Campaign Getting Ugly….

Posted by Siamang on: 12.12.2007 /

story.jpgBy Siamang.

Republican Candidate and Iowa front-runner Mike Huckabee levels an attack on rival Mitt Romney with a (not so) innocent question:

“Don’t Mormons believe that Jesus and the devil are brothers?”

And we’re off to the races.

Liberal blogger Atrios brings up a good point:

I don’t really think that a political campaign should involve a debate over whether Mormons believe that Satan was Jesus’s brother, but that’s where all the “put the God back in politics” has taken us.

I agree, and to tell the truth this is an attack that Romney could have immunized himself against if he had forthrightly given a “faith speech” that called for an end to religious tests for political candidates rather than a “faith speech” that called for his religion to pass that test.

Romney wants so bad to be part of the right-wing religious bigots club that he asked for membership, and proved his mettle by attacking secularism. I guess Huckabee is now saying that Romney can’t join that club.

I shudder to think what the discussion would be if a Jew were running for office.

As others have said, it’s strange to have Huckabee asking this question himself, rather than having a surrogate do it on talk radio or in the press.

To any friends and readers out there of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I want to say, I liked Romney. I thought Romney would be a great candidate. Watching the 2002 Olympics, I thought, “wow, that’ll be the man to beat.. he’s a Republican, but one who can get stuff done. He looks great, and he looks capable. I’m a Democrat, but I’m much more interested in a competent leader than an ideological person who agrees with me all the time.”

I was hoping he would have taken the high-road and added himself as a voice for putting aside religious and non-religious differences as a non-issue in what we share as a society. As an atheist, I don’t care about his religion, his isn’t any more or less alien to me than any other faith. As someone with a minority belief in this nation as well, I stand up for his rights, but even more I stand up for his right to be respected. I feel that was a respect he didn’t reciprocate when he had the chance and instead he took the easy path of condeming secularists instead. As Wendy Kaminer wrote, “Romney opposes bigotry in self-defense, not in defense of others, which is to say that he does not really oppose it at all.”

As a kid, I had a lot of Mormon babysitters, which meant a lot of my playmates were also Mormon, and I attended some LDS Primary as a kid. I was a Targeteer, I was CTR. I was a Cub Scout affiliated with my local LDS church.

My heart goes out to members of the church that may be hurt by the ugliness of this political season. As a minority belief, I empathize with you. I do hope this incident is the last we hear in this campaign.

Because if political campaigning now includes questioning the tenets of your opponent’s faith… we’ve started down a very dark road indeed.

-Siamang

3 Responses to "Campaign Getting Ugly…."

  • Comment by: Siamang

    1 12/12/07 3:35 PM | Comment Link |

    This is being blogged about a lot.

    at uti, Dirk Diggler writes

    What’s so interesting about these races is that is seems to be all about God. Romney just gave an anti-JFK speech denouncing secularism and whining about bigotry against Mormonism. McCain says America is a Christian nation and is willing to be humiliated by kissing ass at Liberty University (the very same people he called ‘agents of intolerance’ back in 2000). Pat Robertson endorsed Rudy Giuliani. Evangelicals claim Hillary is a fake Christian and the fact that she goes to church every Sunday since 1992 is a scam. Huckabee claims to be the real “Christian Leader” in his ads sticking it to Romney. And Obama is smeared for being a Muslim because he attended elementary school in Indonesia.

    Watching the Dems pander makes me a little sick, but there may be a silver lining. I think this is a good thing for skeptics and for America. If people are not sick already sick of God in politics, they will be soon.

    Dirk has an optimism that people will get sick of this religious fighting garbage. I do hope so.

    But I fear they won’t. I fear this will whet people’s appitite for more and more rounds of “us vs them”.

  • Comment by: Doug Indeap

    2 12/12/07 5:03 PM | Comment Link |

    this is an attack that Romney could have immunized himself against if he had forthrightly given a “faith speech” that called for an end to religious tests for political candidates rather than a “faith speech” that called for his religion to pass that test.

    Romney wants so bad to be part of the right-wing religious bigots club that he asked for membership, and proved his mettle by attacking secularism. I guess Huckabee is now saying that Romney can’t join that club.

    Very well put. You’ve succinctly summarized what Romney did–and didn’t do–in his unfortunate speech.

  • Comment by: Karen

    3 12/12/07 5:31 PM | Comment Link |

    A Seattle Times columnist makes some interesting points on this as well:

    What’s the top issue in national politics right now? It’s not war. It’s who believes.

    It’s like we’re electing the Pastor of the United States.

    So Domke, a UW communications professor, wants everyone to know: This isn’t normal. Historically speaking. In fact it’s downright un-American.

    “This is as far into the realm of religion as American politics has ever gone, at least in the modern era,” he says.

    Domke’s got a new book out called “The God Strategy: How Religion Became a Political Weapon in America.”