Mitt Romney is a tad silly.
I say this as a person who is not a member of a church and lacks the kind of faith that others proclaim. As do many of us who struggle with the notions of god, I often find myself envying those who are unfalteringly certain about the things they cannot see. I also know that it is nonsense to think religion doesn't matter in politics, and especially in presidential campaigns.
When Romney made his speech about religion in College Station, Texas, he wasn't that far upwind from Mt. Carmel, where the government ran into a false prophet and they both made mistakes that incinerated children and their parents. Faith was at the heart of that tragedy. David Koresh was scrutinized and criticized for what he believed and, ultimately, was judged by our culture to be a whack job. The same process needs to be applied to politics.
Romney's assertion that faith is deeply personal and ought not to be a significant part of the discussion is nonsensical. We would certainly not elect a man or a woman who believed that all of creation was a product of the internet's now famous "flying spaghetti monster." This would be a person of unsound judgment, eh? And whether the former governor of Massachusetts is willing to believe it or not, this is a standard that is being applied to his religion of Mormonism and what he holds to be true about its tenets and its founder, Joseph Smith.
Christians, whether they are evangelical or not, have a difficult time processing the idea that Smith was a prophet and many of them are convinced he was a charlatan. Indeed, in private some will even call him a cultist, which is the title Koresh carried with him into the flames. Even in the 1800s when mythology and folklore were more substantive parts of all cultures, Smith's story of golden tablets and the angel Moroni was incredible to people, including, often, his wife.
As a presidential candidate, Romney cannot confront the fact that a significant number of Christians think his religion is a cult grown more virulent than Koresh's. Nonetheless, it is a fact that many believe that way and are willing to say as much around their Christian friends. Whether the assessment is fair or not seems irrelevant; it is a political fact that is holding back his campaign and far too few of the pundits and analysts and journalists are willing to write or discuss this dynamic.
Romney is not naïve. In his Texas talk, he was only trying to sell the notion that his being a Mormon should not count against him any more than John Kennedy's being a Catholic mattered in his election. Fundamentalists, however, were not convinced. Religion in politics is probably more relevant than it has ever been because we have allowed our leadership to engage us in a religious war under the guise of spreading democracy. If this point is not made yet, consider the chances of election a Muslim-American might have if he were running for president in 2008. When Minnesota voters sent Keith Ellison to Capitol Hill, he became the first Muslim ever elected to Congress and had to endure insipid questions about his patriotism from talk show hosts and alleged reporters. If Ellison were Ronald Reagan reincarnate and had no differences with the iconic conservative other than being a Muslim, he still would not be elected because of his faith.
This is why Mike Huckabee will win the GOP nomination for president. Christian fundamentalists who turned over their church directories to the Bush campaign and walked the streets of America in record numbers to bang on doors are motivated by their fear of a Mormon in the White House. It does not matter how many public records Huckabee destroyed while governor, how many murderers and rapists he paroled under pressure, or whether he thinks AIDS patients need to be quarantined; he believes as Christians believe and they are frightened of Romney's god. Christians, even though they are mostly silent regarding Romney's beliefs, are determined to see that Huckabee wins the nomination.
And you can take that on faith.
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The dems should not have any trouble finding a servant hearted leader to beat him because after all, serving, working together and sharing are our strengths.
Republican Iowa Caucus
Iowa: Huckabee 28% Romney 27%
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Iowa voters have learned a lot about Mike Huckabee and not all of it has been flattering. Favorable opinions of Huckabee have dropped from 81% to 67% over the past week and the Huckabee tide has receded a bit.
The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Iowa"s Likely Caucus Participants shows that Huckabee and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney are now essentially tied for the lead in the state that will vote first in 2008.
In South Carolina, both Huckabee and Romney now earn 33% of the vote. Earlier in the month, Huckabee had opened up a seven point lead.
Forty-nine percent (49%) of Evangelical Christians now support Hucakbee in Iowa. While still a very high level of support, it"s down from 62% a week ago.
Among other Protestant voters, Huckabee now earns 17% support, down from 33%. Romney attracts a plurality of these Protestant voters with 30% support and McCain earns 18% of their vote.
