Romney's in denial

People keep clamoring for Willard Mitt Romney to give the speech about Mormonism in 2007 like JFK gave about Catholicism in 1960. And yet the much desired speech won't happen, instead, he gives sound bites like these:

"I think the reason that some 28, 29 percent are not comfortable voting for a Mormon is they think they're voting for Harry Reid."

-- Mitt Romney, on polls showing people aren't comfortable voting for a Mormon, "Face the Nation," CBS, 10/21

While it is true that the Majority Leader has low national and local approval ratings neither polls give us cross tabs (Democrats versus Republicans, percentage of each in their sample). For example, every time the media talk about how low Congress' approval rating are, you have to remember that Democrats are mad at Congress because on their inability to end the war, as well as the constant folding on important issues like FISA and Habeas Corpus. Republicans meanwhile, actually have started liking Congress more since they were able to scuttle immigration reform and have thus far kept the war from ending etc. My point is, Reid's approval among liberal activists is very low because of FISA (he is reportedly not honoring Sens. Dodd and Feingold's hold of retroactive immunity for telecoms who illegally let the NSA spy on Americans) and other issues. Not because he is Mormon.

Also, these polls don't tell us Reid's name recognition nationally. I would bet you that most people in the U.S. don't know who Harry Reid or Nancy Pelosi are, let alone that Sen. Reid is LDS.

Whereas the reason a little over a quarter of those polled say they won't vote for a Mormon is because these are the same religious conservatives who believe Romney's religion to be a cult and has about as much vehemence for Mormons as they do for Muslims.

And he knows this, that's why Romney is trying to be BFFs with haters like Bob Jones III, whose college did not allow interracial dating until 2000. Bob Jones University also fought allowing blacks into their school all the way to the US Supreme Court in 1983. More hypocritically for Willard, this same man, Bob Jones III called Mormons and Catholics "cults which call themselves Christian" on the schools website in 2000.

Then again, Romney had opposite views on just about everything only 5 years ago, so I guess Bob Jones III must be a model of consistency in Republican circles.