I contend that the story of Mitt Romney's speech was as much about Mike Huckabee as it was about Romney himself.
The surface-level purpose of Romney's speech was, of course, Kennedyesque. He endeavored to reassure the American people that, if nominated and elected to the presidency, he would not be a mouthpiece for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Romney also took the obvious opportunity to remind Americans of the historic importance and contemporary value of our religious diversity. The speech succeeded on both counts.
The deeper question, however, is why Romney made this speech when he did. Earlier in the campaign, he seemed almost insistent on not making such a speech. Clearly he wishes to be judged on his merits, not on the basis of the specific religious tradition to which he belongs -- and rightly so. Yet he did speak on December 6, and in my view he did so primarily as a politician rather than as an American, a Mormon, or even a person of faith per se.
Today's campaigns have access to nearly inconceivable amounts of information about voters. Candidates and their staffs are able to track the attitudes, preferences, and even passing whims of key constituencies in great detail. Romney's campaign knows, perhaps better than anyone else involved in the run-up to the Iowa caucuses, that Mike Huckabee's candidacy is red hot right now. This news is very ominous indeed for Romney, who has campaigned in Iowa as a social conservative for more than a year. Since Huckabee (a former Southern Baptist minister with gold-standard credentials on social and moral issues) is gaining ground in Iowa, we must assume that he is doing a good job attracting the support of "values voters."
Elections are won and lost at the margins, and in a crowded Republican field with no clear frontrunner, Romney cannot afford to cede any ground to Huckabee, especially among the very voters both candidates are targeting specifically.
Therefore, I contend that Romney chose to address religion when he did primarily to reach out to values voters in Iowa who have the capability to swing his electoral fortunes on their own. Clearly he wished to remind these voters that he, too, speaks for them; he, too, is a person of deep faith who espouses traditional values and conservative stances on their bread-and-butter issues. Do not let it go unnoticed that Romney professed his "love [for] the profound ceremony of the Catholic Mass, the approachability of God in the prayers of the Evangelicals ... [and] the confident independence of the Lutherans." Iowa is home to substantial numbers of values voters from all three traditions -- especially Lutherans. Precious few politicians specifically mention Lutherans on the campaign trail. In fact, we rarely hear anything about Lutherans at all, except in Garrison Keillor's "A Prairie Home Companion." Yet Romney reaches out to Lutherans and other potential values voters in Iowa because they might hold his political future in their hands. To paraphrase: "I am like you in many ways, and I will stand for the things you stand for," he says. "Please notice me now, and vote for me, not Huckabee."
-- Laura Olson is a professor of political science at Clemson University in South Carolina. She is a co-author of RELIGION AND POLITICS IN AMERICA: FAITH, CULTURE AND STRATEGIC CHOICES (Westview Press, 2004) and co-editor of CHRISTIAN CLERGY IN AMERICAN POLITICS (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001).
Simple question if you intend to buy a car from all the advertisements salesmen chat and want to know the bad points in each model go to a Chevy dealer and ask about a ford car or go to a Volkswagen dealer and ask about a Chevy go to a Mercedes dealer ask about a Cadillac.
If you want to know the best side ask the dealer that sells his product
The same is true when you start comparing faiths if you ask a Baptist how the Catholic Church works he may be able to give you a rough idea of the faith from his prospective but if he had the same knowledge of that faith as the pope he’d probably change faith. Ask the Pope about Moslem faith and he also would fall short of the knowledge needed to truly understand that path
Those that follow fundamentalist’s faith also disagree on the basis of faith each with his own idea of what is true faith.
We are warned about Teachers having itching ears and that is not Dandruff.
Simply it is a person seeking to justify his belief by commissary churches little bit of this little bit of that and ignore the spinach (strong belief of what ever sacrifice is required to have faith)
If you want to know the basics of LDS faith start with the Articles of faith written by Joseph Smith when he was asked about the basis of the Church
If you want to know about the Priesthood of blacks Check the Volumes of the Early History Joseph Smith Ordained the First Black man into the Priest hood, Smith said in the early part of the history that the priesthood would be restored to the
African American closer to the end of times Prophets are not perfect they are men Remember Moses was a prophet in his time he sinned and fell short as long as Men are men they will fall short they have temptations and are weak. The goal of Life is to Learn to follow the Example of Christ and to Learn by experience to over come self and to develop faith.
If you want knowledge seek it from the source not from the people that spin it to their own ends. Read study and then Pray for your own assurance of truth regardless of source don’t just accept and let it slide past when a slick salesman gives his pitch there in, is the itching ears.