THE DAILY BLADE: Questioning A Faith: Part II
Columnist Robert Novak notes that Mitt Romney is asked about Mormonism "wherever he goes." Novak adds that Romney’s belief system is "the source of opposition to his candidacy" and that loyal Republicans have told him they "could never vote for Romney because of his religion." And it’s not just loyal Republicans Romney has a problem with; Novak cites a Newsweek poll that found 28 percent of Americans would not vote for a Mormon.
Romney’s campaign team has finally accepted the reality that unless this issue is neutralized, their "perfect on paper" candidate doesn’t stand a chance:
Although disagreement remains within the Romney camp, the consensus is that he must address the Mormon question with a speech deploring bias. …
It is certain that sooner or later, Romney will address the nation. His task is vastly more complicated than John F. Kennedy's was on Sept. 12, 1960, when he told the Greater Houston Ministerial Council that as president he would not take orders from the pope. Romney will no more attempt explaining Mormon theology than Kennedy ventured into Roman Catholic doctrine. He will do what I wrote 17 months ago he must do: deplore a religious test as un-American.
Jay Cost, who writes the RealClearPolitics HorseRaceBlog takes issue with Novak’s advice on two counts:
The "speech defusing the Mormon issue" probably should have been given in the summer. The campaign season is here - and so the speech will take Romney off message at the time when being on message is most important. …
[I]t appears as though Romney will say in so many words that anti-Mormon voters are religious bigots, and they should just get over it. … I can't see how this will do anything but offend those voters who are skeptical of it. It is essentially a moral accusation. Romney seems to be saying: "Be ashamed of yourselves ... and vote for me!" …
Cost also points out that Novak "wrongly argues [a religion test] is ‘unconstitutional’ - it is unconstitutional for the government to have a religious test, but voters can base their votes on whatever damned fool idea they choose!" Exactly. So it’s unproductive to call voters who have qualms about a presidential candidate who practices a belief system that they – and their spiritual leaders – regard as a cult bigoted or un-American. This strategy is not going to win friends, influence people or reap primary votes.
Cost’s suggestion that Romney accentuate the positive – "He can … argue that … [w]hile Mormons and non-Mormons might have different theological beliefs, those different beliefs nevertheless point to identical values, which is what really matters in politics" – would have worked before Al Gore invented the Internet. But by now, people have read things about Mormonism that seem pretty outlandish.
As The Stiletto previously pointed out (second item), Romney spent two years as a missionary and is experienced in explaining his faith in terms compelling enough to win converts. He needs to be a missionary again, this time converting primary voters who would otherwise vote for Thompson or Huckabee.
The Other Shoe Drops: Updates To Previous Posts
† CA City May Ban Smoking At Home: The City Council of Belmont voted 3-2 to adopt an ordinance that prohibits smoking in apartments, condos and townhouses. The measure – the first such ban in the nation – goes into effect in 30 days. Smokers could be fined $1,000 – and even get evicted - if neighbors repeatedly complain. Property owners have 14 months to enforce the law via lease agreements. CA town Calabasas is expected to approve a similar law.
† Hacking al-Qaeda: U.S. intelligence officials will investigate allegations by the SITE Intelligence Group that a covertly-obtained Usama bin Laden video tape provided to senior officials in the Bush Administration was prematurely released to the media – alerting al-Qaeda to a security gap in its internal communications network that the firm had exploited to provide intelligence about terrorist groups to clients that included military and intelligence agencies from the US and other countries. "Techniques that took years to develop are now ineffective and worthless," the firm's founder, Rita Katz, tells The Washington Post.
† Like Father, Like Son: Armenian journalists Arat Dink and Serkis Seropyan have been convicted of insulting Turkishness under Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code. Charged under Article 301 numerous times for writing articles about the Armenian Genocide, Hrant Dink – Arat’s father - was convicted under Article 301 and subsequently assassinated by Turkish Nationalists in January. Officials in Istanbul refused to give Hrant Dink police protection after he received numerous death threats as a consequence of the conviction. BBC News notes that the verdict came a day after the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee voted 27 to 21 to back a bill labeling the killings of 1.5 million Armenians by Ottoman Turks a genocide, as more than a dozen countries and numerous historians have already done.
† The Keystone Kops Are Enforcing U.S. Immigration Laws: U.S. District Judge Charles R. Breyer of San Francisco has put the kibosh on the Bush Administration’s plan to enforce laws against illegal immigration, document forgery and identity theft by sending employers letters alerting them of workers whose Social Security numbers are suspect. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the AFL-CIO and the American Civil Liberties Union joined forces in a suit to block implementation of the "no match" program.
† This New Scanner Is A Shoe-In: The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) had installed $200,000 ShoeScanner machines at seven airports that were supposed to detect explosives hidden in shoes as an incentive to get travelers to sign up for its Registered Traveler program for $100 a year so they could race through security lines without having to stop to take off and put on their footwear. Unfortunately, the gizmo made by GE Security, a General Electric subsidiary, failed the field tests and "does not meet standards to ensure detection of explosives," the TSA said in a statement.
† Wannabe Pundit: Part IV: When it comes to disclosing conflicts of interest, ethical journalists believe that transparency is the best policy. Tell the readers or viewers upfront what the relationship is between you and a person, product or event you are covering, and let them decide whether you are biased, or pushing a hidden agenda. But as journalists are a persnickety lot, sometimes making the proper and necessary disclosures gets you in trouble too. Take the case of Rita Braver, who preceded her profile of Lynne Cheney on CBS News’ "Sunday Morning" by telling viewers that her husband, Washington lawyer Robert Barnett, had negotiated the publishing deal for "Blue Skies, No Fences," a memoir written by the vice president’s wife. "[S]ome journalists have suggested CBS News would have been better served by assigning someone whose spouse had no financial ties to Ms. Cheney to do the profile, which included an extended tour of the vice president’s home," reports The New York Times. CBS News senior vice president for standards, Linda Mason, thinks the disclosure was adequate, adding: "I said it was fine. Not disclosing would have not been fine."
† Are You Man Enough For A Real Woman?: October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and to "raise awareness," the staff of Film Threat is "celebrating the best breasts to ever grace the cinema screen." Check out their photo and video gallery of The Fifty Best Breasts In Movie History.
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