Althouse: "My Mo-dar (sort of like gay-dar, but for Mormons) flatlined through about 314 of... 315 pages" of Romney's book "No Apology.'"

December 12, 2011

"My Mo-dar (sort of like gay-dar, but for Mormons) flatlined through about 314 of... 315 pages" of Romney's book "No Apology.'"

"There’s a mention on page 19 of his father’s Mormon grandparents. And the rest of it sounds like it was written by a policy robot. Which it was. And now he’s supposed to flip the switch and start talking about Mormonism again?"

32 comments:

sakredkow said...: He doesn't speak about his religious beliefs at all?; 12/12/11, 9:40 PM
Andy said...: Am I allowed to dislike Mormons/Mormonism because of their racism and sexism and homophobia or are we supposed to pretend that it would be bigoted to judge people and institutions based on their voluntary beliefs?; 12/12/11, 9:44 PM
Andy said...: Also, I think Romney realizes that if he starts talking too much about his beliefs then a bunch of the Christians in America will decide that they don't think he is also a Christian, and that's a pretty big "uh oh".; 12/12/11, 9:46 PM
Jana said...: @Andy I'm sure you met literally 10s of Mormons in your life to make such value judgments about them.; 12/12/11, 9:55 PM
SteveOrr said...: Am I allowed to dislike Jews for killing Jesus or are we supposed to pretend that it would be bigoted to judge people and institutions based on their voluntary beliefs?

Collective guilt is a pretty shitty thing, man.; 12/12/11, 9:57 PM
Chuck said...: "Am I allowed to dislike Mormons"

Just as I'm "allowed" to dislike you because you're a hate-filled, bigoted retard.; 12/12/11, 10:04 PM
Right is right! said...: I think it is just as legit to consider Romney's religious background as it is to consider Obama's anti-American church. Let's face it, the Mormon cult is basically like Scientology without the celebrities.; 12/12/11, 10:11 PM
Titus said...: Most gay dislike Mormons because we are well aware of their dislike of us.

When a group tends to dislike you you kind of dislike them back.

That's life.

Although, Romney did love gays (and their money) when he was running for Governor of Mass, but has since been less loving.; 12/12/11, 10:14 PM
traditionalguy said...: She says that Romney's inner core is Mormonism, and he seems like a cardboard man because he must avoids the inner core of his family's life in order to to slip under the Christian's radar.

She also says that Mormonism is a branch of Protestant Reform Christianity.

She is about as wrong as one person can be. She probably things WWF fake wrestling is a real thing too.; 12/12/11, 10:18 PM
William said...: I know very little of the Mormon religion, but most of the Mormons I''ve encountered seem like decent people. I think the best way to evaluate a religious faith is not by its theology but by the number of sane, decent people it produces...... Funny how Democrats thought Mormonism was irrelevant in the cases of Harry Reid and Mo Udall.; 12/12/11, 10:21 PM
sakredkow said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 12/12/11, 10:25 PM
reformed trucker said...: "She says"

"She also says"

"She is about as wrong" - traditionalguy

Who is "she"?

"She also says that Mormonism is a branch of Protestant Reform(ed)Christianity."

Obviously "she" (whomever that is) never studied theology, and should refrain from such silly comments...; 12/12/11, 10:45 PM
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edutcher said...: Milton should learn from Michele Bachmann's constant references to the 40 kids. When the situation is appropriate, by all means, talk about your faith, but don't artificially inject it and don't try to invent opportunities to inject it into the conversation.

Andy R. said...

Am I allowed to dislike Mormons/Mormonism because of their racism and sexism and homophobia or are we supposed to pretend that it would be bigoted to judge people and institutions based on their voluntary beliefs?

The kind of joke comment we've come to expect from our foremost joke commenter.

People's principles are supposed to give way to the Lefty agenda and, if that means lying about what they are, that's just fine. Anything for Glorious World Socialist Agenda.

Titus said...

Most gay dislike Mormons because we are well aware of their dislike of us.

A pair of nice, broad statements if ever they existed.

Did it ever occur to Titus that disagreement doesn't always mean dislike?; 12/12/11, 11:03 PM
Andy said...: Did it ever occur to Titus that disagreement doesn't always mean dislike?

Yes, nothing like a friendly disagreement about whether gay people are fully human and deserving of dignity and equality.; 12/12/11, 11:21 PM
Andy said...: Collective guilt is a pretty shitty thing, man.

I think it only counts as collective guilt if the person doesn't believe or act in the ways under discussion.; 12/12/11, 11:23 PM
YoungHegelian said...: @Andy,

gay people are fully human and deserving of dignity and equality.

And, of course, those completely loaded moral terms that you throw around so arrogantly mean exactly what YOU want them to mean, no more, no less. Right?

Andy, I know you may think you're fighting for "your kind", but you're helping your cause with your self-righteousness about as much as a SF Gay Pride day parade in downtown Jeddah.; 12/12/11, 11:27 PM
PaulV said...: The KKK wing of the democrat party also dislikes that Newt has converted and accuses him of being a papist. Shame that they want to divide the country and smear anyone not toeing their line.; 12/12/11, 11:33 PM
Ralph L said...: She wisely chose not to call her special powers "Mor-dar."; 12/12/11, 11:33 PM
YoungHegelian said...: I like how the author uses the Madison Ave. phrase

our innovative branch of American Protestantism.

to describe Mormonism. I also like how she dances around the New Adam/New Planet doctrine.

