Romney's Mormon Burden Rises Again

The AP reports:

While Mitt Romney condemns polygamy and its prior practice by his Mormon church, the Republican presidential candidate's great-grandfather had five wives and at least one of his great-great grandfathers had 12.

Polygamy was not just a historical footnote, but a prominent element in the family tree of the former Massachusetts governor now seeking to become the first Mormon president.

Romney's great-grandfather, Miles Park Romney, married his fifth wife in 1897. That was more than six years after Mormon leaders banned polygamy and more than three decades after a federal law barred the practice.

Seriously, his great-grandfather? How about checking on the all the other candidates' great-grandparents to see if there is some dirt? Did any of them support segregation? Oppose women's rights? Hate Jews? It wouldn't surprise me if at least some did. But are we going to hear about it? Doubtful. This story is inappropriate. It serves no purpose other than to make the "Mormons are weird" point.

Romney on Abortion

Mitt Romney talks about abortion with George Stephanopoulos:

Mitt Romney: My view is that we should let each state have its own responsibility for guiding its laws relating to abortion.

...

But I'd like to see the Supreme Court allow states to have greater leeway in defining their own laws.

Very nice answer. I like it.

But Stephanopoulos has a tough follow-up. Uh-oh:

Stephanopoulos: But if it's killing, why should states have leeway?

Romney replies:

Mitt Romney: You know, that's one of the great challenges that we have. There are a lot of things that are morally very difficult and, in some cases, repugnant that we let states decide. For instance, Nevada allows prostitution. I find that to be quite repugnant as a practice.

OK, that's not bad. Some moral choices are tough, so maybe it makes sense to let people in different places choose their own way.

But Stephanopoulos won't let up:

Stephanopoulos: But murder is illegal in every state.

Nice! Go for the jugular. At this point, Romney kind of falls apart:

Mitt Romney: And so we let states make some of these very difficult decisions. That's one of the difficulties here. Also, I feel a great empathy for women who have difficult decisions in this regard. I don't want to impose my view on the lives of women, and yet this is one of those points where mature men and women have to come together and say, "What's the right course?" And in my particular view, I believe in life, I believe in respecting life, and I believe that we should, as a series of states, allow states to make their own choice in this regard.

Eventually he just sums up with: "I'm saying that, in my view, we should let the states make that decision and I am in favor of life and in favor of choosing life."

That's about all he can do. He doesn't want to say "abortion is different than murder" and he doesn't want to say he's going to lead the drive against abortion state-by-state if the Court overturns Roe, so he's kind of stuck. Ultimately, I like where he comes out. It is a bit of a waffling, though. It's hard to know which will hurt/help him more: A stronger anti-abortion position or this kind of waffling.

Andrew Sullivan on Mitt Romney

Andrew Sullivan quotes Mitt Romney as saying: "We need to have a person of faith lead the country." Sullivan then asks:

How is that not a religious test for the presidency?

Um, because it's a campaign slogan, not a government act. (I agree with Sullivan on the substantive point, though. I'm just nit-picking on the legal one.)

ADDED: Someone should ask Romney, "Why do we need to have a person of faith lead the country"? I'd like to hear his answer.

Views on Mormons: Not Good for Romney

I like Mitt Romney and I hope he does well. But there's no doubt his Mormonism is going to make things tough in this race. On top of the explicit bigotry, even an article that tries to take a detached view and examine public perceptions of Mormons shows how people have trouble getting over their anti-Mormon bias. The author writes:

But even the story about the church's founding is unusual to nonbelievers: God appeared to Joseph Smith and told him that all existing forms of Christianity were "an abomination" and then directed Smith to a hillside in upstate New York where, with the help of the angel Moroni, Smith recovered a set of golden tablets that revealed the real word of God. Smith had further revelations, which Mormons treat as scripture alongside the Bible, including that Jesus would eventually return to reign from Missouri. Smith was eventually killed by vigilantes.

The story is "unusual"? How is it any more "unusual" than the stories of the origin of other religions?