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/election_20082/2008_presidential_election/iowa/republican_iowa_caucus
Is the reason the Producers Alliance won't negotiate with the writers in good faith is because they are part of a GOP conspiricy to keep the Daily Show and Real Time with Bill Mahr off the air during the political season so that Huckster, Mitt, or Rudy won't be the target of their insightful wit? These thoughts come late at night when I am sleep and humor deprived.
As a result of our "fabulous" education system, America is a nation that has been inflicted with an epidemic of "arrested intellectual development" ...therefore religion does, in fact matter to many.
Huckabee, however will never survive the close scrutiny that he can expect to encounter, should he win the Republican nomination.
For example, he has actually refused to release transcripts of his sermons over the past few years. Why do you suppose that is the case? Certainly the voting public has every right to read his deepest held thoughts and teachings. They were, after all originally presented in a public forum.
And yet he absolutely refuses to let the rest of America hear his words of wisdom.
He's representing some of the luniest sensibilities of any of the candidates, and the Republican "kingmakers" and power brokers know he is essentially damaged goods coming out of the gate. The "religious right-wing zealots" have actually been largely duped by the Republican decision makers.
Instead, they have in my opinion, begun to bolster the prospects of John McCain. Kissinger and Lieberman have both endorsed him, and as nutty and inconsistent as his record shows that he is, he is still a safer bet than Huckabee. (The problematic campaigns of Romney and Guiliani will soon be "dead-in -the water.)
McCain will get the nomination, and if Israel decides to "Bomb-Bomb-bomb... bomb-bomb-Iran", and things get even "dicier" for American warships as well as ground troops in the region, with the help and prodding of our corporate media our so-called 'war-weary" populace may once again rally behind the US war machine, not unlike the way it did back in 2003. McCain will be "the man", as it were.
Apart from "religion" Americans also love a good sporting event and "war" is always a favorite...until it becomes clear that we can't win (or if the draft were to be reinstated as a result of a Bush concocted national emergency).
All we can hope for is a total re-design of those tacky ribbon car-magnets.
If faith must be examined and discussed and dissected, Then why aren't you talking about Hillary's Religion? Why aren't you talking about Obama's religion? Why aren't you talking about Edwards Religion?
Lets get real. To you, faith is only a smear tool if it's a Republicans faith and something to be tolerated and ignored if it's a democrat.
Who do you think you are fooling?
Rextrek,
Thank you for updating me.
I wasn't aware equal protection wasn't applicable in all states. What a grieveous, unacceptable situation.
But then - I should of remembered states where lawlessness and corruption boldly strut.
Take Louisiana for example. Please.
As for his political skills? He has none and he seems to have made no effort to get any, so I truly don't see how you can think this man can deal with the issues in the world arena, much less here in America. His skills as a man of religion have already shown him to be lacking as a human being, and one with any sort of skills to handle other humans, so how can he possibly make any sort of politician, especially a great one? So you see James, religion does matter, and while I am no evangelical, I am praying mightily that neither one of these men wins the presidency, for the reasons I've explained and so many more.
Compromise sows life to politics but reaps religion's death. This is why religion has no part in politics. There is no compromise in religion.
Thank you for this piece. It's truly frightening! But I have to say I put blame on the media for this hyper religiosity. I don't know how many people in this country are true right-winging, gay hating, evolution-denying, Bush-loving, "Christians" but I do know that the media loves to give them a BIG voice. So much so that it's been said the right lunatic fringe is now considered the lunatic mainstream.
A great example of this occurred during the Republican debate when the candidates were asked to discuss their views on evolution. Is this really a relevant question in the year 2007 AND who is this question being asked for anyway??
If we're going to give people like Focus On The Family a voice on CNN and MSNBC perhaps we should also hear from The Communist Party -- but that would never happen.
To demonize Romney for his Mormonism is no better than to bash Huckabee for his Baptism. It used to be that presidents would have to put their hand on the Bible and swear allegiance to The Constitution, these days it's more like they punch their hand through The Constitution and swear allegiance to The Bible.
Religion does matter, it matters greatly to me. I am a deeply religious, believing Christian, in God and in his son, Jesus. Without my faith I would not have made it this far, would not have survived for this long. I don't stuff my religion down anyone's throat, and believe me, I am as deep a student as I should be. That being said, I do fervently believe that Mitt Romney is not a Christian, and neither is any Mormon. That weird cult crap they believe in has nothing to do with the living God, nor does it have anything to do with his son, Jesus. It is all a crock or crap invented by an extremely racist man, and one who wanted to have as many wives as he could; Joseph Smith. Any one who believes in this so called religion is blasphemer against all that God gave us through his son, Jesus Christ, in the new testament. As a Christian, if you believe anything else, it is dead wrong. You do not need special drawers to be closer to God or Jesus; God does not reside on the planet Kolob, and black people are not necessarily demons or followers of Satan. These things were not given to us in the bible, but this was;
9That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.