There's a reason why most non-Mormons don't know anything about Mormonism. Mormons want it that way.

You think I'm wrong? Then find me a Mormon site that isn't just anodyne "Gosh, Mormons are good people and we're your neighbors" kind of stuff. Find one that compare and contrasts Mormon beliefs with traditional Christian notions of the Incarnation, Trinity, justification, etc.

The Mormons learned the hard way when Joseph Smith was murdered as a heretic by a Christian mob that theological discretion is teh better part of valor.; 12/12/11, 11:49 PM
JAL said...: Brooks a rather innovative and elegant Mormon belief about the soul’s capacity for eternal progress.

I knew then she was a Mormon.

Only a Mormon would think their colonizing planets and "eternal progression" was elegant.

As for being like Scientologists without the celebrities -- they've got the celebrities, but are rather more civilized than Scientology. Mormons generally present as nice.

Scientologist have a bit of a creep factor. (At least the ones I've been around.)

And yeah -- insinuating that the weird stuff is being caricaturized is a tactic.

It's weird stuff.

But Romney the Mormon still beats Obama the Flavor of the Minute.; 12/13/11, 12:07 AM
Jason (the commenter) said...: Like Perry's sudden ability to not be awful in debates and Bachmann's sudden attacks on Newt Romney, it's probably too little, too late.; 12/13/11, 5:36 AM
Jason (the commenter) said...: First Romney tried selling himself as a politician/businessman, then just a businessman, and now just a man.

He's been reinventing himself throughout the entire campaign and boasting of his constancy at the same time.; 12/13/11, 5:39 AM
edutcher said...: Andy R. said...

Did it ever occur to Titus that disagreement doesn't always mean dislike?

Yes, nothing like a friendly disagreement about whether gay people are fully human and deserving of dignity and equality.

I wasn't aware being "fully human" and possessing "dignity and equality" consisted of supporting marriage for the sole reason that one partner could use the other's health benefits because he views the concept of marital fidelity as a joke and had contracted AIDS and couldn't work.

PS Anybody who thinks Lefties like Hatman love homosexuals should remember the thundering silence that greeted the Breck Girl's attempt to get Darth Cheney to renounce his homosexual daughter during the '04 Veep debate.

They'll go after them if they try to leave the gay closet the way they go after women who try to leave the feminist kitchen or blacks who try to leave the welfare plantation.; 12/13/11, 5:58 AM
Andy said...: I wasn't aware being "fully human" and possessing "dignity and equality" consisted of supporting marriage for the sole reason that one partner could use the other's health benefits because he views the concept of marital fidelity as a joke and had contracted AIDS and couldn't work.

I'm so thankful that this is what the opposition to gay marriage looks like.; 12/13/11, 7:21 AM
Anonymous said...: I think you can sum up Mormonism as good people with bad theology.; 12/13/11, 7:37 AM
Anonymous said...: Andy,
The real opposition to gay marriage are those who support strong traditional marriage, like the church. The reasoning is actually very well developed, but rarely heard or offered because it's so unpopular. Support of traditional marriage is quite low. The marriage rate is down, people just live together instead of marrying. If they marry they want easy divorces. No fault divorce and the secular culture put marriage on life support. There is no other contract treated more lightly than that of marriage and no other with such large scale social consequences. Gay marriage is just another step in undermining marriage and tradition in general.
The defense of marriage is unlikely to succeed because it must be principled and include a critical look at the overly casual nature of modern marriage. Far from being an improvement, the acceptance of gay marriage signals the further erosion of the institution into parody.; 12/13/11, 8:02 AM
Thorley Winston said...: I know very little of the Mormon religion, but most of the Mormons I''ve encountered seem like decent people. I think the best way to evaluate a religious faith is not by its theology but by the number of sane, decent people it produces......

Agreed, I seem to recall Dennis Praeger saying something similar about how to judge a religion.; 12/13/11, 9:00 AM
Joe said...: I sum Mormonism up as a religion with good people, a cool theology at it's core, silly at it's edges and a really shitty hierarchy that can't bring itself to follow it's own theology. (For those curious; a central tenant of Mormonism is that have agency--Joseph Smith stated that the purpose of the church was to teach correct principles and then let the members govern themselves. Of course, that cuts against the grain of both a hierarchy and people who like being told what to do, hence like any other religion, an ever increasing list of commandments has appeared. That said, individual Mormons are still given a lot of room to maneuver.); 12/13/11, 9:57 AM
ndspinelli said...: This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.; 12/13/11, 10:16 AM
edutcher said...: Andy R. said...

I wasn't aware being "fully human" and possessing "dignity and equality" consisted of supporting marriage for the sole reason that one partner could use the other's health benefits because he views the concept of marital fidelity as a joke and had contracted AIDS and couldn't work.

I'm so thankful that this is what the opposition to gay marriage looks like.

Apparently, Hatman hasn't gotten the memo that the Lefties don't want the truth to get out.

Those nightsticks to the head are really starting to show.; 12/13/11, 10:29 AM
Freeman Hunt said...: He has a book? Do all the politicians have books about themselves now?

Surely none of these books are any good.; 12/13/11, 12:52 PM