Mitt Romney must be close to a shoo-in if the Evangelicals are in an uproar.
As the Arizona senator scours through a list of what he previously estimated was about 20 potential running mates, fans of former McCain rival Mike Huckabee are issuing an open letter to McCain telling him that if he chooses Mitt Romney, another former rival, he will lose the conservative vote.“For us the bottom line is this: The unvarnished facts of Mitt Romney’s record as governor of Massachusetts make him utterly unacceptable as a vice presidential choice,” reads a newspaper ad signed by 26 conservative leaders who have formed the Government is Not God political action committee. Among the ad’s sponsors are Troy Newman of Operation Rescue, Sandy Rios of Culture Campaign and Paul Weyrich of the Free Congress Foundation.
Let me translate for you. Every specific objective to Mitt Romney by Evangelical extremists are simply code for the one enormous objection--Mormonism.
A petition on the NoMittVP Web site that accompanies the ad says that the sponsors want McCain to choose someone with a consistent record of supporting the sanctity of human life as well as a supporter of a constitutional amendment defining marriage as between one man and one woman.
Code for "Mike Huckabee".
Huckabee looks into the camera and says, I did not have sex with that woman and denies any responsibility to for the ad or the petition.
Its rather an empty threat since Huckabee managed only to attract the most fervent (attend church multiple times during the week) and rural Evangelicals. Educated Evangelicals split their votes between McCain and Romney.
The NoMittVP site doesn't want Romney supporters to sign the petition, calling it "flat out dishonest" While of course masking anti-Mormon bigotry with specious objections to Mitt Romney's alleged pro-choice position is completely forthright.
If you are tempted to be flat out dishonest (as I was), make sure you check the "absolutely not" box. No sense in giving them an easy way of weeding out the pro-Romney comments with a binary flag...
Posted by Mick Stockinger on April 7, 2008 12:28 PM
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