BOSTON--Mitt Romney insists he has hardly thought about running for president: "That's a decision you make way down the road." With the 2008 election 1,039 days away, that's fair enough. But I'm guessing he'll run. Posted on 12/31/2005 8:23:19 AM PST by monkapotamus
Latter-day President?
A Mitt Romney candidacy would test the religious right.
BY JAMES TARANTO
Saturday, December 31, 2005 12:01 a.m. EST
BOSTON--Mitt Romney insists he has hardly thought about running for president: "That's a decision you make way down the road." With the 2008 election 1,039 days away, that's fair enough. But I'm guessing he'll run.
I first met Mr. Romney in September at New York's Monday Meeting, a conclave of right-leaning movers and shakers who gather to hear politicians from around the country make pitches for support. This month, after it emerged that the backing Mr. Romney sought was not for re-election as governor of Massachusetts, I visited him at the Statehouse here. "I will accomplish in my term the objectives that I set out to accomplish, or some will be rejected and I wouldn't get them done in the second term anyway," he tells me. "There's no reason to hang around and warm the chair, taking advantage of the perks and fun of office, if the agenda is complete." What he doesn't say is that there's also no reason for a governor to risk defeat if he has his eye on the White House.
The governor's office is equipped with a fireplace, making it a rarity in 21st-century politics: a smoke-filled room. Mr. Romney, a devout Mormon, abjures not only tobacco but also alcohol and coffee. A 58-year-old Detroit native, he is a businessman-turned-politician like his late father, George, who was chairman of American Motors Corp. before serving six years as governor of Michigan. George Romney ran for president in 1968 but famously withdrew after attributing his support for the Vietnam War to "brainwashing" at the hands of U.S. generals.
(Excerpt) Read more at opinionjournal.com ...
Latter-Day Saint is fine.
Flip-flopping and backpedaling isn't.
boxers or briefs? or?
Romney needs a lesson in HUMILITY if he is going to succeed in national politics.
What "Flip-flopping and backpedaling"?
I don't know much about this guy.
/...Ben Laden groups
I am LDS, so Mr. Romney's religion is not a problem for me. (As I suspect it would not be for most people.) However, I have my doubts about his commitment to conservatism. If Mr. Romney runs as a "moderate" Republican, I will not vote for him.
Romney is, of course, exiting his job as Governor after an unimpressive one term (and is likely expected to move back to Utah). He has been utterly unable, despite modest attempts, to rebuild the destroyed Massachusetts State Republican Party, which was eviscerated, after a modest comeback at the end of the Dukakis era, by the horrid Weld-Cellucci-Swift regimes. The governorship is expected to effortlessly return to the Democrats.
Although it must be noted that Romney was utterly hamstrung on the job, solely because the Governorship (as long as any Republican occupies it) has been largely stripped of any authority (he is, for example, unable even to appoint a temporary successor to the U.S. Senate if Kerry or Kennedy resign or die). Romney can't really point to any credible accomplishments as a result, and really cannot make any argument that he has the "experience" required to serve as President.
His rescue of the Utah Olympics and his accomplishments in Massachusetts will make him a credible candidate.
If we are going to seek perfection, we will simply harm the country and accomplish nothing.
Time to re-bury the Donner Party.
The trouble is that much of today's anti-Mormon sentiment is found on the religious right, a constituency that looms much larger in the GOP now than it did in 1968, or than it ever has in Massachusetts. Ask a conservative Christian what he thinks of Mormonism, and there's a good chance he'll call it a "cult" or say Mormons "aren't Christian."
Yet on the issues, Mr. Romney is largely in tune with the Christian right. "I am pro-life," he says, though he's not an absolutist. He favors a return to the status quo ante Roe v. Wade, when states decided abortion policy. In 2002, recognizing that Massachusetts is an "overwhelmingly pro-choice state," he campaigned only on a promise to veto any legislation changing the state's abortion laws, including a proposal, which Ms. O'Brien endorsed, to reduce the age of parental consent to 16 from 18. The Legislature never passed that measure.
Some question whether he is antiabortion enough to satisfy his party's base. But George W. Bush has made similar nods to political reality--"I'm a realistic enough person to know that America is not ready to ban abortions," he said in 1999--and few dispute the president's pro-life credentials.
