Is America ready to elect a Mormon as its President? (Mitt Romney)

[Thom Little]

In Mitt Romney, the Massachusetts Governor who all but threw his hat into the 2008 presidential race yesterday, Republicans have the almost perfect candidate. Except for one potential problem: Mr Romney is a Mormon.

After announcing that he would not be seeking a second term as Massachusetts governor, a widely anticipated move that clears the way for a 2008 White House bid, Mr Romney implicitly posed a fascinating political question: can a Mormon win enough votes to become President of the United States?

Mr Romney, whom analysts on both sides of the political divide say will be a serious contender in 2008, was elected governor of Massachusetts — one of the bluest of Democrat blue states — as a social moderate. In the past year, however, he has changed his stance on social issues important to religious conservatives, the base of the Republican Party that wields enormous influence in the Republican primary race. Mr Romney once said that abortion should be “safe and legal”, but now opposes it. He denounced the decision by the Massachusetts Supreme Court to legalise gay marriage. Calling himself a “red speck in a blue state”, he has emphasised socially conservative positions on the death penalty, stem-cell research and birth control.

But Manuel Miranda, head of the Third Branch Conference, an alliance of conservative groups, said that many evangelicals view Mormonism — the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints — as a cult. Mr Miranda said that in 2000 he worked for Orrin Hatch, the Utah senator and a Mormon, during his unsuccessful bid for the Republican nomination. “Hatch had a poll done. He found that over 60 per cent of Americans would not vote for a Mormon.”



http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,11069-1934123,00.html

[rox63]

1. Mittens is a lying snake

I've had the displeasure of having him as my governor for the last 3 years. DO NOT BE FOOLED IF HE TRIES TO PAINT HIMSELF AS A MODERATE. He is a right-wing nut.

[hwmnbn]

2. Does that mean we could possibly have.....

more than one First Lady? You know, polygamy and all.

[AllegroRondo]

3. Would that mean a Second and Third Lady?

And how do they decide which one is First?

[OneTwentyoNine]

23. Bawhahahah......Good one n/t

[StephanieMarie]

17. Members of the LDS church (aka "Mormons") do not

practice polygamy, and haven't in over 100 years. It is an excommunicatable offense.

[hwmnbn]

22. I guess there are still a few hold-outs.....

http://www.absalom.com/mormon/polygamy/faq.htm

Polygamy is no big deal to me. In this age of pre-nups and divorce decrees, it would just invite legal and logistical nightmares for anyone practicing it.

[Warren Stupidity]

4. Mittens? Not likely.

Prediction: mittens will resume role as corporate stuffed shirt after brief failed bid for rethuglican nomination falls flat with fundy base and gains no traction with neo-loons. Luckily the people of Massachusetts will be rid of this doofus as well.

[daveskilt]

5. yes we can have a mormon president - as long as it is Harry Reid

[catmother]

15. oh yeah. i forgot that harry is a mormon. n/t

[Double T]

6. Not a snowballs chance.....

in HELL!!!

[graywarrior]

7. Know what really pisses me off about this guy?

He's NOT from Massachusetts. He doesn't represent the liberal ideal that Massachusetts is. His plan all along was to run for president and Massachusetts just happened to be an available state for him to jerk off on and get a name for himself. I hate him.

And shame on the democrats for not having a good candidate to run against him. He squeaked into office by default. What a piece of shit he is. I'd rather stick pins in my eyes while having a colostomy before I see this asshole on any ballots inside NE, never mind a presidential one. Let him run for Gov of Utah. Bet even they wouldn't want him.

[Critters2]

10. !!

"I'd rather stick pins in my eyes while having a colostomy before I see this asshole on any ballots..."


:spray:

[Boojatta]

8. A Different Question

"In Mitt Romney, the Massachusetts Governor who all but threw his hat into the 2008 presidential race yesterday, Republicans have the almost perfect candidate. Except for one potential problem: Mr Romney is a Mormon. <...> can a Mormon win enough votes to become President of the United States?"

What if Mitt Romney were an African American who used to be a Mormon and is no longer a Mormon?

[AntiCoup2K4]

21. That's not very likely either.

I guess you aren't familiar with the old Mormon teaching of where black people came from.

No doubt you're familiar with the Biblical story of Lucifer's rebellion, and that 1/3 of the angels rebelled with him. Another 1/3 of the angels remained loyal to Elohim, the Heavenly Father (God). The remaining 1/3 remained neutral in the war, waiting to take the side of the eventual winner. Heavenly Father wasn't too pleased with their indecision, so He kicked them out of Heaven and they fell to Earth, getting burned by the sun on the way down. And these ex-angels became the first black people.

DISCLAIMER: I don't believe that ridiculous story for a minute, but I asked several Mormons that I went to school with, including an ex girlfriend, and none of them would deny it.

[daveskilt]

26. the mormons totally deny it -

http://www.blacklds.org/mauss.html

mormons have their fair share of idiots and bigots, like most religions, but they seem to be mostly nice people.

on edit

http://www.gomakecontact.com/mesj/library/speakouts/speak-on-racism.html

[Golden Hand]

9. Ooh, that would be fun.

The Babdists HATE Mormons. It's as bad as the way they used to talk about Catholics.

Of course, they've done a 180 on the Catholic church since they became anti-abortion buddies. I imagine they could easily do the same with the Mormons. Most political evangelicals worship the Republican Party more than they do Jesus.

[The_Casual_Observer]

11. They elected a moron, so why not a mormon?

[SunDrop23]

12. Never happen. No way the christofacists would elect a Mormon.

[Bongo Prophet]

13. Rightwingers would vote for anyone their propagandists put up

Here in Tx, mormons are in solidarity with fellow religious wingnuts because they hate the gay/humanist agenda.
Christofascists have a cetain flexibility shown nowhere else in their makeup when it comes to power alliances.

[daveskilt]

27. some liberal mormons out there you know

http://www.gomakecontact.com/mesj/

[Bongo Prophet]

28. Glad to hear it. n/m

[MaineDem]

14. I don't care what religion he is

He's still a very bad choice.

[catmother]

16. i wonder why anyone would want to be a mormon. it's such a

hard religion to follow. i know someone who used to be a mormon. he said he was so busy "trying to be a good mormon -- that he was not a good husband or father to his 6 children". now he does everything that mormons don't do. he drinks coffee, eats chocolate, smokes, drinks, opened up a topless bar, etc. and the church takes a big chunk of your money, don't know if it's 10 or 20% before tax. Jesus H. Christ.

[Neil Lisst]

18. No, America is not ready for a Mormon president.

His candidacy will be DOA as soon as the fundies get the scent of LDS.

[AntiCoup2K4]

19. Harry Reid would have a better shot at it.

The religious reich base of the Republican party considers the LDS church to be a heretical cult. This is why Orrin Hatch never got far in the primaries. Shit Romney won't either. At least in the Democratic party, a Mormon would have as much (theoretical) chance as anybody else.

[pocket]

20. nah, the snake handlers hate mormons

call them a cult.

Oh the irony!

[jackpan1260]

24. How did blue state like Mass. elect a turd like Mitt anyway?

[xkenx]

25. I saw Romney on

CSPAN a few days ago giving a speech, and he sounded kind of good. Then I saw him on Hardball, and he couldn't handle Tweety. He was particularly weak on foreign policy questions. Someone strong like Wes Clark would chew him up.