Today’s Reading List – April 4, 2007
Lots more discussion surrounding the fund-raising numbers and the related Mormon network accusation. Before we get to the discussion, WaPo did a much more thorough and balanced piece about it than the NYTimes hack job. It is still conjecture without data, but it avoids the conspiratorial tones which is the real problem in the Times piece.
- NRO's media blog looks at GMA. K-Lo adds some further comment on same.
- Rush Limbaugh had quite a bit to say as well, looking at the Today show and Chris Matthews.
- Newsbusters examined Chris Matthews.
- It even came up in an online Q&A Hugh Hewitt held at the Washington Post.
- Hugh talked about it with Tucker Carlson as well.
- Maggie Gallagher via RCP. More springboard than discussion of the issue, it is interesting nontheless.
The Mormon network contention is obviously the MSM meme/spin on Romney's amazing fund-raising results. Three things to think about. First, I was at a Romney fund-raiser in Orange County a couple of weeks ago, around 500 people. Other that Romney's family, I did not talk to a Mormon in the room, and as I understand it, California was his biggest state.
Secondly, is it not inherently prejudicial that this is the "story line" on the results. Why is it not that Hillary, who raised slightly more in total, though probably not for the primary, had a higher percentage of women? How much of Obama's money is from blacks? Civil rights, American democracy is about the lack of stereotypes and people groups. This story line encourages them.
But let us for a moment "grant the group," if you will. How have Mormons gotten to this place? By buying into the system, by working hard, by being good Americans. They have not whined about discrimination, they have not marched on Washington and demanded handouts. There are no demands for "reparations" – despite having undergone a migration far more perilous than the post civil war migration of blacks to the urban north. Why is the group that sought acceptance in the very way we wish all such groups sought acceptance being singled out in this fashion?
But the bottom line on this is that the MSM obviously views people of religious faith as close-minded. They simply find themselves unable to believe to that Evangelicals and other creedal Christians could get behind a Mormon at these kind of levels and they believe Mormons to be some sort of insular, unthinking "cult." And therein lies the problem.
Lowell chiming in: First, I wonder if the older news media will ever focus on how much money Democratic candidates get from the entertainment industry. How about a brief story, for example, on the amount of contributions from certain zip codes in West Los Angeles? Also, I thought this answer from Romney in the Good Morning America interview was interesting, and possibly revealing. It's at the end of a repeated line of questrioning about Romney's Mormonism:
“Well, you know, time will tell about that. There's probably not a single interview I do with you guys that doesn't raise that issue, so, of course, we talk about it from time to time. But, you know, what I find as I go across the country is the people I talk to want a person of faith to lead the country, but they don't particularly care what brand of faith the person has, so as long as they have American values and we have shared values. And all you have to do is look at my wife and me and our marriage of 38 years and my family and recognize our values are as American as you'll find anywhere in this great country.” (Emphasis added.)
The Governor gives his stock answer, but prefaces it with a bit of a dig at the news media. I am sure he did it with a smile on his face, and I think that's exactly the right approach. And K-Lo scores with this:
The guy with the good hair (oy to that too) is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints — as are Harry Reid, and Gladys Knight, and Glenn Beck, and a whole lot of others. He’s not a Martian running for president of the earthlings.
Amen.
Cheat-Seeking Missiles extensively quotes Rabbi Daniel Lapin demonstrating how seriously Christianity is under attack in this nation. As this discussion continues it is clear that the attack is often far more subtle than the direct attacks Rabbi Lapin addresses. The left cannot tell the difference between creedal Christian and Mormons. If we attack each other, all we do is aid the left.
I find this Huffington Post piece fascinating. It attempts to cast both Romney and Obama as victims of sorts for religous persecution – not an entirely bad point – but while doing so it manages to take several potshots specifically at the "religious right."
Recent history suggests there may be more religious intolerance on the way. The same ultraconservative Christian leaders who claim that their religious liberty is threatened in America will claim that Obama and Americans who share his generally progressive views cannot be good Christians based on their political positions. We've seen it before – with televangelists telling voters it would be sinful to vote for Bill Clinton and with several Catholic bishops joining the chorus of radical right voices attacking John Kerry's faith in the 2004 election for supporting a woman's constitutionally-guaranteed right to choose.
Democratic strategists may also be tempted to exploit religion if Romney is the Republican nominee. A new Gallup Poll shows that 46% of Americans have an unfavorable opinion of the Mormon religion in general. [empasis added]
Note the use of negative-implied superlatives when discussing the right, but value neutral descriptives on the left. And then there is this near concluding paragraph:
Last summer, the Center for American Values in Public Life conducted the largest survey on religion and values in the last couple years and found that only a fraction of Americans share the narrow priorities of the Religious Right.
In both cases, Obama and Romney, this guy portrays the persecution as coming from the "religious right." More than most things I have seen, this piece makes plain our contention that if we oppose Romney on religious grounds, all we really do is provide the left with fuel for their fires.
A take on The Question from SLC TV. They hold up the Hewitt book but clearly have not read it, and promise a follow-up story on what you can learn about Romney and religion form the Internet. If this blog is not featured, can it be called good reporting?
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CarlH on 04 Apr 2007 at 4:35 pm #
Another look at the fundraising numbers, from National Journal, refreshing because there’s no mention of the Question or suggestions of conspiracy.