Romney

[Portland Ute]

WTH? They won't even hire Mormons! Why in the world should he speak there? Plus, as a presidential candidate who wants to appeal to the middle, he should avoid close associations with the religious right. I don't give a rat's ass about the base, the base won't win this thing for him. Bad move by the Romney campaign. Better to find a state school or some other private, unaffiliated institution.

Agreed.

[LA Ute]

WTH? They won't even hire Mormons! Why in the world should he speak there? Plus, as a presidential candidate who wants to appeal to the middle, he should avoid close associations with the religious right. I don't give a rat's ass about the base, the base won't win this thing for him. Bad move by the Romney campaign. Better to find a state school or some other private, unaffiliated institution.

I personally wish he wouldn't give those people the time of day. But he's got a balancing act to do. A certain percentage of them will never support him because of his faith; he knows that and doesn't care. But he needs the rest of that demographic to feel OK about him so that his get-out-the-vote effort doesn't suffer. It's an unpleasant political reality.

[byu71]

Romney will speak at Liberty University; but this of course raises the hackles of some:

http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2012/0...ts/?hpt=hp_bn5

I imagine he will also speak at other right wing institutions like Bob Jones University and BYU.

[LA Ute]

Point, by Peter Beinart:

Democrats Have Bigger Anti-Mormon Problem in Election Than GOP Has

Counter-Point, by Joanna Brooks:

Why Peter Beinart is Wrong on Democrats and Anti-Mormonism

These are both left-of-center writers. Most here will agree with Brooks, I'll wager. I personally think she is much too forgiving of efforts to examine the extent to which Romney's faith affects his policy views. But both authors make good points.

[pellegrino]

I personally wish he wouldn't give those people the time of day. But he's got a balancing act to do. A certain percentage of them will never support him because of his faith; he knows that and doesn't care. But he needs the rest of that demographic to feel OK about him so that his get-out-the-vote effort doesn't suffer. It's an unpleasant political reality.

I don't have a problem with him performing a balancing act, but does a part of that act entail that he must speak at the Graduation Ceremonies of one of the largest Evangelical Universities?

This is the only chance he'll have to speak at a graduation between now and the election. People (independents) pay attention to these kind of things and I think it reflects badly on the campaign for him to speak there. I'd rather he didn't speak at any commencement ceremonies than to speak at Liberty University. He has absolutely nothing to gain from this and everything to lose.

[wuapinmon]

[Viking]

Point, by Peter Beinart:

Democrats Have Bigger Anti-Mormon Problem in Election Than GOP Has

Counter-Point, by Joanna Brooks:

Why Peter Beinart is Wrong on Democrats and Anti-Mormonism

These are both left-of-center writers. Most here will agree with Brooks, I'll wager. I personally think she is much too forgiving of efforts to examine the extent to which Romney's faith affects his policy views. But both authors make good points.

They are BOTH wrong.

The question itself is totally loaded and equivalent to asking a democrat if he/she'd vote for Romney.

[kccougar]

Funny anecdote about Romney being arrested in 1981 for disorderly conduct. I think it's a great example of the way he operates.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/andrewkaczyn...y-conduct-in-1

[Moliere]

I liked this article on Romney and the Priesthood. Seems like they pegged it all pretty well.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/...U_story_1.html

I especially like this thought on why we like meetings so much:

Priesthood leadership is exercised through a series of councils, from the First Presidency Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, the highest governing bodies of the church, down to local councils. Every executive in the church has two counselors who share administrative duty and offer consultation. It is rare that a council will adopt a decision in the absence of consensus. This conciliar style of administration exalts meetings, negotiation and delegation. It is no mistake that successful businessmen like Mitt Romney rise high.

[LA Ute]

This is really a pretty good synthesis of the religious issues surrounding Romney. Example:

Contemporary anti-Mormonism tends to emerge either from the secular left or from the evangelical Protestant right. For the left, Mormonism often functions as a stand-in for discomfort over religion generally. Mormon religious practice offers a lot of really, well, religious religion: ritual underclothing, baptism for the dead, secret temple rites and “clannishness” (a term invoked in the past in attacks on Catholics and Jews). Any religion looks weird from the outside, but the image of Mormonism seems caught somewhere between perpetual strangeness and strait-laced blandness.

[scottie]

That being said, i wonder why his style consultant (assuming he has one) didn't advise him to go crew neck. The scoop has always looked awful and ridiculous under a white shirt.