Posted on 06/23/2007 1:28:02 PM PDT by Extremely Extreme Extremist
(AP) SALT LAKE CITY -- Mitt Romney said Saturday that criticism of his Mormon religion by rival GOP presidential campaigns is happening too frequently.
“Clearly, any derogatory comments about anyone’s faith—those comments are troubling. The fact they keep on coming up is even more troubling,” Romney said during a fundraising trip in the home state of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The Mormon church is one of the fastest-growing religions and claims about 12.5 million members worldwide. But many evangelical Christians in crucial primary states such as Iowa and South Carolina consider the faith a cult.
Romney’s remarks follow an apology from GOP rival John McCain’s campaign for comments about the Mormon church allegedly made this year by a volunteer.
Also recently, Republican presidential hopeful, Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas, issued a similar apology for a campaign worker’s e-mail to Iowa Republican leaders that was an apparent attempt to draw unfavorable scrutiny of Romney’s religion. Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani apologized after the New York Sun noted that a campaign aide had forwarded to a blogger a story about unofficial Mormon lore. Legend has it that a Mormon would save the Constitution, the story said. The campaign aide passed the story along with a note: “Thought you’d find this interesting.”
Romney said in a large presidential race there always will be some volunteers or workers who cannot be controlled. But he said the difference between derogatory comments that originated from the McCain campaign and others is that the Arizona senator has not personally apologized to him.
“In the case of Senator Brownback and Mayor Giuliani ... they called immediately. They each spoke with me personally. I don’t have any issue with that at all,” Romney said.
He said McCain “can do whatever he feels is the right thing. There’s no need for me to suggest how people respond to things that go on in the campaign.”
Tucker Bounds, a McCain campaign spokesman, said the McCain campaign has already apologized.
“It’s a very sincere apology. There is absolutely no place for those type of comments in our campaign,” he said.
Romney, a former governor of Massachusetts, said he had not spoken with McCain since the last presidential debate, on June 5.
Romney used a fundraiser hosted by Utah Jazz owner Larry Miller to criticize the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law. It banned unregulated, unlimited contributions from corporations, unions and wealthy individuals to national political parties and federal candidates.
“The bill ought to be repealed,” he said. “It’s been the wrong course for American campaigns.”
Romney said he favors unlimited donations as long as they are immediately disclosed on the Internet.
Romney was attending fundraisers in Salt Lake City and in Logan on Saturday.
Bump
I’d like to see those “thousand links”. Could you post them?
>> “So it’s just the Mormons and Wiccans that you disapprove of?”
> You forgot Muslims and Satanists.
Okay, so it’s Mormans, Wiccans, Muslims, Satanists... what about Cannibals? We got plenty of those in the South Pacific: you know — they worship sticks and eat people. You OK with them, or no?
What about Aborigines? Lord knows what they worship, but they seem to spend a fair bit of their spiritual life contemplating “Dream Time”...
Actually, religion does matter, as far as 9.5 years.......I am going to go out a limb and say, if Romney is the nominee, he will lose. He might be able to beat Obama, but that’s about it. And his unelectability is entirely about his religion, it is entirely about Utah, and those other factors.
Because the truth is, electing Romney does mean electing a Mormon government, because more than any other campaign, his would draw Mormons as volunteers, and it is from the ranks of volunteers that political appointees are drawn.
A felony in the US and felons are disqualified to be POTUS.
You're really reaching now...
A quote from Joseph Smith, “I will be to this generation a second Mohammed, whose motto in treating for peace was ‘the Alcoran [Koran] or the Sword.’ So shall it eventually be with us—‘Joseph Smith or the Sword!’ ”
This quote was taken from
Mormon Literature Sampler: The Missouri Persecutions B. H. Roberts*
Where in the Bible do you get the notion that we are Lucifer’s sibling? Lucifer was an angel. Angels and humans are not the same.
Why do you baptize children in the names of dead people?
> A felony in the US and felons are disqualified to be POTUS.
>
> You’re really reaching now...
Rastafarians? Might have to do something with the dope-smoking, but that’s not a felony — only a misdemeanor in most states. Would Rastafarians be OK? We got a Rastafarian in our Parliament (Nandoor Tanzcos) and he’s actually a fairly effective, hard-working and intelligent representative: even when he is stoned. I’d vote for him...
You OK with Rastafarians?
I would discard that candidate for illegal substance abuse.
How’s this for a strange candidate?
A native American who practices traditional ways. Worships the “Great Spirit”, smokem peace pipe, etc. I might have to vote for that person just for the poetic justice of it.
President Soaring Eagle
Heh...
And what if the Rastafarians didn’t smoke so much marijuana?
And what if the Catholics didn’t select a Hitler Youth and Nazi conscript as their spiritual leader?
I don’t think it is inappropriate to consider what candidates believe about universal truths in deciding how to vote, or to consider the records of organizations to which they belong. It isn’t bigotry to decline to vote for Robert Byrd solely because of his KKK affiliation, is it?
(Not that there aren’t other reason to vote against Byrd)
> I would discard that candidate for illegal substance abuse.
But legal substance abuse is OK tho’ ay. Like the sitting POTUS, or that fat senator from Massawhatsis?
And what if the Catholics didn’t select a Hitler Youth and Nazi conscript as their spiritual leader?
For every Adolf Hitler there is an Albino Luciani.
Religion is not a reliable gauge of a man’s Character.
> I don’t think it is inappropriate to consider what candidates believe about universal truths in deciding how to vote, or to consider the records of organizations to which they belong.
I don’t think it is a reliable gauge, either. And History proves me right.
> It isn’t bigotry to decline to vote for Robert Byrd solely because of his KKK affiliation, is it?
No, it isn’t: if you are prepared to overlook the fact that many of the Founding Fathers kept slaves and saw nothing wrong with that. Would you have voted for them?
I seem to recall that Dubya hasn't had a drink since his 30th birthday, or something like that. I assume that's what you mean.
"or that fat senator from Massawhatsis?"
We're talking POTUS candidates here, Big Red Nuke Button stuff.
Those liberal nuts up there in Massachusetts can vote for whichever Senator they want, but I would vote against Kennedy not only for he himself being a liberal nut, but he's also guilty, though not convicted, of manslaughter.
A felony.
[I’d like to see those “thousand links”. Could you post them?]
You betcha. This gets you 829 hits:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22White+horse+Prophecy%22&btnG=Search
This gets you 151000 hits, but I’m sure not all are good.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Whitehorse+Prophecy&btnG=Search
So, just like I said, a thousand links. Once again FastCoyote is shown to be a God, never giving false info (how can he, he’s a God!).
Hmmm. Don’t know. At the time, slavery was viewed radically differently, and it would be hubris to assume had I been alive then that I would’ve been immune to an environment of justification, no matter how weak those justifications seem today.
“Because the truth is, electing Romney does mean electing a Mormon government, because more than any other campaign, his would draw Mormons as volunteers, and it is from the ranks of volunteers that political appointees are drawn.”
That is soooo bigoted. But of course it is also true. Certain areas of Vegas government are run that way, and I can only imagine what Utah is like.
I worked for the university system for a couple yearw here. The department accountant’s next in command was Mormon and had a new son-in-law who was legally blind. Guess who they brought in to do our website.
Speaking of the opposite situation, I knew a legally blind gentile vendor at the airport who got pushed out by the Mormon director of operations.
So yes, that is how it works.
“Religion is not a reliable gauge of a man’s Character.”
And what would be? His shoe size?
Now you might claim something like “his business character”, but it is my observation that businessmen who are honest tend to have a moral structure undergirding their behavior.
I just dont want people to make fun of mine, I guess...:)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.