Posted on 11/10/2007 7:37:24 AM PST by COUNTrecount
MEREDITH, N.H. - John McCain's 95-year-old mother, in a swipe at her son's rival Mitt Romney, said Friday that Mormons were to blame for the scandal that rocked the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics.
During an appearance on MSNBC, Roberta McCain laid out why her son, John, deserves to win the Republican presidential nomination. But in evaluating McCain's primary rivals, she criticized Romney's Mormon faith and his time in Salt Lake City.
"As far as the Salt Lake City thing, he's a Mormon and the Mormons of Salt Lake City had caused that scandal. And to clean that up, again, it's not a subject," Roberta McCain said.
John McCain quickly stepped in: "The views of my mothers are not necessarily the views of mine."
"Well, that's my view and you asked me," Roberta answered.
The Salt Lake Organizing Committee had enticed International Olympics officials with lavish gifts and accusations of bribery mired the Games in scandal while resignations sullied the region's reputation.
Utah officials tapped Romney to lead the effort and as president and CEO of the organizing committee he pared the budget, boosted revenues and worked to repair the committee's reputation.
A Romney campaign spokesman said the McCains made a mistake.
"I would disagree with any candidate or any campaign surrogate that chooses to disparage someone based on the faith that they hold, and instead implore other candidates and their campaigns to make a case to voters based on the important issues facing the nation," said Kevin Madden.
Roberta McCain immediately apologized to her son.
"I didn't mean to say it," she said as they stepped away from the cameras.
McCain told The Associated Press after the interview that his mother misspoke.
"Mormons are great people and the fact that Mitt Romney is a Mormon should play no role whatsoever in people's decision," McCain said.
"What she meant was the Olympics were screwed up by the people in Salt Lake when Romney came in and fixed the problems there. But I know my 95-year-old mother is certainly in favor of Mormons."
I wouldn't go so far as to use the term "idiot", remember Newt's Mom being interviewed by Connie Chong?
Newt ain't no idiot...
That does not look like a woman to be messed with.
You know, you’re right. I’d have guess she was in her 70s - about the same age as her son.
She looks like John’s first wife.
Ping
If you’re going to make bigoted statements, at least get your facts straight. Most of the people invloved in the SLC Olypmics scandal were not Mormons. Indeed, slightly less than 50% of SLC is Mormon. The fact that a Mormon, Mitt Romney, fixed the mess should be congratulated. He did a fantastic job at a tremendously difficult time. Imagine not only have to fix the effects of the scandal, but then 9/11 happens less that half a year before the Olympics were set to begin. It was a challenge, and Mitt rose wonderfully to the occasion. If he becomes president, he will meet any other challenges with the same success.
BTW: Like mother like son? “Bomb, bomb, bomb bomb Iran” anyone? Perhaps they both just speak a little too much without thinking first.
Not smart of McCain to bring his 95 year old mother onto a national TV interview. I also think MSNBC should be smacked for allowing that portion of the interview to air. No interview involving a 95 year old, or any other person of questionable mental competence should be aired live, and an embarrassing off-the-cuff statement like this should be cut before the interview is aired. On the one hand, MSNBC may feel it was doing the right thing by exposing McCain’s poor judgement in bringing her on the show, but I don’t think any responsible media outlet should enable this sort of public embarrassment of a 95 year old.
That said, Mama McCain looks like one tough cookie. Guess having your son held and tortured as a POW for over 5 years, as voluntary serviceperson in a grossly mismanaged war, will do that to you.
