As far as I know, no one (so far) has seriously questioned Mitt Romney’s commitment to his Mormon faith. So, assuming for the sake of argument that the fact that he’s a Mormon isn’t too much of a sticking point for the evangelical crowd, he’s got the “God” thing covered.
The other two of the three G’s, though, have proven problematic of late. The whole Gays thing has pretty much blown up in his face, what with his being all “tolerant” and shit, at least back in 1994.
And now, via Jay, we learn from Kevin that he’s not so solid on Guns either (I’ve added links for verification).
In favor of the Brady Bill
Regarding the Brady Bill which required waiting periods to buy a handgun, Romney stated, “I don’t think [the waiting period] will have a massive effect on crime but I think it will have a positive effect.” –Boston Herald, 8/1/1994
Supports federal assault weapons ban
According to his 2002 gubernatorial campaign, Romney “is a supporter of the federal assault weapons ban.”
Signed state assault weapons ban
On July 1, 2004, Romney signed a permanent ban on assault weapons. “Deadly assault weapons have no place in Massachusetts,” Romney said, at a bill signing ceremony with legislators, sportsmen’s groups and gun safety advocates. “These guns are not made for recreation or self-defense. They are instruments of destruction with the sole purpose of hunting down and killing people.”
Damn, that guy sounds like a Second-Amendment-repealin’ freedom-hatin’ Ted Kennedy clone! And he’s courting which wing of the Republican party??
johnk says
he’s one of those pinko conservatives.
stomv says
I can’t explain this well, nor can I understand it well. My perception of reality is that evangelicals will not support a Mormon, or rather a cultist from their viewpoint.
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Will they vote Dem? Nah. But they might stay home. They aren’t likely to donate, and they aren’t likely to work any GOTV.
heartlanddem says
Does anyone really think many Catholics are comfortable with Mitt’s Mormon lineage? Are Mormon’s comfortable with Mitt? There isn’t even a veneer covering his ego-centric motives and actions.
stomv says
The Catholic vote is split, and has been for some time. Some Catholics are motivated to vote GOP on conservative social values like abortion and homosexuality. Other Catholics (like me) are motivated to vote Dem on liberal social values like opposition to the death penalty and charity. Lots of Catholics don’t weigh their religion very heavily at all when considering which candidate to vote for.
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Evangelicals, on the other hand, do vote as a bloc. They vote GOP. But then, their candidate has paid them plenty of lip service in the past few elections, something Willard will have a hard time doing.
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Willard will lock up the Mormon vote. He’ll easily take Utah (except Salt Lake City, which is a bit more secular), Idaho, rural Nevada, northeastern Arizona, and a chunk of Wyoming. But the Dem wasn’t going to get any of those areas anyway (although the Dems will try to get Nevada’s 5 electoral votes).
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Enjoy the map.
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laurel says
I’m not so sure. Prominent Mormons have already endorsed McCain over Romney. Not sure where the run o the mill Mormons lie.
laurel says
According to the American Religious Identification Survey of 2001, by The Graduate Center of the City Univ. of NY, party preference among Mormons was
54% republican
14% democrat
26% independent
5% other/none.
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so…will the mormon dems vote for a repub just because he’s mormon? do mormon independents vote in the same repub/dem proportion as affiliated voters (2:1 repub:dem)? i guess we’ll just have to see…
peter-porcupine says
I am so weary of BMGer’s acting as if ‘evangelicals’ are some mysterious tribe, rather like the the voodoo group in the old James Bond movie.
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There are no secret handshakes. They fall out with one another, on issues like transubstantaition and images. The beauty of faith, IMHO, is that you can get thirteen folks together with a similar set of beliefs and – Presto! – a new denomination. That is a uniquely American thing, due to the protections afforded by our First Amendment. And it makes it IMPOSSIBLE to say how ‘evangelicals’ or ‘born agains’ or other religious people – including Roman Catholics – might vote. The people who speak knowingly about this (especially in the MSM) have probabaly not set foot in a church since childhood.
john-howard says
I really think this deserves more investigation. Apparently, Mormonism and Transhumanism are very compatible, and lots of Mormons embrace Transhumanism. They feel God will not deliver us unless we make use of the means He has given us to transform humanity through genetic engineering. Is Mitt one of those, or does he agree with the Pope about these things? Also, I’m suspicious about Orin Hatch, who was supportive of stem cell research when he ran for President, as I recall.
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Read up on http://transfigurism.org/community/>Mormon Transhumanists, and Transhumanism and Postgenderism.