Posted on 12/15/2007 4:44:26 AM PST by Oshkalaboomboom
For many sophisticated conservatives, Mitt Romney is an appealing presidential candidate. Before he served a respectable term as governor of Massachusetts, he rescued the scandal-plagued Salt Lake City Winter Olympics. He has also been very successful in business, making millions as the co-founder of a private equity investment firm. Though his hyperpandering to the narrow-minded in this campaign has cost him some honor, he's still smart, accomplished and photogenic.
He's also a Mormon, a biographical note that has caused considerable consternation among the ultraconservative Christians who make up a sizable portion of the GOP's core constituency. Many of them reject Mormonism as a "cult" and would be hard-pressed to vote for Romney because of it. That's the reason he is now under white-hot pressure from Mike Huckabee in Iowa, where hard-core believers have pumped up the Baptist preacher's poll numbers.
It's quite a quandary for those among the Republican establishment who see Romney as not only the most electable among the GOP nominees — he has more intellectual heft than Huckabee and none of Rudy Giuliani's considerable baggage — but also as a genuinely well-qualified candidate.
And they're beginning to fret over those right-wing Christians who have painted Mormons as the children of Satan, a faction that wasn't placated by Romney's recent speech in which he declared his belief that "Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the savior of mankind."
This curious fracture among the GOP faithful conjures up another bit of biblical wisdom: "For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind." (Hosea 8:7) For more than two decades, the Republican Party has employed a deliberate strategy of injecting "moral values" and religious beliefs into political and civic life — a strategy that found its apex in the election of George W. Bush, who, during a presidential debate, named "Jesus Christ" as his favorite philosopher.
Though the GOP was historically known for fiscal conservatism and government restraint, party strategists decided back in the 1980s to link arms with Christian zealots to secure the votes of their flocks.
Thus began a long association with such figures as Pat Robertson and the late Jerry Falwell, dogmatic, dictatorial and intolerant. Their Christianity brooks no dissent from a rigid and warped reading of the Bible that denounces homosexuality and decries abortion but has little compassion for the poor.
To win Republican primaries, GOP candidates are expected to kowtow to those Christianists, and they have, all the while dismissing as immoral "secular humanists" those Americans who want to protect the wall separating church and state. In recent years, there have been few establishment conservatives willing to stand up to the zealots — and those who did have paid a price. (John McCain, who rightly labeled Falwell and Robertson "agents of intolerance" in his 2000 presidential campaign, comes to mind.)
But with ultraconservative Christians balking at the prospect of a Mormon president, many top conservatives are suddenly annoyed. Earlier this month, conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer, accusing Huckabee of "exploiting" religion, wrote, "Mormonism should be a total irrelevancy in any political campaign." Trained as a psychiatrist, Krauthammer has never aligned himself with the right-wing religionists, but he has been much more circumspect about Bush's exploitation of religion.
A far stranger spectacle has been the sight of Ralph Reed, former Christian Coalition executive, on the airwaves denouncing voters who would use religious beliefs as a test for political office. "We've really gone over the line in this election," Reed said recently, complaining that presidential candidates are being subjected to "a doctrinal frisk." Wow. You may recall Reed and his former mentor, Robertson, as among those who established the procedure, requiring candidates to assume the doctrinal position they laid out.
Time for these folks to stop invoking Christ's name and start listening to Christ's message. Mitt Romney's candidacy should depend on how he leads, not on how he prays.
Very nice summation. Recall McGovern in ‘72 - “Acid, abortion, amnesty.”
That is the truth. Especially concerning the leftist and rino liberal persuasions to make the conservative Christians the goat for their own sins and blind power mad,money driven hostile takeover of all things good.
Woe unto them who call evil good and good evil, we are there in America and the bible believing Christians have not changed but the other side has. Example; the Boy Scouts have not changed but they are attacked by the morally depraved miscreants who have changed for the worst and are represented by the sick politicians that destroy the good of America by denying how that Christ is Lord indeed.
Asking nicely.
I think Mitt would be good for religious freedom in the country because he’s a member of a persecuted minority.
