Today’s Reading List – March 16, 2007
CNSNews declares the dust up about the firing of the prosecuters a "Media-Manufactured Crisis." Given that no candidate is discussing Romney's faith, I wonder…?
Lowell: Donning my lawyer hat, all I can say about this is, it's too early to say much, other than that presidents dismiss U.S. attorneys all the time. Clinton fired all 92 when he first took office. I believe other presidents have done the same thing.
Howard Dean is reaching out to Evangelicals?!?!
In an hour-long interview at Democratic National Committee headquarters Tuesday, Dean also revealed that he has been quietly meeting with well-known Christian evangelical leaders in order to build new bridges between them and the Democratic Party.
You know, a "bridge" requires a foundation. But that is such a cheat, "well-known," indeed. Who? And what are the contents of those conversations. I can hear the whispers, "You know who they are running…."
The heat (well, the cussing) continues on Hugh Hewitt's on TV contention that most of the anti-Mormon rhetoric comes from the left, while the evidence supporting Hugh continues to mount. Somebody at Kos thinks Romney is still in control at Bain Capital and attacks him on recent actions. He left Bain behind a long, long time ago. And Bill Maher gets down right ugly. Now, Maher just hates religion in general, and he admits it, but he picks out stuff in some cases centuries old to us to attack Mormonism. Don't want to get too deeply into the Mormon apologetics here, but I could waste a bunch of electrons showing where Maher is wrong, and I imagine Lowell could go on a lot more. But note, for Maher, and much of the left, the attack is a about religion in general, and he is just picking on Mormons in this instance. Every time, creedal Christians attack Mormons, they provide fuel for the left's fires.
Lowell: Bill Maher is not someone I take seriously, I'm afraid . . . .
But there is more evidence from the left, this time from The Nation (HT: Hugh Hewitt) discussing the recently sacked chief of staff for the AG, Kyle Sampson, they say:
Hence it fell to Kyle Sampson to get rid of the federal prosecutors without bothering the boss. Kyle was the right person to do it. He's a Mormon, a Brigham Young University graduate. You can depend on them.
Now, admittedly, the fact of Sampson's religious affiliation is a part of the NYTimes profile linked in the pull quote, but why was it necessary to mention it in this piece? What connection is their between Sampson's faith and his actions in the firings? (What was wrong with the firings to begin with? – but that is not our issue.) The answer, of course, is that there is no connection, but the writers want to make one in the reader's mind. Sort of like reporting when a rapist is black, but not when he is white, it creates a connect that "all rapists are black." This is a shot at Romney, likely because as a turnaround specialist at Bain Capital, Romney has overseen more than a few lay-offs, and even that has nothing to do with his religion.
Lowell: You know, I hate it when people expose us (Mormons) as the nasty, heartless hatchet men that we are. 
The fractures in the "religious right" continue. This is an opportunity for Romney if he plays it right.
A Mormon apologist gets into the tall grass.
Lowell: Well, all he's really doing is quoting an 1835 "declaration of belief regarding governments and laws in general" published by the Church when it was trying to make clear that Mormonism was not a threat to the nation, to Missouri,or to the then-established order (meaning slavery, among other things). One can imagine the concerns the early Mormons provoked as a bunch of Yankees settling in the slavery battleground of Missouri during that difficult era. But that's a story for another post.
Early Update: Romney reformulated a bit on Larry King last night and Hotline quotes.
On his religion: "My religion's theology may be different than that of other faiths, but my religion is like other religions. It has its own unusual beliefs, for those who weren't born in the church and yet it has also taught me to be a better person than I would have been. Look, I'm not perfect. But I have a better marriage because of my faith. My kids, I think, are better kids because of their faith. And I'm, frankly, a better person than I would have been otherwise."
By jove, I think that nails it. He is much better off admitting the differences while embracing the similarities, instead of just emphasizing the similarities. It takes so much ammunition away from the opposition with the admission.
Lowell: This is the same meme that appears in Hugh Hewitt's Book, A Mormon in the White House? Ten Things Every American Should Know About Mitt Romney. It will be fascinating to watch how well this is accepted. I think it will be almost unassailable.
Shameless self-promotion alert: In this morning's edition of Meridian Magazine, a popular e-zine for Mormons, there is an in-depth review of Hugh's book, from an LDS perspective, written by our own Lowell Brown. Enjoy!
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Omi on 18 Mar 2007 at 6:19 am #
My evangelical/pro-Romney brother-in-law sent us this suggestion for a bumper sticker:
MITT ROMNEY – SEND HIM TO THE WHITE HOUSE BEFORE YOU SEND HIM TO HELL.