Well, to dream is blind sublime ... dream on, but I am working to prevent Romney from getting the nomination because I live amongst Conservative Christians who will flat out not vote for a man steeped in Mormonism when they learn a few of the seemy truths on that religion. You can ignore the truths about Motrmonism all you want, but they will still blow Romney away when it comes time to vote and a small but vital percentage choose to eschew him because of his religious beliefs. It is far more in play than the religion issue was in the Kennedy election because the differences between Catholics and Protestants are mere groove compared to the chasms apart between Mormonism and Christianity.
Yeah, I guess that explains why Romney's dad couldn't ever get elected governor of Michigan. And why no Mormon has ever been elected to anything outside places where they constitute a majority.
I know a few Conservative Christians myself. In fact, I are one. But the number who are as bigoted and vocal as you are few.
The number who are obsessed with keeping Mormons out of public life are fewer still. Get a life.
I am going to disagree with you on a few points..I live among many Conservative Christians as well, and the experiences that you may have had, differ greatly from my own...when the folks in my neighborhood, or folks I meet up with during my daily round, start talking about politics, and the different candidates, rarely is the fact the Romney is a Mormon even brought up...people are concerned about the war in Iraq, people are concerned about illegal immigration, people are concerned about taxes, people are concerned about the issues facing us...they want to know what Romney says about those issues, what Romney proposes, should he become president..almost no one I have talked to, brings up Romneys religion as a plus or minus, regarding voting for or against him...I know many one issue voters, who look at only one issue of the candidates, and make up their minds, based on that one issue...then there are those, who take the totality of what a candidate says, and compare that with the totality of what the other candidates say, and they make up their minds based on, in ‘totality’ who they think the best candidate is...now Christian Conservatives, who look only at Romneys religion, and disqualify him, based on his religion, are one issue voters, and in my way of thinking, they are considering an issue, that most voters dont...that is fine tho, people can vote for whomever they wish, for whatever reasons they wish...I just dont see Romneys religion, being the great big bug-a-boo, that you seem to see it as being...
And I completely disagree with your characterization that during the Kennedy/Nixon election, that the gulf between Cathoicism, and Protestantism, was a mere groove, compared to the chasm between ‘Christianity’ and ‘Mormonism’....that does not fit in at all, with what I remember from that election...I was 15 at the time, and I know, that in the Methodist church, that I was raised in, I overheard almost all of the adults, saying that they would never vote for Kennedy, based on the fact that he was a Catholic...some of them, I swear, thought Catholics, had horns...they all thought if Kennedy won, the Pope would rule America...silly, you say?...why yes, it was silly to think that way...
I dont see much of a difference in the climate of the voters, regarding the candidates religion, between those voting for who they did in 1960, and those who will be voting in 2008....
I really do believe that you are completely off the mark here...of course, it is just my own opinion, but in my view, most people dont care if Romney is a Mormon or not...what most people want to know, is how Romney is going to look out for them, and for their children, and how Romney is looking out for America and its future...
I am sure that you will disagree with me vehemently here, and that is fine...you have presented your beliefs and experiences and I have presented mine...they are at complete odds with each other...so be it...and no, I am not Mormon, and I do think that many of the things within the Mormon church, as I have understood them, are just plain odd and weird...but I would never go so far as to say, that because one is a Mormon, they are not Christians, which seems to be the gist of so many of these posts lately...If someone tells me they are a Christian, I take them at their word..only the Lord himself, knows the truth of the matter of an individuals ‘Christianity’, and you, not me, not any mere mortal...