Frater Morris: [Romney’s] “much-hyped speech did nothing to achieve his goal of convincing doubting Evangelicals and Catholics that his Mormon beliefs will not hinder him from being a good president. Instead, for the most part, he pretended he wasn’t Mormon, or that being Mormon was so strange it is in his interest to keep it secret”

December 9, 2007 in 2008, analysis, argument, campaign communications, campaign communiques, campaign literature, campaign management, conservatism, election 2008, Evangelicals, gaffs and pratfalls, GOP, incompetence, Iowa, media, mitt romney, policy, republicans, rhetoric, romney, strategy, stupidity, the dark soul of Mitt Romney, triumph of unreason
Tags: "the speech", botched oratory, catholicism, catholics, dishonesty, father jonathan morris, fox fan, foxnews.com, frater morris, heresy, mormonism, mormons, subterfuge, weirdness, wretched rhetoric

… “I’m afraid today’s speech will go down in history as Mitt Romney’s last hurrah,” writes Frater J. Morris in a FOXNews.com editorial titled Mitt Romney, the Mormon (What’s That?!)

I wish it wouldn’t, because I don’t think there is anything in Mormon belief that, per se, should eliminate someone from the office of president. And, I happen to think Mitt Romney is a man of character.

But, if today becomes the unraveling point of his candidacy, it will be because Mitt Romney did not have the courage or wisdom to say what he, as a Mormon, actually believes — all of it, without pretending his creed is no different than the Christian creed.

Don’t get me wrong. His speech would have been excellent had it been given by any other candidate. It was deep, passionate and presidential. He even ended with, “God bless America.”

The problem is that the much-hyped speech did nothing to achieve his goal of convincing doubting Evangelicals and Catholics that his Mormon beliefs will not hinder him from being a good president. Instead, for the most part, he pretended he wasn’t Mormon, or that being Mormon was so strange it is in his interest to keep it secret. In this speech about Mormonism, he uttered the word “Mormon” just once, while saying “Jews” and “Muslims” two times each and “Catholic” three times. Still more abrasive to Christian sensibilities was the attempt to pass off Mormon doctrine about Jesus Christ as equal to that of Christianity. He said, “What do I believe about Jesus Christ? I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the savior of mankind.”

OK, Mitt. But do you really want to get into what that means for you?

I admit explaining the peculiarities of Mormonism to his southern audience would have been a daunting task. There would have been a lot of nodding of heads—all side to side … etc.

yours &c.
dr. g.d.