The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Ron Paul Supporter Challenges Romney Over Mormon Doctrine in Wisconsin

Posted on | April 2, 2012 | 69 Comments

Did no one else see this coming?

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney was confronted at a town hall meeting here Monday by a young man who read from a book of scripture published by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and asked Romney whether he agreed with his church’s one-time belief that interracial marriage was a sin. . . .
The questioner, Bret Hatch, 28, a local supporter of Rep. Ron Paul’s, read from typed notes as he asked Romney whether he agreed with a verse from Moses 7:8 from the “Pearl of Great Price.”

You can read the relevant chapter of the Mormon “Book of Moses” and see for yourself what it says. And you may remember that I previously predicted what is now beginning to happen: As long as the media and the Democrats (but I repeat myself) saw the GOP nomination being in doubt, Romney’s status as a bishop in the LDS church was treated as off-limits, except when it was used as a club to clobber evangelical Christian voters for their supposed anti-Mormon prejudice.

By contast, recall how often Rick Santorum’s support for Catholic doctrine — especially his church’s opposition to artificial contraception — was a frequent subject of mainstream media “controversy.”

Now that Democrats are near-certain that Romney is the nominee, however, the media is going to start covering Mitt’s Mormonism in a very serious way — “Oh, look, he’s a fringe kook!” — as if this were an entirely legitimate topic of political discussion.

Again, by contrast, remember that the preachings of Rev. Jeremiah Wright, in whose pews Barack Obama sat for 20 years, were quickly dismissed by the media as irrelevant, and anyone who called attention to Obama’s having briefly attended a Muslim school in Indonesia was condemned as a crackpot conspiracy theorist.

Those Republicans who have joined the “Roll Over for Romney” movement, asserting that Mitt is not only “inevitable” as the nominee but also the most “electable” of the GOP candidates, will likely get a brutal lesson in absolute ruthlessness, as the Left will not hesitate to exploit religious bigotry when it suits their purposes.

Perhaps the voters of Wisconsin can save us from this fate:

Even as you read this, Rick Santorum’s presidential campaign is going all-out to win the Wisconsin Republican primary. It’s important to make that point up front, because if you permit yourself to be hypnotized by media coverage of the campaign, you will helplessly succumb to the belief that the fight for the 2012 GOP presidential nomination is all over but the shouting. There are many people who want to convince Republican voters in Wisconsin and elsewhere that Mitt Romney is the “inevitable” nominee, and not all of them are in the paid employment of the Romney campaign or his super-PAC.
Between the official campaign and its allied “Restore Our Future” super-PAC, pro-Romney forces have unloaded more than $3 million in advertising in Wisconsin, but what they’ve spent attacking Santorum is dwarfed in value by the network airtime devoted to promoting the message of Romney’s inevitability. It is remarkable to observe how this appeal to bandwagon psychology has actually intensified since Santorum won the March 24 Louisiana primary by a whopping 22 points. . . .

Read the rest at The American Spectator.

UPDATE: CNN, ABC News, Politico — see what I mean? Now that they think Romney’s clinched, this “issue” magically become legitimate.

Let’s just pray Rick Santorum’s phone-from-home get-out-the-vote volunteers can work some magic in Wisconsin.

Category: Election 2012, Mitt Romney, Religion, Wisconsin

Comments

69 Responses to “Ron Paul Supporter Challenges Romney Over Mormon Doctrine in Wisconsin”

  1. ThePaganTemple
    April 3rd, 2012 @ 9:30 am

     No but he can count on a widespread, large-scale advertising blitz from the LDS, its leadership and membership, which will point out the relevant ways in which Mormons are law-abiding, patriotic American citizens with mostly, and vastly, conservative values and belief in hard work, honesty, frugality, and morality.

    You know, the kinds of things which should be, and are, the only things most Americans really care about.

    Let’s see Obama’s former church and its membership counter that, and also answer to some of its more radical beliefs as well.

    Personally, I don’t see that comparison working well for Obama.

  2. Bob Belvedere
    April 3rd, 2012 @ 9:53 am

    Obviously, you have not read Pope John Paul The Great’s writings on the Death Penalty [which I happen to disagree with and is not Dogma].  His opinion is hardly Leftist.

