Posted on 10/30/2007 12:08:40 PM PDT by delacoert
Sometimes things happen in American politics that make no sense at all. We are experiencing just one of those moments in the 2008 presidential campaign.
I thought that the concept of a religious test for public office in our country was put to bed once and for all when John Kennedy, a Catholic, was elected president in 1960 and Joe Lieberman, an Orthodox Jew, was nominated for vice president in 2000.
Now we have a candidate with a record of accomplishment, Mitt Romney, who is consistently lagging in the polls with the most credible reason being that significant numbers of Republican primary voters will not support him because of his Mormon religion.
When voters, particularly in the South, are asked to identify candidates that they would not support for president under any circumstances, Romney leads the list. Romney is rejected as a potential presidential candidate in this type polling more often than other polarizing figures such as Rudy Giuliani. It has become increasingly clear that many conservative voters will not support an otherwise qualified candidate who happens to be a Mormon.
As a Democrat, I wouldn’t vote for Romney in the general election if he is nominated by the Republican Party. But I’ll be damned if I can understand why he should be disqualified from seeking his party’s nomination because of his religion. This makes no logical sense in the world’s greatest democracy in the 21st century.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Romney will beat Hillary like a rented mule.
“Or, if he does happen to win, he’s the most acceptable of the GOP slate of candidates” - No, that’s Rudy.
Frost wants to peg the GOP as bigots if they dont go for Romney, while stirring up a reason against him if he does. Waste of ink. The fact is that there very few people out there who are truly anti-mormon bigots who actually give a d*mn about it. He says Jesus Christ is his savior; his mormon theology aint sound, but neither is your average lesbian Episcopalian bishop who’s ready to worship St Gore and calls Christ rising a ‘metaphor’. This is an overrated issue. Romney is a decent family man with his values on course in Judeo-Christian tradition. That’s what matters and that is what most voters will vote on.
meandog, dont worry about Romney, you wont go for him anyway ... you just worry about stopping that flip-flopping tax-hiking socialist Hillary boy Mark Warner from becoming the next VA Senator. That vile man needs to be run out on a rail before he votes for Hillary’s pro-abort anti-2nd-A judicial nominees. WE need to get behind a real conservative like Gilmore.
There is no way in Hades I will ever vote for some slick, double talking, flip-flopping fake, whose personal religious practice is at best, this side of Satan worship — but enough about Rudy. I’ve got no problem with Romney.
**************
Oh, boo hoo hoo. Who cares what a Democrat thinks about the GOP?
I want Mitt Romney to explain how he got elected in MAssachussets.
And what does he base that on other than his desire to suggest that Republicans are discriminating based on religion?
Romney's problem is that he has a history of being liberal, and is now professing to be a conservative. What he has done in the past, doesn't match what he is saying now.
The same is true for Rudy, but Rudy gets a boost from name recognition from his wonderful acting job following 9/11.
Romney has been courting the Evangelical leaders...
Dr. Don Wilton, Former President Of The South Carolina Baptist Convention, Endorses Gov. Romney
HOWEVER, Dr. Wilton had a change of heart...Romney Loses Evangelical Endorsement
Five days after the endorsement it was withdrawn.
One wonders if Dr. Wilton received a heated response from fellow Baptists.
Likewise, any LDS candidate needs to convince Christian voters than when his faith labels all Christian voters as “apostates,” somehow he is not part of that apostate-labeling faith.
Funny, for me, it was him making noises like a Democrat in the Florida “debate”. The one that really rang alarm bells was when he characterized Fred’s Social Security suggestion as a “cut” (it was not).
most credible reason being that significant numbers of Republican primary voters will not support him because of his Mormon religion:
NOPE:
The reason why conservative Republicans are not voting for his is becuase he is a MA liberal! Not his mormonism:
Now a Mormon wants to have a reminder and have a covenant also, but they choose to not wear it “out on their sleeves” so to speak. They keep their religion to themselves by wearing their reminder as underclothing.
Why is that then something to mock?
Your average Mormon has stronger adherence to the traditional Judeo-Christian values than your average secularized non-churchgoing American, as the Mormon sect (or ‘cult’ as you call it) is an American offshoot sect from Christianity.
Thus, when Romney stands up for families and supports the Family Marriage Amendment, has concerns about Obama pushing sex ed in early grades, points out that out-of-wedlock births are a problem, joins with pro-life Americans in opposing abortion on demand, he does so within the framework of shared Judeo-Christian values.
A Muslim is outside that faith tradition entirely.
“I want Mitt Romney to explain how he got elected in MAssachussets.”
It has something to do with being a great candidate with a great background running on fiscal conservative pro-family agenda who won over enough independents along with his Republican base to overcome a leftie liberal Democrat woman running for the same spot.
Mighty great script to run on in 2008 as well.
“Romney Falling Victim to Voters’ Religious Discrimination”
This will be the Romney supporters’ meme when he loses the nomination. That we wouldn’t vote for him because of his religion. No mention of trustworthiness on core conservative issues will be allowed.
“When voters, particularly in the South, are asked to identify candidates that they would not support for president under any circumstances, Romney leads the list.”
Hmmmm, exactly what some of us warned would be the situation for the last six months. Kiss of death in the general election.
Have you LOOKED at the CURRENT occupant of the oval office?
I don’t care about his religion. I am troubled deeply by his flip-flopping in recent times.
Gary
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