And here's deal:
Don't go naming any of your kids "Mitt."
Posted on 09/08/2005 12:44:58 PM PDT by SirLinksalot
Mitt Romney's Evangelical Problem
Everyone wants to believe the Massachusetts governor's Mormonism won't be a problem if he runs in 2008. Think again.
By Amy Sullivan --------------------------------------------------------
Washington pundits in the throes of post-election doldrums are notoriously eager to find a fresh face to crown the "early favorite" for the next presidential campaign. Even by those standards, however, the speed with which they flocked to Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has been remarkable. Last December, barely a month after Bush's reelection, George Will devoted a column to Romney's potential, and a quick succession of profiles in the Weekly Standard, National Review, and The Atlantic Monthly appeared in the spring. Who could blame them? Romney has had a successful business career (he is known to most Americans as the man who saved the Salt Lake City Olympics). He comes from noble moderate Republican lineage (his father was governor of Michigan). He is attractive (the National Review sighed over his "chiseled handsomeness"). And he grabbed national headlines—and the attention of social conservatives—by standing up to the Massachusetts Supreme Court's legalization of gay marriage. Just as Democrats are always looking for a liberal nominee from a red state, Republicans dream about a candidate like Romney: a social conservative from the most cerulean of blue states who can please the base while not scaring off moderates.
There's only one problem. Romney is a Mormon, a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS). Mormonism was never an issue when Orrin Hatch ran for president, but Hatch was never talked up with even a smidgen of the seriousness that accompanies the Massachusetts governor. Yet each Romney profile plays down the Mormon issue. In a typical treatment, under the headline "Matinee Mitt," John Miller admits in the National Review that some of Romney's Republican opponents might highlight a few of "Mormonism's doctrinal oddities," but concludes that "there is no telling how this will play out," and "it's even possible to think that Romney's Mormonism could become a hidden asset."
It's understandable that political observers want to think Romney's religion wouldn't be a problem. He's an appealing candidate with compassionate conservative allure. Moreover, we would all like to believe that a politician's religious affiliation isn't an obstacle to higher office. There's a general sense, particularly among the chattering class, that we've gotten past that. Didn't Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.) run on the Democratic ticket in 2000 with no problem? Aren't there a handful of Catholic candidates among the field of potential Republican nominees for 2008?
Americans have indeed become more religiously tolerant, but the first Mormon to run for president will clearly have to change some minds. In the late 1960s, the percentage of Americans who said they would not vote for a Jewish or Catholic presidential candidate was in the double digits; by 1999, those numbers had fallen to 6 and 4 percent, respectively (roughly the same as the percentage of voters who say they wouldn't vote for a Baptist). Compare that to the 17 percent of Americans who currently say they would have qualms electing a Mormon to the White House. That number hasn't changed one whit since 1967, the year that Romney's father considered a presidential run (he abandoned the effort after making a gaffe about how the military "brainwashed" him into supporting the Vietnam War).
Some of this anti-Mormonism is a fairly fuzzy sort of bias, based mostly on rumors and unfamiliarity and the vague feeling that Mormons are kind of weird. It's a wobbly opposition that can be overcome by good public relations that defuses concerns about the religion and shifts focus to the personality of the candidate. This is how someone like Romney gets elected in a blue state like Massachusetts, where even Republicans are generally tolerant.
But moderate Republicans aren't the ones who could derail a Romney candidacy. His obstacle is the evangelical base—a voting bloc that now makes up 30 percent of the Republican electorate and that wields particular influence in primary states like South Carolina and Virginia. Just as it is hard to overestimate the importance of evangelicalism in the modern Republican Party, it is nearly impossible to overemphasize the problem evangelicals have with Mormonism. Evangelicals don't have the same vague anti-LDS prejudice that some Americans do. For them it's a doctrinal thing, based on very specific theological disputes that can't be overcome by personality or charm or even shared positions on social issues. Romney's journalistic boosters either don't understand these doctrinal issues or try to sidestep them. But ignoring them won't make them go away. To evangelicals, Mormonism isn't just another religion. It's a cult.
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Between a Mormon Romney and an "orthodox" pro-choice, pro-gay lifestyle socialist like sHrillary, I'll take the former thank you.
His republican bashing this week won't help him either.
His problems won't be in the national election, it would be the primary. I don't think he is a good candidate anyway.
Cute username btw.
Missed that...what did he say?
Who cares he's a mormon?
I care that he's a gungrabbing death cultist Rino globalist.
That's Romney's problem.
And here's deal:
Don't go naming any of your kids "Mitt."
He was out ahead of a lot of the dimocrats blaming Bush & Co for the failures of Nagin and Blanco.
That's faint praise, though.
I'd spend an hour in a burlap sack with a dozen rabid lemurs before I'd vote for Hillary.
A person religion preferences doesn't matter to me (I do draw the line on Satanic Worshippers)...
Eyes rolling. Well, at least this disaster makes it easier to tell who is who in the political arena. Not that there weren't signs before it.
One thing that separates the moonbat left from conservatives is the fact that we tolerate religious beliefs other than those particular ones we believe for ourselves. We do not think that religion is bad no matter what its name - unless it is like the violent and radical jihadists with a goal at world domination and subjugation.
Mormons are great folks. I lived in a largely Mormon community in Idaho some years ago and emerged unscathed completely. Anyone who makes his religion an issue is revealing his/her own fear of religion.
You can't necessarily blame it on atheistic beliefs - I am an atheist and I am very tolerant about religions. Its more the left's view through the Marxist lens - "religion is the opiate of the masses" combined with their hedonistic, no values lifestyles.
Romney is a conservative? Who knew?
Romney's religion has nothing to do with his unsuitability as a candidate for president. His enthusiastic support of gun control and other leftist policies does. The job of the President is to uphold and defend the Constitution, and anyone who advocates infringing the Constitution is, by definition, unqualified for the position.
I like this Romney Joke
Mitt " As a Mormon, I believe marriage is a sacred institution between a man and a woman....and a woman....and a woman....and another woman."
That was funny. LOL
I would never vote for him though.
The Mormon thing is something for the talking heads and nothing more. The "doctrinal oddities" (as a strict Southern Baptist might call them) of pre-Vatican II Roman Catholicism didn't hurt JFK in the Bible Belt. He won Georgia by a bigger margin than Massachusetts.
The real question is Romney's committment to the conservative agenda. Yeah, he won Massachusetts- there's a reason for that, and it goes beyond good looks and a suave demeanor. Anyone meeting the approval of the people who have bestowed upon our nation Barney Frank, John Kerry, Michael Dukakis, Casey Weld and the entire Kennedy clan is already suspect at best.
A liberal Republican is more dangerous than a liberal Democrat.
Dan
Mormonism is weird. Google for "Kolob" for starters. (Especially enlightening if you watch either the old or new Battlestar Galactica). But it's not evil or anything (unlike Scientology), so I wouldn't have a problem voting for a Mormon.
Romney a social conservative??
If only that were true!
Hopefully it would never become a hold my nose vote. I'd rather have a Rat then a Mormon RINO
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