The author also mentions that the Mormon church used to be formally racist and a long, long time ago officially practiced polygamy. OK, sure, these are skeletons, but are they worse than what other religions have? Not to me.

If this is what people are writing in the Washington Post, I hate to hear what they are whispering in private.

Jeb Bush for Romney?

It's being reported that Jeb Bush "privately is talking up the candidacy of Mitt Romney and steering some of his closest advisers to the campaign." If true, this is a big deal for Romney. Jeb Bush, in my view, will be the most popular and respected Republican nation-wide for years to come (McCain is loved by some but hated by others). He's got credibility with various right wing factions because of his family name and religious principles, but he does not have the baggage of having invaded Iraq.

I wonder if Jeb would accept a VP nomination? It sounds crazy, but it would be difficult to pass it up. He wouldn't get the blame if he lost, and it would help lay the groundwork for his own future run.

Just Say No to Mormons?

Jacob Weisberg writes that he will not be voting for Mitt Romney because Romney is a Mormon, and then tries to explain why this position is not religious bigotry. In essence, he says that it's OK to oppose Mormons (and Scientologists) because these religions are recent and have not moderated themselves, as other religions have. He mentions Christianity and Judaism as examples of the latter. (It's not clear how he would classify Islam). He does make clear that he would not vote for Christian and Jewish fanatics, but his position appears to be that virtually all Mormons are fanatics. He leaves open the possibility that Romney might be acceptable if he would distance himself from church doctrine.

This position strikes me as one of ignorance. Specifically, ignorance of Mormons (and Scientologists). He doesn't know any, but from what he has read they are quite crazy and radical, and he wants no part of them unless they affirmatively refute the extreme positions he has heard about.

Furthermore, this distinction between older, moderate religions and modern, extreme ones strikes me as ridiculous. It could be argued that the older religions are more fanatical because they have been carrying out the same sorts of rituals and maintaining the same beliefs for thousands of years.

Mankiw Picks Romney

OK, the title of the post is a bid mis-leading, but Greg Mankiw has agreed to join Mitt Romney's PAC. For me, that's a big plus for Romney as I sort out who I want to vote for. If a free market guy like Mankiw is comfortable with Romney, then so am I. At least on economic policy. There are still the social issues to deal with, and I'll be curious to see what Romney has to say there.

Andrew Sullivan's Mormon Rants

Andrew Sullivan has a series of posts on Mormons (here, here, here and here) that seem to make several points:

• Mormons wear funny underwear
• Mormons made official statements that were racist more recently than most other religions made official statements that were racist
• Mitt Romney is a Mormon and he better explain all this

My sense is that Sullivan does not know any Mormons, and thus feels comfortable treating them as an odd group of people who are not part of mainstream society. Which is kind of how some Mormons treat gay people, ironically.

UPDATE: In an article, Sullivan says: "Personally, I have no interest in someone’s private faith in his or her pursuit of public office. Romney, to my mind, should be judged on his public record." It's a fine line here: talking about Romney's Mormonism in terms of its relevance for the public debate versus talking about it as something you have a personal interest in. Sullivan does seem to be walking a fine line.

Romney: Running to the Right

Mitt Romney has been playing up his "conservative-ness":

In an interview with The Examiner, Romney described himself as more conservative than Republican rivals McCain, R-Ariz., and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani on a variety of issues. “We’re in a different place on immigration; we’re in a different place on campaign reform; we’re in a different place on same–sex marriage; we’re in a different place on the president’s policy on interrogation of detainees,” Romney said.

“I’m a conservative Republican, there’s no question about that,” he said. “I’m at a different place than the other two.”

I'm always a bit skeptical when Republicans feel the need to declare themselves the most "conservative." I remember Steve Forbes doing something like this, and it rang a bit hollow. It seems to me that if you're the most conservative, people will recognize it without you needing to say it. Romney probably is one of the more conservative candidates, but I'm not sure it really helps him to keep saying it.