[truthkeeper]

I think the purpose of Romney's speech last month was to make himself palatable to Evangelical Protestants and Catholics who were predisposed to distrusting Mormons.

Please. I was born Catholic, my whole family is Catholic, I have scads of Catholic friends, and not a one of us could care less that Romney is a Mormon.

[SharpTalons]

Same here. But some evangelicals don’t even consider Roman catholics “authentic” Christians.

[The Pack Knight]

Come on, now. You know I'm not talking about all Catholics or even most Catholics. I don't even really think that Catholics tend to be more distrustful of Mormons than other Americans. You have to admit there are more than a couple, though. There is too much data out there which suggests that his religion is viewed more negatively than positively by a very large number of Americans.

I included Catholics because I don't think his speech was designed to allay the distrust some secular Americans have of Mormons. I'm simply saying that his speech was designed to show that he's a man of faith, too, and to counter some of the aura of weirdness that surrounds his religion. That's something designed to appeal to church-going Protestants and Catholics, mostly.

Look, I don't particularly want to be an apologist for Romney or for Mormons. I, like you, don't care one way or another about the man's religion. I just think it's unfair and, frankly, a bit ludicrous to say that he's running on his religious identity in anything like the same way Mike Huckabee is running on his.