I know we shall be hearing this the next few days. If this is the line of thought that develops into supposed fact it will be tragic. I truly believe most(not all bit a great bit) likely voters resolved in their mind that was not a issue. There seems to be a perception that Huckabee ran a anti Mormon Campaign. I am going to do a post on this showing this is not the case.
I live in Bible belt land up here and Romney was a topic of a discussion. His Mormon Faith was a topic of discussion. However I have watched as people were encountering this new thing and dynamic most put the Mormon issue aside. They might have not voted for him but many were tempted. That IMHO is a good thing. Voters are complicated things and how they deal with all these issues are complex. The Corner blog had this today which is almost exactly my experience:
The Oysters Come Home to Roast [Mark Steyn]
I woke up this morning to a ton of e-mail from aggrieved southerners, almost outnumbering the ton of spam for generic Viagra, which I've forwarded to the RNC. Anyway, southern voters resented my (and John O'Sullivan's) assertion that they hadn't voted for Mitt because he was a Mormon. Au contraire, they said they hadn't voted for Mitt because he's a north-eastern liberal. Whatever. I rather enjoyed this Georgia gal's take:
I was one of your "No Mormon, no way, no how" Southerners until someone at a dinner party asked me if I'd support Orrin Hatch for President. And you know what? I would. It's then I realized I just didn't like Romney because he's about as phony as baloney. And I am unnaturally annoyed at how he receives applause from his audiences: toothless smile, looking left tilting chin up, looking right tilting chin up; back and forth.
Oh and by dinner party I mean oyster roast.
I post that because I have heard something similar on so many occasions. I had heard it at Church, the Hair cutting place, Kitchen tables, football games, over rounds of Canasta, at the bar etc etc.
They might have not said Orrin Hatch but the sentiments were the same. It is proven by the fact that Romney did well in the South. Romney's problem was not his Mormonism but his non stop negative campaign. THERE ARE REASONS WHY THAT FAILS IN PARTY PRIMARIES.
I love observing how faith and religion and politics interact. When it came down to gut check time for voters what that lady writes above hits it right on. Put Orrin Hatch's long time views and persona into a young nice attractive Mitt Romney body and you would have a had a winner.
I guess I think that the Mormons in the USA on a political front made huge progress. I would hate to think that got lost as people try to cover up the real reasons for his loss. And trust me the political consultants that Romney paid millions to will try to do that to cover their own collective rear ends.
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Mitt Romney Did not Fail Because He was Mormon!!
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5 comments:
Mitt Romney did not do well in the
South. He came in third in all the
southern states, and in all the
border states like Oklahoma and Missouri. To suggest Mormonism did
not play a factor in this is silly.
It's not surprising, given how seriously southerners take their
Christianity.
The following exchange was not the central dynamic of Huckabee's campaign, but it is symptomatic of the anti-Mormon candidate-voter dynamic that consistently pushes Huckabee over the edge (on the margins) against Romney in Evangelical areas.
Glenda Gherkey: "I guess I feel like this country and this world needs a president who [unlike Mormon Romney] would be able to pray to the God of the Bible and he would be able to hear his prayers."
Mike Huckabee: "I'm glad you've made your choice for me. I don’t care why. I’m just glad you did."
This is patently anti-Mormon prejudice on both Gherkey's and Huckabee's part. Active prejudice on Gherkey's part and passive prejudice (for political expediency's sake) on Huckabee's part.
If Huckabee had responded this way to a desparaging remark about an opponent who was a woman or person of color, he would rightly be called a sexist or racist.
People don't stigmatize religious prejudice with the same intensity that they stigmatize gender and race prejudice, so we're less attentive to it when it surfaces. But our inattentiveness doesn't make is effects less real, whether in Huckabee's campaign or in day-to-day life.
I discussed this at Called as Seen, and have to disagree:
Between the anecdotal evidence reported by Article 6 Blog, an admission by Huckabee's own research director, and the Vanderbilt study, it's pretty obvious that there was a large anti-Mormon bias among evangelicals.
If you can explain away that evidence (in at least the southern U.S.), then I'd like to hear it.
Harold I will be doing some more post over the next few days on this subject. Including a look at all the camapigns and how they handled the "Mormon" question.
I did your post on the Vanderbilt study and I intend to respond to that.
ALso as to "Huckabee's own research director" That I believe is Joel Carter. Joel Carter took 30 days off and was only staff for that period of time. If I am correct he left days before the Iowa Caucus. WHile I like Joel Carter and think his insight is often great I think it is a tad limited since most of his time seemed to be responding to National media and not in the field
We would not vote for Romney because:
#1 He is a Mormon
#2 He is a Mormon who is a reckless multi-millionaire.
The faith he belongs to (Mormonism), whether he believes in it or not, is strange at best. He would be better off at the polls if he was an agnostic. And his millions annoy the working poor. That he could "purchase" the presidency just ain't right.
His faith is frightening. One has every reason to not vote for him because of it. And I think that's what they are doing.
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