“The Question” Is Back…, and more
…at least in the hands of amateurs. (He said wise-cracking.) Don’t know whether it is Huntsman’s move this week or the fact that Romney is on a mini book tour (boatload of media) as No Apology is released in paperback, but we have been hearing The Question ring in our ears for the last couple of days. What’s interesting is where it was coming from. There was a bit of discussion from more serious outlets when Huntsman resigned which we have already covered. Now it has just gotten silly.
We are only hearing it from the left. We are not reading about it in NRO, or Townhall or Newsmax, or the Weekly Standard. It most “prominently” came up in the course of Romney’s interview with Larry King’s slot filler, Piers Morgan, in his interview with Romney. Here is the pertinent portion of the transcript:
MORGAN: I want to play you a clip now. And it relates to your Mormon faith. And I want you to watch this and we’ll discuss it after.
ROMNEY: Sure.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROMNEY: I believe in my Mormon faith and I endeavor to live by it. My faith is the faith of my fathers. I’ll be true to them and to my beliefs. Some believe that such a confession of my faith will sink my candidacy. If they’re right, so be it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MORGAN: Do you still stand by every word of that?
ROMNEY: Absolutely.
MORGAN: Do you think it’s going to be a potential problem if you run, your faith?
ROMNEY: Once again, I can’t judge the politics. I don’t know the answer to that. My experience, so far, both in Massachusetts, running as a Mormon guy in a state that’s overwhelmingly of other faiths, didn’t seem to get in my way there.
But most people in this country recognize that, in fact, the nation itself was founded on the principle of religious tolerance and freedom. We respect other people’s beliefs. And I think in a lot of cases respect people who honor their faith and try to be true to them.
OH PLEASE! The way Morgan set that up with the clip and all you would think he expected Romney to respond by saying that he had converted to Roman Catholicism or something. Of course the real question is, given the numbers Morgan is getting, would anyone have noticed if Romney did respond that way? Not satisfied with one mention, the CNN blog got in the act. The CNN “Belief blog,” edited by Dan Gilgoff (Who I had lost track of. Now I know why – he went to CNN), flogged the discussion with Morgan. Note the penultimate paragraph of the piece:
One big question is whether the “Mormon question” would be less an issue for Romney in 2012 because the nation has already considered it in 2008.
“Mormon question?” – I don’t think Gilgoff has lost track of us.
But Morgan is a hard news pro compared to the ladies of “The View” that also brought it up:
“I want to bring up something that could cause you and has perhaps caused you some problems if you run and that is the fact that you’re a Mormon,” Barbara Walters asked Romney and his wife, Ann, as they sat on the set’s expansive couch with the four other “View” co-hosts.
“We have televisions shows with Mormons with multiple wives and such which perhaps doesn’t do you any good,” she said, mentioning that polls show some voters are less likely to vote for a Mormon candidate.
Romney waved off the issue.
“I don’t worry so much about the politics of… a candidacy that I might have, how it will affect political polls,” he said. “The great majority of Americans understand that this nation was founded on the principle religious tolerance and liberty so most people do not make their decision based on someone’s faith. But you don’t worry about that.”
Well, Walters almost has journalistic credentials – though not in the last 20 years. This got a response from some ladies in the Boston Herald who just had to bring up “Big Love” by name. And of course, this all had to be covered by the Deseret News with a very different spin.
The immediate post Huntsman resignation reaction was pundits having to find something to say – fast. But this, coming a a few days later, is a sign of the fact that the left is going to try and saw on this string. It’s what we expected from them last time, but Huckabee beat them to it and saved them the trouble of having to in the general. Given those facts, they think they have a winner issue on their hands – but if this is how they are going to play it, they are going to fail. Stuff this ham-fisted is just insulting to people of all faiths. That is something that Romney clearly recognizes and acknowledges in his responses. He might want to get a little more edgy about it, but basically well played.
There was also some theological discussion of related issues, but it’s old news for this blog at this point.
But the real news is that Ann Romney is committed to Romney running. In my book, that puts the odds of his running at 99.9% despite his indecision protests. We might as well use the occasion to cover some other Romney news. He did a very funny Letterman Top Ten. Romney wisely used all this press to take shots at the current administration. He also made some foreign policy statements. And the left tried to spin it against him.
Despite the Mormon issue raising its head – Massachusetts health care is the big hammer the left thinks it has as was apparent in all the interviews. What was done in Mass. was constitutional – Obamacare is not. It’s as simple as that. As Romney said in his latest interview.
Since Jon Huntsman‘s resignation as Obama’s Ambassador to China is part of what brought The Question to the fore, what’s happening with him? Nothing really, but that has not kept people from talking. His “Mormon issue” is a little different than Romney”s. Romney polls better in Utah. Things for Mr. Huntsman and the GOP are not quite as rosy as initial reports might lead one the think. EFM called him “The OTHER Mormon with Amazing Hair” – which drew a snicker in these precincts. He was endorsed by conservative “stalwarts” Orrin Hatch and Dick Lugar. Some think he can run strong, others disagree. Bill Kristol went so far as to speculate he might run as an independent. There is a strong case against him, even if Cillizza overrates the Mormon issue. Huntsman himself is trying to walk a fine line, but has made some major missteps in the past. If this is Huntsman’s unofficial launch – “inauspicious” is the word I would use.
And speaking of inauspicious Mitch Daniels, who is close to deciding, is still in trouble despite his new spin on his former social issues comments. Tim Pawlenty keeps trying to sound tough. Rudy Giuliani is headed to New Hampshire, and now I think we know why. (He still owes money from last time.) Everybody has something to say about Egypt and even Jeb Bush stuck his head up.
Meanwhile, Generally…
There are “conspiracies” and a big Republican field of all flawed candidates. I cannot help but be struck by the fact that on the other side they have a very small field of an extremely flawed candidate – whose flaws are hugely in view. Speaking of which, he still cannot handle the National Prayer Breakfast.
Posted in News Media Bias, Reading List | 1 Comment » | 
Print this post
| 
Email This Post
Doug King on 03 Feb 2011 at 7:37 pm #
“The Question” will be around for some time.
The more traction any Mormon candidate for President appears to get among voters, the more attention rivals will focus on religion. Since Mormons are a minority religion concentrated mainly in the West, opponents can try to score points by calling attention to religious stereotypes.
Politico has a shallow piece today about the contrived “Mormon primary” between Romney and Huntsman. The author feels it important to discuss their hair styles and eventually concludes that Huntsman’s interest in motorcycles somehow makes him more manly and secular than “Molly Mormon” Romney. The essential difference between the two men is explained this way: “Romney is Brigham Young University, Huntsman is the University of Utah.” I’m not sure which group of alumni is more insulted by this comparison of stereotypes.
Sadly, many people who pay lip service to Martin Luther King’s dream of judging on the basis of individual character (not class) will gleefully to do the exact opposite if it suits their self interest.