The Door Romney Should Never Have Opened
07 December 2007 10:00 am by Taylor Marsh
I assume that the day after the “big speech” cooler heads will now
prevail and people will come down to earth. Hugh Hewitt may have to be lassoed
from space his euphoria
was so complete.
Because Romney is running for the GOP nomination, and his remarks, both in
delivery and substance, were lavishly praised by Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity,
Michael Medved, and James Dobson, not to mention Mark Steyn, Fred Barnes and
Charles Krauthammer -and these were just the seven people I heard on a long
drive south to San Diego and then in a hotel room before leaving to post this
and give a speech.
Really an embarrassment for someone to be so ga-ga after a God speech; especially
one that was such an unmitigated disaster.
“There is one fundamental question about which I often am asked. What
do I believe about Jesus Christ? I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of
God and the Savior of mankind. My church’s beliefs about Christ may not all
be the same as those of other faiths. Each religion has its own unique doctrines
and history. These are not bases for criticism but rather a test of our tolerance.” – Mitt Romney
Hugh should have checked with David
Frum. He’s a lot closer to reality. Because once Romney asked and answered
the question about Jesus Christ excerpted above, quite frankly, all belief bets
were off. To say that Romney’s church doesn’t think about Christ as those of
other faiths is an understatement, but it wasn’t important that anyone know.
Romney should never have made the speech. Or he should have at least had the
good sense to talk about common values, instead of rhetorically genuflecting
to the evangelicals for votes he’s never going to get by intoning the name of
Jesus Christ, while defensively adding that religions all have their
“own unique doctrines and history.” You can say that again.
As for me, I was born and raised in Missouri. I know all religions, including
my own (Episcopalian) have oddities, including rituals like drinking the blood
of Christ, which is symbolized by either Welch’s grape juice or wine, depending
on the church. I remember the first time I saw my priest walk down the church
aisle with a gigantic cross on her back on Good Friday. But I can sure tell
you that when I read that Mormons believe Jesus
will come back to Jackson City, Missouri I just about fell over. Has he
told the evangelicals? It won’t go over very well. My recovering Mormon husband
said that the church is evidently buying a bunch of land there to prepare.
I don’t mean to show disrespect, but what was Mr. Romney thinking by talking
about Jesus Christ?
Better question is why did the networks feel compelled to give him air time
to do it?
I know the Chris Matthews’ God squad were all a twitter yesterday, but it was
nothing short of cringe worthy, especially when you take a moment to ask what
does he mean by My church’s beliefs about Christ may not all be the same
as those of other faiths? It’s almost said as a warning.
Romney’s speech yesterday implied in plain English that in this democratic
republic to be free you must be religious and vice versa. That this nation is
founded on religion. It is not and any candidate who feels compelled to stand
up and proclaim the power of Jesus Christ in order to be fit for his party’s
nomination has less understanding of the U.S. Constitution than a grade school
kid learning civics for the first. Because of Romney’s nakedly political declarative
proclamation about Jesus Christ it seems fair to also ask what else he believes.
Of course, he and his supporters will likely say that’s not the issue and not
appropriate. But he’s the one who opened the door, for purely political reasons,
so it’s not wrong to want to know
more.