Though McCain is not my choice for President, we should keep in mind that he has served our country very honorably and at huge personal sacrifice, and deserves our greatest respect for that reason. The Wikipedia section on his POW years:
“On October 26, 1967, McCain’s A-4 Skyhawk was shot down by an anti-aircraft missile, landing in North Vietnam’s Truc Bach Lake, near Hanoi. McCain broke both arms and a leg after ejecting from his plane.[22] After he regained consciousness, a mob gathered around him, spat on him, kicked him and stripped him of his clothing. He was then tortured by soldiers from North Vietnam, who crushed his shoulder with the butt of a rifle and bayoneted him in his left foot and abdominal area. He was then transported to the infamous Hoa Lo Prison, also known as the Hanoi Hilton.[23][22] There he shared a cell with Bud Day, a highly decorated POW who helped nurse McCain.[24]
Once McCain arrived at the prison, he was placed in a cell and interrogated daily. When McCain refused to provide any information to his captors, he was beaten until he lost consciousness.[25]
When The North Vietnamese government discovered his father was the Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Command, (CINCPAC), commander of all U.S. forces in Vietnam, he was offered a chance to return home early. McCain turned down the offer of repatriation due to his belief in the principle of “first in, first out”: he would only accept the offer if every man taken in before him was released as well.[26]
McCain signed an anti-American propaganda message as a result of vigorous torture methods, which to this day have left him incapable of raising his arms above his head.[27] His captors tried to force him to sign a second statement, and this time he refused. He received two to three beatings per week because of his continued refusal.[28]
McCain was held as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam for five and a half years, mostly in the Hanoi Hilton, and was finally released from captivity in 1973, having been a POW for almost an extra five years due to his earlier refusal to accept an out-of-sequence repatriation offer.[29]”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McCain
“The Salt Lake Organizing Committee had enticed International Olympics officials with lavish gifts and accusations of bribery mired the Games in scandal while resignations sullied the region’s reputation. “
Actually, she told the truth. Can anyone believe a NON-Mormon would have been brought in to cover up a Mormon mess? I keep telling people, this is the types of crony appointees you will get in a Mitt administration.
Why? While Christian Science used to use heavy pressure to persuade its members not to seek medical treatment, and have a strong centralized authority with a penchant for demanding strict obedience, that hasn’t been the case for a long time (and at the time the anti-medical belief was first promulgated, medical science was so primitive that it wasn’t nearly as irrational a belief as it would be now).
I’ve never heard of Christian Science imposing any particular pressure on members to remain in active membership, and that’s the chief hallmark of a cult. I really don’t think it qualifies as a cult at all, unless you define any religion that teaches that it’s beliefs are more correct than any other religion as a “cult” — but then you’d be talking about most organized religions on the face of the earth.
Of course, that doesn’t mean that certain local Christian Science groups can’t develop a cultish approach, and it sounds as if you may have had experience with one of those. But I don’t think there’s any evidence to support condemning the entire organization as a cult. They have virtually no organized proselytizing, and as mentioned before no systematic attempts to retain members. As a result their numbers have dwindled tremendously. The Christian Science church in my area recently sold its large and valuable church building and property for lack of active membership, and just retained its tiny storefront reading room nearby.
I have a 94 year old grandmother.
You NEVER know what she is going to say. As was said
she has earned the right to say whatever she wants and
more power to McCain’s mom for still being around
and looking good for her age.
But I agree who’s stupid idea was it to agree to have
her on TV?
If she was saying that it was not that big of a deal, I would agree. Yeah, it was an accomplishment, and a good one, but not worthy of making someone President. Yeah, added to his other accomplishments,,,,,etc but he would be wise to drop that one.
Here is a quote from the local newspaper:
The Ogden Standard-Examiner: "The cultural emphasis in the Mormon Church that equates financial success with spiritual success, and an unquestioning allegiance to authority figures, may partly explain why 10,000 Utah investors have been swindled out of more than $200 million during the past decade."
Here is a quote from the national press:
The San Diego Union: "In recent years, Utah has been called the fraud capital of the United States, and many defendants in fraud cases have been Mormon officials who used church connections to victimize other members."
Newsweek: "Utah, the land of the Mormons, has earned itself another name: the Stock-Fraud Capital of the Nation."
Did you know SEC opened up an office in Salt Lake City? Are you kidding me? Salt Lake City?
What can we take away from this? Apparently, victimizing your group isn't limited to any race, creed or religion.
“That woman looks dang good for 95 yo”!
Yes she does. I hope I can be so lucky.
But Drudge deserves a great big WOW -- what a purely perfect headline:
"McCain's Mom Rips Into Romney"
Why is religion such a dividing issue. People keep saying that they won’t vote for Romney because he is Mormon, but never say the won’t vote for Huckabee because he is Baptist and Giuliani because he is Catholic. Religion should not be the issue here. If it is, we are no better today than England was when our beloved country was founded.
Furthermore, I believe it is unfair to equate Romney with the moral turpitude of some Mormons. It is the same as equating Giuliani with the Mafia. Neither Romney nor Giuliani have anything to do with these shysters, even though these unscrupulous people profess to belong to their respective religions.
First off: McPain takes a swipe at Rudy over Kerkick and that mess, which is a shame....
And now he has his ‘Mommy’ taking a swipe at Romney over his religion....
Maybe Mr. McPain should remember the “KEATING FIVE” as there are no differences in taking swipes at other people....
they look like siblings to me!
at the very least his slightly older sister! but definitely contemporaries!
Who ever gave you that silly notion???
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