Mr. Romney is a scathing critic of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court's 2003 decision imposing same-sex marriage: "We've got a liberal activist court . . . and I have now seen firsthand the perils of a court that decides to substitute its values for that of the founders." The governor has backed efforts to undo the ruling by amending the state constitution, most recently through a signature campaign. He also has enforced a 1913 law making it illegal for out-of-state couples to wed in the Bay State if they cannot legally do so back home. "It's basically kept Massachusetts from being a Las Vegas of same-sex marriage."
How would he overcome anti-Mormon prejudice if he seeks the presidency? He doesn't answer directly, but cites his experience in Massachusetts: "As people got to know me . . . they accepted me for who I am, and religious doctrines didn't make much difference to them."
In the end, there's probably not much Mr. Romney can do about the "Mormon problem" other than put his faith in the American tradition of religious pluralism. "I think our nation needs people of faith in public service," he says. "My policies in the public sector are not a mirror image of any church's doctrines. But of course the respect I have for American values flows from the faith that I have." If Mr. Romney runs for president, it may test the proposition that the religious right is an issues-based movement as opposed to a sectarian one.
I tend to agree with this statement. Make no mistake though, "The Mormon Problem" will be a problem for the Left as well. One only need to re-examine their previous attacks on Mitt during his runs for governor and the US Senate. I do believe, however, that most Conservatives are pragmatic enough that they will overcome any such single issue objections far more easily than their Liberal counterparts. Mormon or no, for the Left, the bottom line is: he's not a Democrat. That alone means Mitt is evil incarnate and, as evidenced by what Howard Dean and other leading Democrats have been saying about Republicans, they are not even remotely inclined to overcome that objection.
I couldn't care less if he is LDS. We've had a lot of good LDS politicians over the years. What bothers me is that we really don't know where he stands on the key issues.
Although he was governor, we don't know what he would have done, because the state is so Democratic he couldn't do anything.
Yes, he did a good job with the Olympics. He's smart and able. But where does he stand on the issues? It doesn't matter what position he runs from at this point, we need to see what he does in office, and so far we have nothing to go on.
Interesting though sad story you've got there on Eerdmans' "falling away."
Oh, isn't that appalling? You know, if you came up with a Christianoid Hall of Shame for the year, that'd have to be right up there with Osteen's evasions on Larry King (also somewhere one my blog -- one of the most-accessed essays), and... well, just anything Jimmy Carter says.
Dan
RINO isn't too cool either.
Massachusetts can keep this "gay civil unions" loving RINO however. We want a real conservative in '08 but if we get stuck with a RINO why would voters pick this guy over Rudy who has massive national name recognition and appeal?
Romney could have a future in the Whitehouse after '08 but it will be more in the Secretary of Transportation line than as Commander in Chief.
"Mitt Romney insists he has hardly thought about running for president:"
Isn't this like being "hardly pregnant"?
I couldn't care less if he is LDS. We've had a lot of good LDS politicians over the years. What bothers me is that we really don't know where he stands on the key issues.
Ditto!
Although I suspect that there will be some here who do care that he's LDS. Stand by for some nasty flame wars over this.(I hope I'm wrong on this)
WHOEVER gets the nomination, they better bring their bigboy pads as a certian junior Senator from NY is waiting. It's going to get nasty.
It's funny you'd say that you were a Catholic. I had a friend for years and years who I thought was your garden variety "fundamentalist" (in both the good and negative sense)... very vocally Christian, creation science, pro-life and all that... he also thought that most Catholics weren't really Christians (for the same misunderstood reasons--Catholics worshipping saints, etc). He was basically a good Christian all around, he simply lacked a little knowledge, and he always referred to himself as a Christian and evangelized everyone & tried to get them to believe in Jesus.
I thought it was rather odd his Protestant denomination had priests, but I didn't find out for years that he was a Mormon. He thought he was a Christian and that being a member of the LDS church was simply a denomination.
Had to change my views of Mormons after that. (We had a goo dtalk and I found out that just as with Catholics, half the reasons that people use to argue that Mormons aren't Christians are outright false) Also, the Bible says to judge by the fruit from the tree, and personal experience tells me that a much higher percentage of Baptists are horrid than Mormons.
I've adopted a "don't judge" attitude concerning Mormons, just like I do with Christians or any other person. And, yes, I agree with you. A good Mormon would be good for America, but flip-flopping RINO Romney is no Mormon.
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