If Mitt Romney does not believe in this, then he is a blasphemer and bound for hell.
I think Huckabee belongs back in his pulpit. Hillary accuses Barack of lack of experience, but Huckabee didn't know about the Iran NIE until 41 hours+ after it was released. Big concern! What kind of advisers does he have, anyway? My only consolation, if Huckabee is nominated and elected, is that he seems to be more of a genuine"Compassionate Conservative" than the one we've got now. As with all Christians, he has flaws (isolating AIDSapatients when Jesus actually touched lepers, a disease then thought to be highly contagious and was incurable?), and I sure am not plannining to support him in any way, but he seems like the real deal. But as I said, he belongs in a pulpit, not the White House. This religious argument makes me really nervous when it comes to Presidential politics. P.S. For the 8% of you out there who think Obama is a Muslim, he's not. And if you really knew the Constitution, and if he were Muslim but did not let it get in the way of running the country (See Jack Kennedy) why would you care?
Both Romney and Huckabee clearly have made religion a big part of their campaigns, probably in order to capture the vote of the religous right. To turn around and then say that inquiries about their religion is an invasion of their privacy is hypocritical. If religion is going to be a major player in their decision making as president, the people of this country have every right to know how their religion will affect their judgement. You can bet that if a candidate openly declared that he/she is an atheist, the religious right, including Romney and Huckabee, would use that information to discount that person's judgement to the nth degree. You can't use religion to win over one group while telling the other groups that it is none of their business.
Dear Mr. Moore,
Eloquently expressed, as is usual for your essays/posts. Happy Holidays to You and Yours. Agape.
Religion; my aunt fanny..I have been watching the news and the one thing that all reporters on all stations haven't reported on; was what was said by Huckabee during his last debate...and shortly after that comment Huckabee's numbers soared....and that comment was getting rid of the IRS. That is why most people rallied around him...it's not the religion stuff' or how jovial he is.....most people would love to see the IRS GONE!..strangely enough not one TV news station reported or picked up the obvious!
One thing is for certain. If Huckabee gets the nomination, there will be no shortage of people willing to use the word "godly" as their favorite adjective in describing him. Where have we heard that before? Reference to G-Dub as "godly" during the 2000 presidential campaign was enough to put the manufacturers of Ipecac out of business. No person on this Earth is "godly." Heck, I don't even know if there is a god, or if he/she/it is "godly." The proof is in the pudding, and as far as G-Dub "presumed godliness is concerned, I suppose there is no accounting for taste. But mark my words, if the Huckster gets the nod, you will be hearing the "G-word."
Mike Huckabee was regarded by fellow Republican governors as a compulsive tax increaser and spender. He increased the Arkansas tax burden by 47 percent, boosting the levies on gasoline and cigarettes. The Arkansas Leader.com editorialized that Mike Huckabee raised more taxes in 10 years in office than Bill Clinton did in his 12 years.
Huckabee "broadly repudiates core Republican policies such as free trade, low taxes, the essential legitimacy of America"s corporate entities and the market system allocating wealth and opportunity," according to George Will.
The Arkansas Ethics Commission held proceedings 20 times on the former governor. During his tenure, Huckabee accepted 314 gifts valued overall at more than $150,000, according to documents filed with the Arkansas secretary of state's office. (He accepted 187 gifts in his first three years as governor but was not required to report their value.)
Two months after taking office, Huckabee stunned the state by saying he questioned rapist Wayne DuMond's guilt and that it was his intention to free the rapist, DuMond murdered a women in Illinois after Huckabee set him free
Huckabee battled conservatives within his own party who were pushing for stricter state-level immigration measures, such as:.
- proof of legal status when applying for state services that aren"t federally mandated
- proof of citizenship when registering to vote
- Huckabee failed in his effort to make children of illegal immigrants eligible for state-funded scholarships and in-state tuition to Arkansas colleges.
