Joe Conason: What Romney’s Religion Reveals About His Politics

[babylonsister]

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/what_romneys_religion_reveals_about_his_politics_20111023/

What Romney’s Religion Reveals About His Politics

Posted on Oct 23, 2011

By Joe Conason

snip//

In practice, however, the Mormons welcome or at least permit a much broader spectrum of political and ideological affiliations within their ranks, even among the elected officials who share their faith. The highest-ranking Mormon in public office today, for instance, is Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, a liberal Democrat demonized by the tea party and the Republicans, who spent millions trying to defeat him last year.

The best example of Mormonism’s political flexibility, of course, is Romney’s own career (and that of his father, the late Michigan governor who was hardly a hard-liner), which veered from the most liberal Republicanism to the harsh conservatism he currently espouses.

As an LDS bishop in Boston two decades ago, he staunchly opposed abortion; then a few years later, Romney became pro-choice when he ran for the Senate against Democrat Ted Kennedy; and then shifted again when he began to aspire to his party’s presidential nomination. Along the way, he designed and legislated a health care program that ensures coverage to almost every citizen of Massachusetts, and now repudiates that program (more or less) as an invention of Bay State Democrats.

The Romney family traces its lineage to the roots of the LDS movement, and today Mitt Romney stands at the pinnacle of wealth and influence in his church. His shape-shifting politics prove that however conservative most Mormons may be, they resemble every other American religious group in tolerating a wide assortment of political views within their ranks—especially among politicians who succeed in achieving power. There are many reasons for concern about Romney’s character—including his hollow dissembling—but religion is not among them.

[get the red out]

1. He just wants power

He just blows with whatever he perceives the political wind to be, that's not really leadership and more than a little scary, not based in religion, just based in him being willing to support whatever it takes at the time to get into office.

[CanonRay]

2. He HAS no values

He could be a liberal Democrat next week if he thought there was one more vote in it. No soul, whatsoever.