Romney Preaches to the Choir
Yesterday, Mitt Romney passed his first audition with evangelicals as he gave the commencement speech at Liberty University, a private Christian university founded by Jerry Falwell, who infamously blamed gays, lesbians, feminists, the ACLU and others for the attacks on 9/11. Most of the main stream media reported glowing reviews by, you guessed it, evangelicals. The one newspaper which seemed to to a decent job reporting on the speech was The Christian Science Monitor. The LA Times reported that Romney received three standing ovations, one at the beginning of the speech, one at the end, and another after Romney spoke this line, “Marriage is a relationship between one man and one woman.”
Romney also regurgitated Rick Santorum’s Brookings Institue study line.
The American culture promotes personal responsibility, the dignity of work, the value of education, the merit of service, devotion to a purpose greater than self, and, at the foundation, the pre-eminence of the family.
The power of these values is evidenced by a Brookings Institution study that Senator Rick Santorum brought to my attention. For those who graduate from high school, get a full-time job, and marry before they have their first child, the probability that they will be poor is 2%. But, if those things are absent, 76% will be poor. Culture matters.
As fundamental as these principles are, they may become topics of democratic debate. So it is today with the enduring institution of marriage. Marriage is a relationship between one man and one woman.
As Crooks and Liars pointed out back in January, this is cherry picking at its finest. You can go through the presentation pdf by the Brookings Institute yourself, but what Santorum and Romney both did was leave out important parts of the study such as:
- If you are born poor, chances are you will remain poor.
- The middle class is treading water
- The need to improve education at every level
But these types of thoughts don’t jive well with the Repbublican ideology. They’d rather preach to the choir with their empty and hypocritical message on family values.
Its a shame that the evangelicals who live the perfect life forget this one Matthew 7.1.
Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2 For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
There was an interesting article in WaPo yesterday about his speech and how a number of students at Liberty said they couldn’t/wouldn’t vote for him because he was not a true Christian.
So what you and the washington post are saying mj, is that mitt romney is going to get less than 100 percent of the students at liberty college vote. Brilliant, how long did it take you and WaPo to come up with that analysis?
Yes, Rusty, but the reasoning is interesting. These kids are all SO wrapped up in their religion that they can’t think straight. Sounds just like what you’d expect from a madrasa school run by the Taliban.
They represent the American Taliban. Real Americans should run from all of that (and Romney too)…
There are hundreds of reasons not to vote for Romney. His religiois beliefs shouldn’t be one of them.
Then again, Republicans get what they deserve after catering to the religious extremists in their Party over the past three decades.
@i “His religiois beliefs shouldn’t be one of them.”
And why not? If your opponents are going to use religion when voting, then why put yourself at a disadvantage by not doing so?
We are the party of tolerance. Voting against him because of religion is just as bad as voting against a candidate based on race, gender, or sexual orientation.
These voters were crucial in putting Bush over the top in 2004. Will they stay at home this time?
There is an influential group of very religious people involved with Dominionist movement who very much want religion to be key to governance here in the US. I do think that people who make their religion front and center to their political views give voters a reason to vote for AND against their religion.
Did anyone actually watch the speech?
No, it’s not. I’m an atheist, so I’m skeptical of EVERY candidate’s religion. I’m most skeptical of those who wear their religion as a badge of honor. Mormonism, like many other religions, is a cult. I automatically disqualify cult members from any pool of candidates, regardless of his/her political party.
This is quite different than discrimination based on race, sex, ancestry, ethnicity, sexual orientation, etc. One can control one’s beliefs or or lack thereof. One cannot control one’s race, sex, ancestry, etc.
Lebay, isn’t it a great country that we live in that allows you to live freely by your beliefs
Le, why in the world would you care if someone wants to study religion. It is a free country.
romney is the best candidate for prez in over 100 years. he will save the country if it can be saved, obama will completely ruin it,
Rusty = asshat. Give it up, you’re a amateur playing with the pros.
@J “Voting against him because of religion is just as bad as voting against a candidate based on race, gender, or sexual orientation.”
Wow! I disagree… really disagree.
Religion (the belief part, not the tribalism part) is something that can be cured by reason. The things you list cannot be. Simply put, religion is an intellectual error. Critical thinking makes this rather obvious.
Religion (the tribalism part, not the belief part) is more like a party affiliation. You can certainly vote against someone who espouses tribal gibberish without feeling like you’re doing something untoward, just like you can vote against someone of a different political party.
Religion (the ethics part)… Wait. Modern religions seems to lack any real ethical foundation. (A list of 10 things is NOT an ethical foundation)…
@Rd “Le, why in the world would you care if someone wants to study religion. It is a free country.”
People should study religion! I did. In fact, there was a study: The more one knows about religion, the more likely that person will be an atheist.
There’s a direct correlation. That’s clear, but is it causal? I think so. It’s not that atheists are more interested in religion, it’s simply that studying religion as an academic exercise is likely to produce atheists… It’s hard to not be an atheist when one learns what religion is and how it works.
I wounder if Mittens was wearing his Mormon underwear? Just asking
I love how “the best candidate in 100 years” has no core principles, no understanding of foreign policy, and a new lie every time the microphone is on. If we’re just looking at Republicans, I’m pretty sure Reagan and Eisenhower made better candidates. I think you actually have to be named Romney, or paid by someone who is, in order to believe that.
captain crunch with crunch-berries is the best cereal for breakfast in over 100 years. it will save the country if it can be saved, grapenuts will completely ruin it,
There. I fixed it.
“he will save the country if it can be saved”
Now there’s a self-negating hypothesis. No way to fail when you put it that way.
Of course, for Obama just to keep the country running is a victory itself, when you have people like Romney plundering every healthy revenue stream and accumulation of wealth worth their attention and jamming their blood funnels into anything that smells like money.
Republican economic plan:
Cut taxes for the rich even more
Deregulate business even more
Cut social spending, cancel health care
Watch the economic collapse from your car elevator
Blame it on Obama