Guy Benson

Here's why David Axelrod can piously assure journalists that Mitt Romney's Mormonism is "off the table" for the Obama campaign this year: He knows the media and low level surrogates will cheerfully carry that toxic water on Team Obama's behalf.  The New York Times in particular seems to have an obsession with Romney's faith, having printed a steady stream of news stories, juvenile tweets and sneering columns on the subject.  Over the weekend, the Times published a 2,600 word examination of how Romney's beliefs have shaped his personal and public life.  Much of the story is straightforward and fair -- even crossing into sympathetic territory at points, but it also includes passages that are sure to terrify the Times' core audience of urbane secular leftists:


Be very afraid of this officious, adulterer-excommunicating zealot, America!  (How many Americans will tremble over the "Mormon traits" of "abhorring debt, wanting to limit federal power, promoting self-reliance and stressing the unique destiny of the United States," I wonder?)  As for Romney's rigidity, the piece notes that while he operated "by the book" as a church elder, his penchant for compassion and creativity informed how he executed his duties:

Church officials say Mr. Romney tried to be sensitive and merciful; when a college student faced serious penalties for having premarital sex, Mr. Romney put him on a kind of probation instead. But he carried out excommunications faithfully. “Mitt was very much by the rules,” said Tony Kimball, who later served as his executive secretary in the church. Nearly two decades ago, Randy and Janna Sorensen approached Mr. Romney, then a church official, for help: unable to have a baby on their own, they wanted to adopt but could not do so through the church, which did not facilitate adoptions for mothers who worked outside the home. Devastated, they told Mr. Romney that the rule was unjust and that they needed two incomes to live in Boston. Mr. Romney helped, but not by challenging church authorities. He took a calculator to the Sorensen household budget and showed how with a few sacrifices, Ms. Sorensen could quit her job. Their children are now grown, and Mr. Sorensen said they were so grateful that they had considered naming a child Mitt. (The church has since relaxed its prohibition on adoption for women who work outside the home.)

The story also charts Romney's active prayer life and his ability to separate religious teachings from public policy stances.  As I said, the article is generally even-handed and informative, yet Breitbart's Joel Pollak makes a good point:

Needless to say, the Times has never held Obama to anything like the same standard. It ignored the racist teachings of Wright's Trinity United Church of Christ--of which Obama was well aware, despite protestations to the contrary--and fails to hold him to account when his actions violate the tenets of that bizarre, radicalized and racialized congregation. (Wright himself has not been shy in attributing Obama's perceived compromises to political expediency--as well as to "the Jews.")

Ed Morrissey illustrated this double standard last week:


Not to be outdone, the Washington Post has churned out (yet another!) super-relevant story about a massacre perpetrated by a rogue Mormon 1857:


Really subtle, WaPo.  Thanks for that hot scoop.  In case you were curious, Romney leads Obama by 24 points in Arkansas.  "Problematic!"

UPDATE - An addendum: If the New York Times' rigorous deep-dive into Mitt Romney's church and religious belief system is fair game (and I'd say it is), why can't a Super PAC run truthful ads about Barack Obama's hateful pastor?  I think Romney was smart to disavow Wright as an issue for his campaign, but I'm not governed by Romney's preferences -- nor is an independent expenditure group.  For every thumb-sucking, transparent hit on Mormonism the MSM perpetrates over the next six months, maybe alternative media outlets should delve deeper into the theology and views spewed from the pulpit of Barack Obama's church for two decades.  Speaking of which, remember this?

"We cannot see that what we are doing his the same this Al Qaeda is doing under a different color flag!"

Finally, let's recall that the voters who are most likely to discriminate against Mormon candidates are Democrats:

Democrats are more likely to oppose a Mormon candidate in 2012 than Republicans, according to a new Gallup poll. Based on a poll of 1,020 adults, 27 percent of Democrats would vote against a Mormon candidate for president because of religion, compared with about 20 percent of Republicans and independents who said they would oppose such a candidate.

I wonder how Harry Reid feels about this bigotry.

Guy Benson


Author Photo credit: Jensen Sutta Photography