He joined the Democratic chorus in indicting President Bush for his "arrogant bunker mentality." Is he in the right party?
Huck"s use of the "Christian Leader" title and the Cross in his ads and his attempt to denigrate Mitt Romney"s religion is a thinly-veiled attempt to impose a religious test in violation of Article Six of the Constitution
The Huckster was the keynote speaker at an anti-Mormon conference in Salt Lake City. And he knows nothing about Mormons? And the "Christian Leader" doesn't want to release his sermons?
Mike fails on so many levels as a true conservative.
The moniker "Huckster" is well-earned.
brantl,
You make an excellent point about "religious right - and straightjackets." A highjacking is a highjacking, whether executed by the left or the right.
The ugliest actions ever slammed at me, came from self professed "born again Christians." But, that didn't taint my discerning abilities, for I continue to look upon each...as an individual; not a color, religion, gender or political affiliation.
If I get a sense that person is genuine, earned their money honestly, and is cognizant their aura of influence shine with benevolence,
then I call that person friend.
Obeying traffic laws is relevant, in that it's one of many ways of not bringing harm to our neighbor, that would absolutely save millions of dollars and lives.
In 2006, over 25,000 lives were lost in traffic related accidents. Most, were pilot, not mechanical error.
Rextrek,
Gay and Lesbians are protected under the same dispassionate laws as are heterosexual. Sadly though, because too many in today's culture are hell bent on being coarse, rude, thoughtless and lawless, we've run out of steam trying to keep up with enforcing those laws.
Again, the most revoluntionary action we, collectively, as a bunch of slugs simply trying to do the best we can while we're tooting around here on this earth, is to bring back manners...i.e. do no harm to thy neighbor.
Fox News is helping along this culture war by allowing O'Reilly to continue fighting his fake war to protect Christmas from secular humanists.
The more threat felt by fundamentalist Christians, the more likely they are to vote in order to protect their interests/values and that means votes for the person who they think is most Christian.
The people they think are most Christian are the ones who attend the church they go to. They want their candidate to be as much like them as possible.
The Mormans have a crazy basis for their religion and, until recently, they were an officially racist religion BUT Christianity has its flaws too. After all, Christians looked the other way during segregation for 100 years and justified slavery before that. They have launched holy wars and tortured Jews for not converting (the Spanish Inquisition). Moreover, they believe in a virgin birth. Mmmm. That's not too crazy.
Meanwhile, even as evangelicals get their panties in a bunch over Romney's faith, the Senate Majority Leader is also a Morman and no one has ever suggested that anything he does in public life has anything to do with his religion.
The fact is that people should be allowed to believe whatever nutty stories they want as long as they do their jobs and enact the will of the people into law while keeping in mind the Constitution and a decent respect for minority views.
I find it so ironic that most of the right-wing Christians think all journalists who do not work for Fox News are liars and terrorists, yet they blindly believe every word written by "journalistic prophets" in the bible. They so easily forget that the bible was written by men---not God, just like Harry Potter was written by a woman, not a wizard.
I have read the Bible verses that none of the Christians want to talk about that say a man can have multiple wifes and concubines. Chronicles 11:21
I have read the verses that say a woman should be stoned if she is not a virgin on her wedding night. Deut 22:13-21. Talk about a bias report. When God spoke to this reporter, I am certain that this reporter must have been intoxicated or simply desperate for sex.
Anyway, I have read a lot of other versus that convinced me that these were not the words of God---but most certainly the words of men who if alive today, would be employed at Fox News.
It saddens me to think that so many people in this country and in the world are so easily brainwashed. It's like we are still living in the cave. And anyone who tries to push us into enlightenment is hung on the cross. No sirree, not much as changed. And I think Huckabee will get the nomination---I predicted that six months ago. He looks so nice and says just what they want to hear. The man doesn't have a clue about the government or foreign policy---he's a total idiot with a bad temper to boot.
I just can't wait for Hillary to debate him. I would pay good money to watch that showdown. It's my hope she can show the world what truly lies beneath this neocon.
From the implosion of the American Fascist Party(Formerly the GOP)will walk out their candidate-John McCain. He is their "fallback kid".
Huckabee's rise is a direct result of an evolving Republican base. Evangelicals are not only prominent in number, many within their movement are finally emphasizing Gospel admonitions to aid the poor and work for peace and justice, even it that may mean paying taxes and refraining from invading every country whose government the US has a disagreement with. Obviously, this conflicts with the prerogatives of other Republican factions. I wonder how they would handle a Huckabee nomination.