The one thing that evangelicals and mormons have in common is they both have a need to talk to others about their faiths. At least when the mormon boys are on mission.
THis is the primary thing that the infidels hate. They HATE to be talked to about it. I can relate. I was threatened by it when I was an infidel, and I still find it annoying, but now I find it no big deal.
“Right Wing Christians” - like that’s a bad thing? Of course, it’s perfectly OK for the dims to speak of their religious beliefs but conservatives are given the pejorative phrase to define us as wacko or extreme.
I had actually considered supporting Huckabee up to about a month ago precisely because he is an ordained preacher. But then I started reading the small print. Thanks, but no thanks. This guy is part Bill Clinton, part Jim Baker, and part Ron Paul. His historic stance on immigration is unacceptable. His willingness to hand out pardons for the asking is unacceptable. His position on Iraq was unacceptable. And while the gifts he accepted as govenor of Arkansas may not have been illegal from a purely technical standpoint, they sure look like “pay to play” to me. Regardless, I want a POTUS who goes the extra mile to “avoid even the appearance of impropriety.”
If the alternative is to be an open-minded windbag such as yourself, I wear the label of bigot proudly. Signed, a True American
And the problem with Huckabee is that he is part of the persecutor class. Not all evangelicals are so full of themselves, but the ones that are, are dangerous to religious freedom indeed.
This is how bad a Huckabee nomination would be. Utah votes consistently the most conservatively in national elections of ANY state. But if the choice is between Huckabee and Hillary or Obama in 2008, Huckabee will lose in Utah. Hillary will squeak out a victory, but Obama will win convincingly. Why? Because Mormons see a festering malignancy of religious intolerance in Huckabee's campaign that frightens them more than the woefully misguided policy views of Hillary or Obama.
You heard it here first.
There---fixed now.
I suppose if you had to have a plague, conservative Christians wouldn’t be the worst one you could have.
AS to your comments - DUH? You hardly sound like a tolerant person yourself. The FIRST reason I object to Romney is that he is not conservative......his political past is steeped in liberalism. The SECOND reason is his religious beliefs....and it is also the reason he IS my THIRD choice in a primary candidate. And here I am a conservate, religious voter.
Please tell me you are NOT an American citizen. You are scary.
One’s religious beliefs do not qualify one for anything other than to be a member of that religion.
-you better rethink that.........eternity is forever.
Sure, so would I, but that person shouldn't be a socialist. Hence my opposition to Huckabee.
So much to read - so little time!
Rinos to conservatives - Just shut up. (but please continue to send us money and vote).
The bottom line for me is anything but a Democrat.
I may have to hold my breath but I just don't see our nation existing with Democrats running the White House and both houses of Congress.
I don’t like Mormonism.
I like Mitt Romney.
The one hasn’t much to do with the other.
Imagine if Mormonism was identified as a "plague"...the media firestorm and the FREEPER firestorm that would erupt would be immense. But note that Evangelicals are fair game.
Where are the "bigot patrol" posters & "religious liberty" posters & intolerant posters who are quick to defend the religious background of the Mittster when he is supposedly "tainted" in MSM & on these threads? Won't they arise to defend the potential R nominee when the MSM attacks? Are they now siding with the MSM or the "dirty tricks" Dems?
Don’t you love it when left-wing fruitcakes give advice to the right? These are people who can’t manage their own house, but they rush to mind everybody else’s business.
Yep, they are hypocrites. They will say and do anything to get their RINO the nomination. A good number of Republicans fall for it.
Religion is fair game. Mitt and Huck are both running on the Pious platform. They both deserve to die by it too, IMHO.....and THEY are the ones who asked us to judge them by their "faith."
This is the typical liberal crap that's even being taught @ BYU these days (even BYU profs are writing about this openly--well at least one of them is). The white religious privileged are engaged in persecution & racism of the highest order, even subconsciously. Therefore it must be disordered & deconstructed in favor of multiculturalism, diversity, tolerance...
There ya have it: postmodern socialism as brought to you by the campus left, where even Republicans and once more conservative Mormons are attending to open their mouths to have this poured down their mouths for $16,000 to $22,000 per year.
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