dartagnan wrote:George Bush wasn't an Evangleical minister. And there wasn't a Mormon candidate when Bush was running, so it was more of a case of pick the lesser evil. And it was between Bush and Kerry the liberal democrat, consequently won nearly 30% of the vote in Utah. Compare that with 1% for Huckabee the minister.
And Romney isn't a Mormon
minister either. Your point is?
Of course the Mormons were going to jump at the first chance to have one of their own in the white house. Big frickin' deal! The Evs
have one of their own in the white house, and it has been recognized for some time that they are an important force in politics. Mormons, I would wager, don't have the same sense of their political impact as a collective group. They see their political power in the fact that there are Mormons in high office, and that when they cooperate with Catholics and Evs on 'moral' issues, their money (substantial) and influence (such that it is) makes a difference. I think you are wrong when you argue as though there is real parity here.
Here are my thoughts. First, I think it is fantastic that a large number of evangelicals around the country voted for Romney. Fewer in the South and Midwest, but still a lot.
And yet, there is a powerful movement of Mormon haters in conservative Christian circles. Not just the kinds of folks that say, "we have the truth and they don't," but, in its darkest version, "the Mormons worship Satan," and worse. In other words, the worst rhetoric used against Mormonism has bordered on creepy hate literature--stuff that harks back to anti-Jewish rhetoric in antiquity and may even border on modern anti-Semitic-style rhetoric at times.
Mormons have worked to expunge this kind of prejudice from their own tradition. The temple film has been updated time and again to dull attacks on Christian clergy. The "Great and Abominable Church" has been reinterpreted to refer not to a specific church, like the Catholic Church, but anyone who fights against the LDS Church (like me and you?). Although this kind of garbage is not gone, it no longer holds an officially and widely accepted place in our tradition. It is difficult to directly compare what happens with anti-Mormon propaganda in Christian churches, because they are not organized under a single hierarchy. Still, I find it disturbing that anti-Mormon propaganda gets as much play as it does among churches.
Huckabee runs in the kind of circles where anti-Mormon propaganda is passed out for free at major gatherings. Literature designed specifically to attack Mormonism at meetings where a major goal is the challenging of specifically Mormon faith. He used this on the campaign trail, and he knew he would get an audience because...DUH...he has been a major figure in meetings where this crap has gone on. He isn't stupid! He knew what he was doing. His audience, at least a fair chunk of them, did listen and I would say they factored their distrust of Mormons into their decision.
A Mormon candidate wouldn't even have the option of doing something similar... wouldn't be in a similar position. Mormons do not have well-orchestrated, ongoing campaigns (including videos, radio programs, pamphlets, ministries, etc.) to specifically denigrate Christians with distorting propaganda. Any Mormon candidate that made denigrating Trinitarian Christianity any part of his campaign would have his ass handed to him on a platter! Many Mormons would wonder what the hell kind of stupid thing he thought he was doing.
Finally, I can't believe your quote above. It is absolutely absurd and frankly beneath your intelligence. Mormons voted for Bush with enthusiasm, just as Mormons have cooperated with Catholics and Evs with enthusiasm in forwarding a conservative social agenda. They weren't picking the lesser of two evils!?!?!?! You are being a total nitwit here.
Then, given the chance to support a Mormon candidate for president, who
for the first time in the history of the religion actually had a great chance of being president, motivated them to wild enthusiasm. They were falling all over themselves to vote for Romney. That Huckabee was a Baptist minister hardly factored into the decision at all. They couldn't have cared less. They were excited about Romney. I can't see how on earth you would twist this into an anti-Ev prejudice that motivated them to vote
against Huckabee.
Mormons want to be accepted. And they want their own to succeed. And yes, there is greater homogeneity in Mormon voting than there was in Ev voting. But, it was motivated by the aforementioned excitement, not by fear of having what they essentially have had for the past 8 years (in terms of faith agenda). Most of them have loved what they have had for the last 8 years--an openly religious president with conservative social values who used his position to forward a pro-religion and Christian values agenda. I doubt they would have, as a whole, nitpicked over the theology of Huckabee's beliefs rather than get behind him to make sure that conservative Christian faith continued to be supported by the executive branch of government.
Mormons voted overwhelmingly for Romney because the guy really had a great shot. Too bad for them that he blew it!
Get real, dart!
“I was hooked from the start,” Snoop Dogg said. “We talked about the purpose of life, played Mousetrap, and ate brownies. The kids thought it was off the hook, for real.”