referring to not participating in the official two-year organized advocacy effort specific to the ballot initiative in that state, based on his focus and leadership on other compassion issues. Because he’s a pastor, not an activist, in response to inquiries from church members, he issued an email and video message to his congregation days before the election confirming where he and Saddleback Church stood on this issue.

“During the King interview, Pastor Warren also referenced a letter of apology that he sent to gay leaders whom he knew personally. However, that mea culpa was not with respect to his statements or position on Proposition 8 nor the biblical worldview on marriage. Rather, he apologized for his comments in an earlier Beliefnet interview expressing his concern about expanding or redefining the definition of marriage beyond a husband-wife relationship, during which he unintentionally and regrettably gave the impression that consensual adult same sex relationships were equivalent to incest or pedophilia.”

I can’t really blame Pastor Rick for his so-called illness, because the fumes rising from his statements and actions and intentions are getting to me too.

But this is a lot of back-peddling and a long stream of words that don’t change the basic inconsistencies in Warren’s positions. I thought people who lived “purpose-driven lives” didn’t have to spend them explaining, regretting, justifying, and apologizing all the time. Isn’t that the point? If you’re right, you just quietly, firmly, unshakably are, like Nelson Mandela, Mother Teresa, or the Dalai Lama. Let’s face it, Warren is not in that category.