    …you’re not qualified to judge the actions of followers of a religion outside your own

    Yup.

  3. Tennwriter
    April 3rd, 2012 @ 10:06 am

    Perhaps so, but this will be portrayed by the media as astroturf, and may be neutralized.

    There’s thing most Americans care about vs. Easy Resonation.

    Its a nice idea to see Obama’s former church defending itself, but that won’t happen, especially with Mitt the Moderate and the MSM Cheerleaders.

    And yes, I’d much rather have Mitt as neighbour than Jeremiah Wright.

    Mitt, if he wants a Republican to win in 2012, needs to resign now.

  4. Confutus
    April 3rd, 2012 @ 11:29 am

     The Mormons have been doing battle with the “stuff” out there for 192 years now and aren’t particularly afraid of  it. This isn’t the mid 19th-century; Mormons have been quietly gaining respect in many quarters for decades in spite of persistent ignorant superstition.   Not all the MSM is going to use the anti-Mormon literature uncritically; there are still journalists who try to be fair and look at both sides of the story.  Some of the more rabid sectarian propaganda is going to sound odd coming from professed atheists: the stuff they are most likely to use is just as much an attack on all religious believers as on the Mormons.  I do expect to see lots of verbal fireworks, and lots of sound and fury, but I’m not so sure it will be an unmitigated PR disaster.

    There are more serious things at work; notably the growing tendency of liberals to attempt to whip up irrational mob violence when they cannot get their way with sophistry.  When that starts bleeding  over into electoral politics, we are all in danger.

  5. ThePaganTemple
    April 3rd, 2012 @ 11:44 am

    This is a test run for the general election. If this attack on Mitt, in the run up to today’s primaries, depresses his numbers sufficiently, and especially if it is seen to effectively lead to Santorum winning Wisconsin, then you’ll see more of it during the general. If it doesn’t work and Mitt still wins handily, then it will probably be dropped, at least as a major line of attack, except maybe in the south.

  6. Confutus
    April 3rd, 2012 @ 12:02 pm

       The identification of the “Whore of Babylon” with the Catholic Church is questionable. Although the abuses of the late classical and medieval clergy do make such an identification tempting, a closer examination of the Catholic faithful in all ages and the modern Catholic Church suggest even more strongly that this is a superficial and erroneous intepretation.

  7. fooddee
    April 3rd, 2012 @ 1:28 pm

    I believe this is just one of many quotes from their book of Moses, which is false doctrine and heretical to true believers in Christ. If Santorum can be questioned about his faith, so can Romney!”. . . there was a blackness came upon all the children of Canaan, that they were despised among all people . . . (Moses 7:8).”

  8. RufusChoate
    April 3rd, 2012 @ 2:04 pm

    Ahh, yeah that was less than interesting. You got anything else or do I have to talk to my cat eating Husky for some logic?

  9. Confutus
    April 3rd, 2012 @ 2:43 pm

    If one would read the Book of Moses for understanding intead of merely mining it for talking points, one might gather 1) that the children of Canaan referenced lived before the Flood and  2)  there is insufficient evidence to identify these with either descendants of  Canaan the grandson of Noah  or modern African black people.  There is no excuse for modern racism here.
     

  10. Estase73
    April 3rd, 2012 @ 2:55 pm

    Everybody’s missed out on the real, major-league hypocrisy here.  Ron Paul is the biggest racist and anti-semite on the planet.  Remember how his newsletter commented that the reason the 1993 LA riots stopped was because it was time to collect welfare checks?  And one of Paul’s supporters is accusing Romney of being racist?  I am not a Romney supporter, but for a Paulista to accuse Romney of racism is just hysterical.  Oh, and Pagan Temple, you need to clean up your language.  That may fly in your dorm, but the rest of the world can express themselves in ways other than by calling the Pope an asshole.  That is just despicable.

  11. ThePaganTemple
    April 3rd, 2012 @ 3:14 pm

     Fine, then let me put it in a kinder, gentler way. Outside the Catholic faith, the Pope is just another human being whose opinion doesn’t necessarily mean jack shit, nor are any members of any other Christian denomination required to abide by it, regardless of what Ricky Poo Santorum thinks or says. There, how’s that?

