- Daniel
Mitt Romney didn't start out a career politician. He's a business man, specializing in turning-around companies and making them successful. He did the same for the Utah Olympics, and he claims he'll do it for America. But the media can't find any skeletons in his closet to dig up. So instead, they've found other reasons why he's not a good candidate. The fact that he's a Mormon is his biggest downfall. In addition, as a Republican nominee hopeful, a large percentage of that party consists of fundamentalist Christians, who act like they control the party--which they probably do--and view Mormonism as nothing less than the devil - despite the fact that most Mormons share similar conservative ideology.
But the media's taken a fascination with asking Romney all sorts of questions about Mormonism. In a recent Newsweek article by Jonathan Darman and Lisa Miller, they note his biggest weakness is his reluctance to talk about his faith. His second weakness is his "flip-flopping" on issues.
How many of these people, who are dying to hear what Mormonism is all about from Romney's own mouth, have at some point slammed the door in the face of Mormon Missionaries who've knocked on their door? It's not Mitt Romney's job to be an ambassador to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons). The Church has thousands of full-time missionaries whose job it is to talk about their church. If people are curious, ask one of them. Romney's a politician, he needs to focus on his job, not appeal to religious discourse. Just like JFK, as a Catholic--one of those other unlikeable Christian religions in America--focused on his job.
As for Romney's "flip-flopping"... Remember when that used to be called "changing your mind based upon further information"? Adapting to changing conditions and information is a valuable skill, and the sign of a moderate. How many people want George Bush to change his mind on the war? Anyway, Romney was a Republican governor of a very liberal state, and he got that way by being moderate in his ideology. The problem isn't that he's "flip-flopping", the problem is he can't be a moderate and run for President as a Republican - let alone as a Democrat. Instead, he has to adhere to the partisan extremism of his party. And because of that, you have a candidate that reforms himself as a more stern conservative than he once was. It's really too bad, too, because I like him more as a moderate.
But I gotta hand it to the media. It's usually pretty easy to dig up dirt on presidential candidates, them being the natural slime-bag liars that they are. It must annoy them that Romney's got a clean record. But the Mormon thing and "flip-flopping" will keep them busy and distracted enough to avoid the real issues that need to be talked about in this country.
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7 comments:
You know, the thing that bugs me the most about the media is that they seem to talk more about how much money the candidates have raised and other trivial things rather than important things like what their positions on various issues are. People are always talking about how it would change the world if we had a female (Hilary) or black (Obama) president, but they don't really talk about what those people would do to change the world aside from just being female or black (or Mormon in Mitt's case).
Oh wow... It posted my name as gotnoni... how embarrasing
Here's an example of what I'm talking about:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21287765/
This article talks about how black women aren't sure whether they will vote for Obama or Clinton... Look, just because you're black doesn't mean you should vote for a black person, and just because you're a woman doesn't mean you should vote for a woman. You should vote for these people based on how good of a leader they will be.
But then again, based on this, if Oprah ever ran for president, she'd probably win by a landslide!
In reference to the above article jbroshek cited... Upon first reading, the content does seem rather absurd. But it does seem true to the feeling down here in the Southern States.
I have a feeling, though, that race cards and feminism don't factor into the educated voter (I'd like to think it doesn't, at least). For them, it's not an issue of whether they're black or a woman, they look at their accomplishments and their campaign platform.
One thing I thought interesting, though. Hillary is showcasing her husband as an endorsement to her presidency. She got to be Senator of New York by distancing herself from him, but now she needs him to be President.
I think you have an internal conflict. You first state how changing your mind is good because it shows how one is willing to change based on new knowledge. Then towards the end you state your belief that Romney has changed his mind to adjust to the needs of a conservative voter base and I assume therefore has not really changed his mind. Romney insists that he stands on a three legged base of strong conservative issues, Strong family issues, strong foreign policy issues, and strong financial issues. I take him at his word.
septemberlion, I read your comment three times, and I still don't get what your point is. Could you explain what exactly you're talking about?
I understand the conflict in my article. From what I say, it sounds like he's changing his mind based on the opinions of a conservative crowd, when I was really trying to get across that he changes his mind based on further information. I was mainly responding to the Newsweek article I had linked, and didn't take into account of any more information.
I really should've taken time to convey that the fundamentalist conservative base is upset that he "flip-flopped" on issues involving abortion and gay rights, and I believe gun control, but I'm not sure at this point.
I have read that his change on abortion (which he was pro-abortion while governor of Massachusetts) was a result of harvesting stem-cells in mass production, and that concerned him. This to me, is not flip-flopping, but rather adapting to changing conditions. i should have addressed this in my article.
Other issues concerning his alleged "flip-flopping" (which I don't believe he did) should be discussed further if anyone here knows more about his campaign.
The idea of complying to the conservative base... I didn't convey that properly, and I apologize. Again, in the Newsweek article, they stated that the fundamentalist pastors were upset with him when he met them, because he adapted their manner of language such as "Jesus is my personal savior" and other such born-again language. If this is the case, and he is trying to adapt to the fundamentalists who think they own the Republican party, I think it's a real shame he feels he has to do this. I think the fundamentalists should adapt to a Mormon, considering they share similar conservative ideology with Romney (i.e. family structure).
Please feel free to disagree or add what you all have read or know.
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