Fast forward to the present time. The high income professionals and suburbanites who enthusiastically supported Reagan have trended away from the Republicans, a process that began in the early 1990s, if not before. More voters than ever consider themselves to be independents. It's obvious: Reagan won the electoral votes of nearly every state, along with the popular vote, by wide margins; there was no Red State/Blue State divide. The 1984 election was a particularly embarrassing defeat for the Democrats, when Walter Mondale got pummeled, winning the electoral votes of only his native Minnesota (by a very narrow margin) and Washington, DC and losing the popular vote by a nearly 20 point margin. Compare this to Bush, who in 2000 lost the popular vote and divided the country into a patchwork of red and blue. In 2004, Bush actually won the popular vote, but not by much.
This leaves the Republican base: The economic conservatives, the Neocons and, of course, the Evangelicals. Karl Rove bragged about how he could, with the flick of a wand, turn out hordes of Evangelicals to vote for Bush and other Republicans. Bush appealed to them, with his status as a born-again Christian, which he would talk about endlessly. These Evangelicals also comprised a larger proportion of Bush's supporters than Reagan's and the Republicans have relied upon them heavily.
Consider this: The most reliable indicator of whether someone will vote Republican or Democrat is whether and how often they go to church. As other, more moderate and secular voters have left the party, the hard core base remains. This base comprises the most ideological Republicans: The supply siders; the libertarian leaning small government, anti-regulation and government spending fiscal conservatives; the foreign policy hawks, commonly known as Neocons, who want to impose America's power upon the entire world; and, of course, last but not by any means least, the Evangelicals and social conservatives, whose commitment to their beliefs is unwavering and whose numbers dwarf those of, for instance, supporters of the flat tax.
If Huckabee wins the nomination, it will be a fascinating campaign, as fault lines within the Republican Party, which have existed for years but been kept hidden by the illusion of unity and a general consensus about candidates and policies, come to light.
Members of the Republican establishment are no doubt concerned, if not terrified, by the prospect of a Huckabee candidacy. They have cultivated Evangelicals for decades. At least since the 1970s, Evangelicals have trended Republican; they enthusiastically supported Reagan and contributed to his 1980 and 1984 landslides victories, but were only one part of his coalition, not his predominant supporters.
A wide coalition supported Reagan, who used religious rhetoric but was really a secular protégé of Barry Goldwater. Reagan had a libertarian and nationalist orientation, not a religious one; he was something of a populist conservative, who inveighing against high taxes (which really were high before his election, with a top marginal rate of 70%), the decline of moral values and the Washington establishment. He also presented himself as an eternal optimist and agent of change, as opposed to Carter's 'malaise.' Professionals and middle class suburbanites overwhelmingly supported Reagan; even a plurality of union members voted for him. Stagflation and the Iran hostage crisis, and a general atmosphere of 'malaise,' provided a ripe environment for Reagan, who picked up the pieces of the eroded New Deal coalition and forged the new Republican one.
All religions are cults.
cult
Fron American Hertige Dictionary
1: formal religious veneration : worship
2: a system of religious beliefs and ritual; also : its body of adherents
Mike is as crazy as Mitt.
Ed Graham
We are well on our way to becoming the Christian Republic of the USA, not much different from the Islamic Republic of Iran. Apparently a majority of our citizens believe in angels, flying saucers and alien abductions and so on. So now in the 21st Century, where we have some reasonable understanding of the laws of nature and biology, we have the current bozos running for office proclaiming their faith to the Supernatural. Maybe we can do away with social security and have Huckabee convert one loaf of bread every day to 150,000,000 to feed our population. Or perhaps, these candidates could replace our existing private health plans with one run using the supernatural healing powers of the Reverend Ernest Angley. Disband the National Institute of Health and the CDC, with God healing us all, we won"t need them. Let us also introduce the creation story into the public school curriculum and teach our kids that the world is only 6,000 years old, that Noah saved the dinosaurs and all the other species on the ark and ignore science and reality. We could save trillions and not only pay of the national debt but have a huge surplus to give away to everyone. This is the logic to which we are heading if we continue along this path.
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Posted December 20, 2007 | 02:26 PM (EST)