  12. CPAguy
    April 3rd, 2012 @ 6:46 pm

    Technically, the Catholic Church is still the one true Christian Church.

    All the other churches are just offshoots who believe in essentially the exact same things but have slightly different rituals.

  13. ThePaganTemple
    April 3rd, 2012 @ 11:30 pm

     I don’t know, but I’m sure they would disagree with that. Luckily, they are allowed to do that.

  14. Tennwriter
    April 3rd, 2012 @ 11:46 pm

    PT is correct here.  You tell that to a Baptist minister or a Church of Christ minister and its even odds you get 1)a kindly and ernest fifteen minute lecture on why this is not true.  2)a burst of laughter.

  15. Tennwriter
    April 4th, 2012 @ 12:00 am

    This is not really the place for me to explain why RCC doctrine is wrong, wrong, wrong on a number of issues.  Furthermore, I’m not an expert.

    One of the arguements tho’ is that Baptist does not equal Protestant. Not sure if that’s true.  Furthermore, there has always been a True Church, whether it was in Rome or not is an interesting discussion for those more educated than I although I have my suspicions.

    Furthermore, all Christians are Saints and Priests.  Also, while the value of learned tradition is indeed great, in the end the Bible is the supreme authority for faith and practise, and it matters not a whit if Learned Doctors of the Church or the Pope himself speaking ex cathedra disagrees with God’s Word.

    God’s Word is forever settled in heaven.

  16. ThePaganTemple
    April 4th, 2012 @ 10:06 am

     Not to mention a Priest or member of  the Greek Orthodox Church, who claim they are in fact the original Church, and view the Pope as an usurper, or at least did.

    BTW there’s a direct line of Protestant rebellion from the RCC, of whom the Lutherans are most typical. The Baptists came a little later, not directly from the RCC, which is the reason many don’t consider them Protestant. Cos technically speaking, they’re not.

  17. Ain’t I Done Told Ya So? (Part II) : The Other McCain
    April 5th, 2012 @ 12:17 am

    […] — as if this were an entirely legitimate topic of political discussion.” – Robert Stacy McCain, April 2“Now part of Romney’s religion problem is that he’s a part of a new religion. […]

  18. Rich
    April 5th, 2012 @ 3:55 am

     Mormons do not believe that black people are the curse of Cain.  Some Mormons once believed that, but the church has said it is a false doctrine and condemns racism inside and outside the church during the present time and in the past.  There are many black Mormons.  The LDS church is one of the fastest growing religions in Africa.  Mormons are incredibly diverse. Did you know there are more Mormons who speak Spanish than English?  More Mormons outside the U.S. than inside?  More Mormons in California than Utah?  Most Mormon men serve missions, probably most of them in foreign countries, and they learn to love the peoples and the cultures of the nations where they serve.  I live in Utah and see many mixed marriages here.  The church used to caution against mixed marriages, saying it was difficult for the children.  My own brother is in a mixed marriage, and when he asked my opinion, I warned him that his children might face racial prejudice but that he should pray about his decision and do what he thought was right.  They have been married for 25 plus years, and their kids have felt very little prejudice, and his wife claims to have felt none although she is such a cheerful, positive person she probably would ignore it if she faced bias and bigotry.  Even in Utah she gets more bigotry for her faith than for her skin color. 

  19. Rich L
    April 5th, 2012 @ 4:02 am

     Don’t spout off on something about which you know very little.  The Mormon church does not believe that blacks are cursed or even that they are “the children of Canaan.”  Some Mormons in the past might have believed that because it was a common belief among almost all Christian sects in the early 1800s.  But the LDS Church has specifically said that blacks are not cursed and are not inferior to people of any other race.  For years the church did not ordain blacks to the priesthood.  There has never been an official explanation for this.  Many people in the church believe it was racial bias by church leaders in the mid to late 1800s.  The church now is totally against racial bigotry and preaches that it is inconsistent with Christ’s teachings.  It does not excuse the actions and attitudes of long-dead Mormons, but a Mormon apostle recently cautioned members of the church to be forgiving of people who took part in the history of the church because we all must be as forgiving as Christ, who taught that we all will be judged by the same measure we judge others and that the person who fails to forgive another is a greater sinner than the offender.