Quotes, Quips and Links
Me – last Thursday:
…the group that is motivated by religious concerns is not going to give up. Presuming, as is looking increasingly likely, that Romney builds very serious momentum next Tuesday (MI and AZ) and the Super Tuesday following they may run out of viable candidates to tilt up, but they will not quit. Romney is not going to reach a coast point until he has this mathematically sealed. Might as well settle in for a long slog.
From a bunch of stories this morning, quoting this one:
“Whether Mitt Romney wins or loses the Michigan and Arizona primaries on Tuesday, his advisers are warning donors and other supporters to prepare for a longer, more bruising and more expensive fight for the Republican presidential nomination that may not be settled until at least May,” the New York Times reports.
“That is prompting a new round of intensified fund-raising by his financial team, which had hoped by this point to be collecting money for a general election match with President Obama. The campaign is increasingly trying to quell anxiety among Republican leaders, while intently focusing on the mechanics of accumulating delegates needed to secure the nomination.”
I am neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet, but maybe I oughtta be.
Sharing his “experiences of a practical politician, forcibly retired,” former Sen. Robert Bennett told an interfaith conference of Mormons and Protestants in Washington, D.C., that the 2012 election is proving to be one unlike any in his lifetime, and Gov. Mitt Romney’s religion is a key part of that.
[...]
And religion plays an unfortunate part of this. Bennett revealed that a political contact of his told him, “If Mitt Romney were Presbyterian, he would be the Republican nominee.”
Sounds like an interesting guy to talk to – I wonder if we can score an interview?
Let it be clear: when a Mormon posthumously Baptizes a Jew it has no impact on that person’s Jewishness. They, in actuality, become no less Jewish and no more Mormon. They become Mormon in the eyes of Mormons only. Why would we care if the Mormon church considers our ancestors to be Mormon simply because one of their members used a substitute to posthumously Baptize them?
My answer – because some Jews are more interested in politics than Jewishness? Nah, couldn’t be.
Interesting reads:
- One Methodist that likes Romney.
- Interesting insight into the Evangelical/Catholic divide – or lack thereof.
- Hmmm – some good points, but…Nietzsche is “theology”? There is a difference between theology and philosophy.
Lowell adds . . .
Just a correction to Rabbi Brackman’s comment above: The names of deceased persons for whom Mormons perform vicarious baptisms are not added to the membership rolls of the church. It is inaccurate, therefore, to suggest or state that they “become Mormon” in any sense.
Posted in Reading List | 6 Comments » | 
Print this post
| 
Email This Post
Retrocon on 26 Feb 2012 at 2:31 pm #
The link to the article about the Evangelical/Catholic (non)divide provides an interesting statistic: Evangelical support for Santorum has nearly doubled over the last month — ever since a group of evangelical leaders gathered at a ranch in Texas to determine whom they should support — after their other favorites (Perry, Bachmann, Cain) had fallen by the wayside.
This cohort of voters, by the way, is a group that is perhaps the most vociferous in announcing how they don’t want other people telling them how to vote. But once again we see that they are quite willing to vote for whomever they are told to vote.
lstokes on 26 Feb 2012 at 11:19 pm #
Powerline’s John Hindraker is on to something. He lightly reviews state popularity http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2012/02/how-popular-is-your-state.php. He compares Utah with other Inter-mountain states and says:
“There are a lot of interesting comparisons to be drawn, but one concerns me a little. The mountain states are almost universally popular. Colorado is the second most favorably viewed state, but most of the other mountain states are not far behind, e.g., Montana (39/7) and Idaho (30/11). The anomaly is Utah. At 24/27, it is the fifth-least favorably perceived state.
How can that be? If you like Colorado, Idaho and Montana, why would you dislike Utah? I can’t think of any reason other than anti-Mormon bias. This is borne out by the fact that liberals and Democrats, who are most prone to ethnic and religious bigotry, are the ones who actively dislike Utah. But the numbers are depressed across the board, compared with other mountain states: Republicans only approve of Utah by a 30/23 margin, Independents are the same at 29/23, and Democrats disapprove of the state by 14/32. Moreover, while the very liberal have an unfavorable opinion of Utah (21/43), so do the very conservative (25/32). The very conservative, on the other hand, love Idaho (36/6).
One wonders whether these numbers explain some of the dynamics of the current GOP primary season, and whether they suggest a lingering anti-LDS prejudice that could be a problem for Mitt Romney, if he is the Republican nominee, in November.”
JLF9999 on 27 Feb 2012 at 7:37 am #
The PPP survery of states surely indicates Mitt Romney must be God’s choice given the overall level of anxt towards Mormons. It doesn’t surprise me though. People have been fed so much misinformation about us that it is no wonder. We can’t put all the blame on the anti-Mormon crowd although you would think erstwhile Christian pastors would make every effort to be accurate. Even many Mormons have had a hard time getting our theology and history right. We should not be too quick to point the boney finger of indignation at others until we LDS understand some basic things we never thought before. http://www.fairlds.org helps correct many of the misperceptions.
coltakashi on 27 Feb 2012 at 3:49 pm #
I lived in Idaho for 8 years, and eastern Idaho is just as Mormon as Utah (50% or higher in several counties) while there is a strong Mormon presence in the Boise area, where a second temple is being built in Meridian just a few miles from the existing Boise Temple. Very strange.
JLF9999 on 27 Feb 2012 at 4:05 pm #
The church has made every effort to keep the bargain it made with the Jewish Holocaust survivor oreganization. However, there have been a few mistakes made, some I wonder whether they were not sabotage – but stuff happens. At best we can try to fix it which has been done. But still some say that is not enough. This group demands a guarantee that there will be no mistakes whatsoever. Their demand goes beyond crazy, it is mindless. Name one other human endeavor from which we demand absolute perfection and a guarantee that there will be no mistakes whatsoever for any reason for eternity. Even a blind man can see this is a political play designed to hurt Mitt Romney.
Caissamatic on 27 Feb 2012 at 10:01 pm #
I really like Rabbi Levi Brackman’s statement (except, of course, the suggestion that the baptized dead become Mormon).
I and my wife are Christian, but my wife’s family is Buddhist and it’s very likely they will periodically perform a particular Buddhist rite for her (and maybe for me as well) after we are dead. Am I offended? Absolutely not. I don’t believe the rite will do her a lick of good, but they are welcome do perform the rite if it provides them any comfort.
Those who actively work against Mormon rites for the dead must have an agenda. If they don’t believe the baptism rite has an efficacy, why should they care?