Romney Camp Balks At Steele's Mormonism Comments

When guest-hosting Bill Bennett's radio show last Friday, Republican National Committee chair stumbled into another embarrassing public statement. Overshadowed by his comments on empathy was a harsh critique of potential 2012 Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

"Remember, it was the base that rejected Mitt because of his switch on pro-life, from pro-choice to pro-life," Steele told a caller. "It was the base that rejected Mitt because it had issues with Mormonism. It was the base that rejected Mitt because they thought he was back and forth and waffling on those very economic issues you're talking about."

Romney's people, understandably, objected. "Sometimes when you shoot from the hip, you miss the target," said Romney spokesman Eric Ferhnstrom. "This is one of those times."

Gail Gitcho, the Republican National Committee's new spokesperson, sent out a statement, her first (but probably not her last) clarifying the chairman's remarks.

"Chairman Steele regrets the way his comments have been interpreted. Chairman Steele believes Mitt Romney is a respected and influential voice in the Republican Party and looks to his leadership and ideas to help move our party and our nation in the right direction."

In an amusing coincidence, Gitcho worked for Romney during the presidential campaign.

Meanwhile, Romney himself made a rather bold statement on Laura Ingraham's radio show last week. Asked about his perceived swipe at Sarah Palin, the former governor said. "Sarah Palin and Rush Limbaugh are two of the most influential voices in our party and thank heavens for that."

Comments

[whohortonehears2]

milt should go ride a bike...

[VPN]

He was on one for a year, he peddeled hisass all over the country and was still rejected.

[greatlardini]

The last paragraph tells you everything you need to know about Willlllard. Say anything at anytime. A man absolutely without principles.

[haval2]

dwight got it right. what are romney's ons doing besides counting money...military service????

[jetphixer]

But like bybee he has a pair of MAJIC underwear!!!And soon to get his own planet along side jor-el or who ever the Mormon god is.

[ramal]

Don't you love it when the Repugs just can't keep from sniping at each other?

[dwright]

Why isn't Mitt somewhere with his 5-6 sons running around the mountains in Tora Bora trying to catch Bin Ladin? Now that would help him get elected somewhere.

[MakersMark]

Um, were any of those boys in Iraq where most Republicans wanted other people's kids?

[greatlardini]

Of course not.

[newworldman777]

Hey, wait a minute! Mitt's fine, educated, patriotic Republican sons "served their country" best -- campaigning for their father's presidential candidacy -- after having learned about "pursuing other priorities" from their Republican kindred spirit, Dick Cheney. That "serving in the military" thing is for the unwashed masses, not New England elite, for heaven's sake. Get real.

[1differentdrummer]

"looks to his leadership and ideas to help move our party and our nation in the right direction." Could she say that with a straight face? Mittens seems to me to be a mid-level achiever in politics. For once Steele, not quite mid-level, made sense, if you read the above, and got hammered for it. My impression is that many Evangelical Rs wouldn't vote for a Mormon if he were to run unopposed. Am I wrong?

[dwright]

nope, actually Steele is correct here

[DrJohnnySkeptic]

The dumber that Romney behaves, it shows he follows "moronism".

[tjdumas]

LOLOLOLOLOLOLOO NOW THAT SHOULD BE THE NEW AD AGAINST HIM IF HE EVER RUNS AGAIN!!!! LOLOLOL

[KevinHallShow]

Michael Steele was absolutely correct. The base (read southern evangelicals) did reject mormonism. There were clips of people refusing to shake Mitt's hand because he was a Mormon in the midwest. Romney was answering polygamy questions and whether or not the LDS were racists in the primary. He was never able to shake the fact that Mormonism seems to be a secret society. This is not a gaffe, this is the truth. Good for you Michael Steele! The great thing is that the truth continues to crush the Republican party.

www.kevinhallshow.com

[Nino Ferencek]

I think Romney lost, because his 'Yes We Can' was 'Washington is broken'. I found his town hall meetings hilarious. How can you run on 'Washington is broken', when your party broke it? If you're elected, you make it possible for your party to keep breaking Washington for another 4 years. His campaign was so phoney. That's why he lost. He ridiculed Obama, now who's mr. President and who's broken?

[VSamuels]

I watched on C-SPAN an event where Romney's wife and some of his daughter-in-laws were hosting, and in one unsuspecting and indiscreet moment, Mrs. Romney seemingly bored asked, if this thing was over and she was obviously shocked when an attendee came up to her to chat. I find that the Romney's themselves to be phoney including their perfect looking family, which I believe is what they were attempting to sell the country more than Romney's business prowness.

Frankly, the GOP makes my head hurt with all of their antics and b.s., below the surface they have a message but they are continuing to shoot themselves in the foot by not purging the dead wood and getting on board with the new administration. They would look so much better by being seen as the party which is about fixing this country, even if most of it is merely symbolic.

And, they seem too stupid to even do this.

[Zengeist]

Or principles.

[Zengeist]

A Mormon? How about a say anything, no-real-principals panderer without a single hair out of place. Ever.

[DrJohnnySkeptic]

You don't know the half of it!

http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Mitt_Romney_spent_nearly_2K_on_0719.html

[mapleaforever]

This was another of Steele's Gitcho moments?

[CitizenIndie]

All you have to do, is put a camera in front of Steele and say "Action!" The man is incapable of trying to steal the spotlight and bask in the glow.
Democrats should never try and shut him up, but rather, should try and see that at every opportunity he, like Sarah Palin, are allowed to express their minds freely.
It will always be good for a laugh up until 2012. Best to just let the man talk all he wants to.. he's got Joe Biden disease but in an advanced stage.

[Zengeist]

Yeah. Sometimes the mind is a terrible thing to share.

[buenavista836]

All religions are silly fairy tales...Mormonism is perhaps more ridiculous because its founding stories were created in a time so close to our own...when the idea of someone claiming to have seen Jesus or having received golden tablets from "God" clearly marks them as mentally ill...Romney's is not a viable national candidate in the Republican party because of religous intolerance...Republican mullahs, i.e. evangelical leaders ...would never support a Mormon for the White House....but also because he is so palpably manufactured and disingenuous...perhaps someday we will escape the thrall of the lunacy of religion....

[Earl]

Let's tell it like it is. Joseph Smith, the illiterate, racist "glass looker," was convicted of defrauding people in a New York State court of law, and was eventually gunned down by people he swindled. How anyone can believe his tall tales of some family that boated across the ocean from Israel to North America in 600 BC, then split into two groups -- one good and one bad -- and alternately turned black and white (literally their skin turning black and white) in accordance with their levels of good vs evil and tribal allegiances, and especially the part about the branch of the family that morphed into Indians...when DNA, etc disproves all of this as pure bunk...is beyond me. WHY does this even matter to anything spiritual, even if it were true? You have to really WANT to be a part of the gang to swallow this stuff. This is why the Mormon population is shrinking. I'd sooner believe in Xenu.

[VSamuels]

At the heart of much of what is Western philosophy is how it goes about in explaining to those in dominate culture the preminence of 'white people' and then their role in the world in relations to non-white people. Here, Mormonism attempts to forge a path outside of science to rationalize the existence of white people as its own species; which in and of itself goes along way in explaining why the idea of 'purity' is so sacred for those who can't cope with the reality that all men began with a single African ancestor.

Again, this fact is at the heart of what some fight each day as they refuse to come to grips with race and the origin of Man, instead preferring to carry on a false path so that they continue to believe stories that promote 'white superiority'.

And, the MSM just continues to go about it business of somehow never getting around to knocking down this nonsense, as so many white folks are psychologically invested in believing that they are some independent people arising out of thin air.