Time To Start Talking About Politics And Religion! Let's Get Personal!
I gotta say something here. OK, my cousin wrote in my comments: "I think people hate Romney for the same reason that Homer hates Flanders." I take this comment to mean, "people hate Romney because of his religion." Sorry, but I don't buy it. As I said to Dan in his comments, I like Harry Reid, the Democratic majority leader in the Senate. And...whoa, he's a Mormon! Holy Shit, turns out I like a Mormon politician and so do a bunch of people. And he's from Nevada, the home of legalized gambling and prostitution. Boy, Mormons sure have it rough. I have been reading here and there about Romney and any time someone criticizes his religion (which is completely valid) comments come out of the woodwork bemoaning how unfair the world is to Mormons. Mormonism is characterized by its believers being in the world but not of the world or something like that. Sorry, but you can't say, "we are different but we demand that you ignore that difference when it suits us."
And anyway, I don't dislike Romney because he is too different. I dislike Romney because he is just more of the same.
3 comments:
Hey, that's not what I meant! Homer doesn't hate Flanders for his religion... they go to the same church for crying out loud. I think Romney makes people uncomfortable because he's just "too" perfect. Chiseled good looks, filthy rich, perfect family, no skeletons in the closet. Most of the other candidates have dirt in their past, even if the media has to make it up (I think that "scandal" about Obama being Muslim is the biggest load of crap ever. Is that the best the right wing can do?). Romney throws people off because he comes off as unsympathetic.
To be honest, I like him, but I'm a little disappointed with his obvious pandering as well. I thought his balance of sensible fiscal policy and social liberalism in a liberal state was excellent during his term as governor. It's sad that he has to toe the party line to have a hope of winning the nomination.
You think Romney is wearing his religion on his sleeve? You have to admit, Huckabee would be much worse. If we had an LDS president, he'd avoid the topic of religion as much as possible to keep people from lashing out against the church. A Southern Baptist would have no such qualms.
Yeah, you're right about the lame selection of candidates. I think both sides have a disappointing lack of leadership. Like I mentioned in a previous post of mine, I want a new Barry Goldwater for a Republican. That doesn't seem very likely anymore.
I think Romney's religion makes him unelectable because he can't carry the heavily-evangelical South. The fundies down there hate Latter-day Saints for the reason they hate JWs, Muslims, etc...not because of doctrinal disagreements, but because they fear "losing business" to rapidly-growing religions. Seriously, you should come down to Georgia and see for yourself: the ministry is an entrepreneurial activity and those "mega-churches" are making bank! So yeah, I guess you can say Romney's greatest foes are the religious conservatives he's trying so desperately to court...how ironic :-P.
http://mediamatters.org/items/200702280002
I don't think a candidate's personal religious beliefs should be an issue, unless they intend on imposing their beliefs on the general public which is not the case for any candidate on either side.
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