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How Romney’s Great-Great-Grandpa May Win Him Votes

The Romneyites and everybody else seem to be terribly annoyed with the Associated Press for running a story about Romney’s ancestors.  When the same evil media run stories on Barack Obama that talk up the fact that he is the “son of a Kenyan goat-herder,” no one assumes that they are hit pieces or attempts to destroy him, […]

The Romneyites and everybody else seem to be terribly annoyed with the Associated Press for running a story about Romney’s ancestors.  When the same evil media run stories on Barack Obama that talk up the fact that he is the “son of a Kenyan goat-herder,” no one assumes that they are hit pieces or attempts to destroy him, even though one might think that referring to someone as the “son of a goat-herder” could hardly be considered complimentary.  Instead, people assume that this is what journalists call “reporting.”  But there is nonetheless a lot of whining about how this is part of the nefarious media conspiracy to get the “conservative” candidate (the language of the article is appaarently “ominous”!), and other moaning about how this is unfair coverage (“disgraceful hit piece”).  Here’s Philip Klein:

But to cite a sermon given by his great-great-grandfather almost a century before he was born in a desperate effort to associate him with the stereotypes people have of his religion, is really a new low for the media.  

But it isn’t a “desperate attempt to associate him with the stereotypes people have of his religion.”  First of all, it doesn’t associate him with those stereotypes.  It plainly states that he, Mitt Romney, has nothing to do with polygamy except through the most distant genealogical connections.  The story does yeoman’s work in exploding those stereotypes and showing them to be a thing of the past as far as the LDS church is concerned.

If I were Mitt Romney, I would be thrilled.  I’m absolutely serious.  Maybe it’s because I don’t like Romney the candidate and I have my strong reservations about a Mormon presidential candidate that I seem to be the only one to see this, but I think this story is great for Romney.  The less Romney says about the specifics and history of his religion, the more he reinforces misunderstandings and prejudices in the public.  Suspicious people begin to think, “He doesn’t want to talk about it because there is something embarrassing or scandalous about his religion–he has something to hide!”  Except that he doesn’t really have anything to hide, but he is acting as if he does.  Rather than proudly talking about it and displaying it as part of the “lustre of our country,” he treats it as if it were something that could damage him.  Maybe he is right to not want to talk about it, since I think opposition to a Mormon candidate goes deeper than misunderstanding (the people most fervently against a Mormon candidate believe they understand Mormonism only too well), but if he is to have any chance of overcoming the tremendous obstacles in front of him he would be better served to say a lot more about it. 

Part of the reason many people are wary of a Mormon candidate is that Mormonism is strange and unfamiliar to them, and every story that makes it seem less strange and more normal the better it will be for Mormon candidates nationally.  It may be that some people know plenty about Mormon doctrines and find them simply unacceptable in a candidate, and these people he will be unable to persuade in any case, but quite a few people probably know next to nothing about Mormonism.  The AP is showing the public that whatever may have happened in the past remains firmly in the past.  This may have the effect of improving Romney’s standing with many voters, in which case Romney critics like me should be the ones complaining about the AP’s obvious pro-Romney bias.  Of course, it would be silly to complain about that, just as it is silly to complain about the conspiracy to take down Mitt Romney.     

If Romney were as smart as his supporters think he is, he would make a big deal about this change in Mormon practice and he would turn it to his advantage.  How could he do that?  By using this family history to reinforce his own understanding of the importance of traditional monogamy for society.  He could say, “As someone whose family members experienced the suffering that other kinds of unions inflict, I am convinced that the best and only marital bond is a lifelong monogamous union between man and wife.”  This has the potential to offend some Mormons, who could see it as an attack on their church’s early leaders, but the upside for Romney here wikth other voters is tremendous.  He could make arguments that monogamy is better for women than polygamy, and use that as a springboard for arguments that various alternatives to traditional monogamy are worse for women than marriage.  He could potentially gain tremendous credit as a cultural conservative in this way (or he would if he were not a monumental fraud of a conservative).  Since it is often an argument against same-sex “marriage” that recognising such unions legally would pave the way for other kinds of “marriage,” such as polygamy, Romney could take this connection up and argue very forcefully that his background as a Mormon gives him special insight into understanding why anything other than the monogamous union of man and woman is wrong.  As the ultimate venture capital turnaround artist, he could take the tremendous political liability of his Mormonism and turn it into something of an asset.  Instead, he chooses to say nothing and play the “separation of church and state” card, which goes over like a lead balloon with his target audience.    

Journalists, doing their jobs as reporters of facts, are explaining things about present-day Mormonism, which is explicitly contrasted with past practices, that many people in this country apparently do not know.  The article gives a quick synopsis of the history of polygamy in Mormonism, which makes it clear that it is no longer accepted.  The story also states quite clearly that for three generations Romney’s family has had nothing to do with the practice.  Anyone who was skeptical of or hostile to Romney because of the false understanding that polygamy remains a modern LDS practice will come away realising that he was terribly wrong and ignorant.  This can only help Romney’s candidacy with poorly informed voters who don’t know very much about Mormonism.  

How does the AP story begin?  Like this:

While Mitt Romney condemns polygamy and its prior practice by his Mormon church [bold mine-DL], the Republican presidential candidate’s great-grandfather had five wives and at least one of his great-great grandfathers had 12. 

This is at least as interesting as the “Thurmond’s ancestors owned Sharpton’s ancestors” story.  It’s a little weird, yes, but it’s part of the story of American history, and it makes for interesting reading.  This knocks down a prevailing misconception that the LDS church continues to allow and/or mandate polygamy and makes clear that Romney rejects the practice in the first sentence.  The nefarious media conspiracy will have to do a lot better at burying this lede if they want to destroy Romney’s candidacy.  (Of course, if the media wanted to destroy Romney’s candidacy, they need only to ignore him, since publicity is his best ally right now.)

The AP is doing the educating about Mormonism that he cannot afford to do while also running a presidential campaign.  He can apparently not be bothered to do it, and finds it annoying to have to talk about his religion at all.  The story manages to do several things: talk about something interesting and unusual (Romney’s polygamous ancestors) while clearly saying that Romney has nothing to do with his ancestor’s practices or beliefs in this area.  It is like putting up a big, blinking sign that says, “Romney’s own Mormonism isn’t nearly as strange as some of you people probably think it is!”  Romney should send the authors of the piece a fruit basket or something of that sort as a gesture of his appreciation.

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