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Politics : View from the Center and Left -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: estatemakr who wrote (44150)	12/6/2007 12:04:39 PM
From: Dale Baker	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 541548

Romney Says There Is No Religious Test for Presidency By Hans Nichols Dec. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Republican candidate Mitt Romney told an audience in Texas today that there should be no religious test for the presidency and those who question his beliefs violate the spirit of the country's founding. Romney, in a speech at the George Bush Presidential Library, is seeking to confront skeptics among some evangelical Christian groups about his Mormon faith. His lead in polls of Republicans in Iowa, where the first nomination contest will be held Jan. 3, has slipped with the rise of Mike Huckabee, a former Baptist minister and ex-governor of Arkansas. ``If I am fortunate to become your president, I will serve no one religion, no one group, no one cause, and no one interest,'' Romney said. ``A president must serve only the common cause of the people of the United States.'' The former Massachusetts governor, 60, also said that religion must not be totally removed from public life and that the founding fathers' concept of separation of church and state ``has been taken by some well beyond its original meaning'' in recent years. ``Freedom requires religion just as religion requires freedom,'' he said. While some state polls and anecdotal evidence suggest his Mormon faith is a stumbling block, particularly with religious voters, 73 percent of those surveyed in a Bloomberg News/Los Angeles Time poll say it makes no difference in deciding their vote. Earlier Comparison Romney compared his situation with that of John F. Kennedy, the first Catholic elected president in the U.S. who addressed a Baptist group to explain ``that he was an American running for president, not a Catholic running for president.'' Romney said he won't address or justify the doctrines of the Mormon faith. ``To do so would enable the very religious test the founders prohibited in the constitution,'' he said. ``No candidate should become the spokesman for his faith.'' Romney said he would ``take care to separate the affairs of government from any religion, but I will not separate us from `the God who gave us liberty.''' Romney was introduced for the speech by former President George H.W. Bush, whose library is located near the Texas A&M campus in College Station, Texas. He also spoke about the challenges facing the country, including the threat of radical Islam and the rise of China as an economic power and rival.

To: estatemakr who wrote (44150)	12/6/2007 12:09:51 PM
From: coug	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 541548

re: <<Mitt Romney just hit it out of the ballpark and is now in the race again. Brilliant speech on his convictions and how they relate to Presidential politics.>> Maybe for the "believers"..Otherwise I disagree. I listened to it in the background and got the impression he divided the "believers" from the "nonbelievers" and he was all for the former, nothing for the latter.. No separation of church and state, I could get.. Maybe I missed something.. :)

To: estatemakr who wrote (44150)	12/7/2007 5:51:25 PM
From: Lane3	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 541548

Mitt ROMNEY just hit it out of the ballpark Maybe, but he's off MY Christmas list...

To: estatemakr who wrote (44150)	12/8/2007 2:25:46 PM
From: Sam	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 541548

Gail Collins just hit it out of the park with a brilliant column in today's NYT on Romney and other GOP contendas. December 8, 2007 Op-Ed Columnist Everything’s Perfect, Except ... By GAIL COLLINS The peak of my sympathy for Mitt Romney came when he was being battered on one side by Christian fundamentalists who think his faith is a cult and on the other by fellow Mormons, who were irate when he fudged the fact that they believe Jesus will return to earth and build a new Jerusalem in Jackson County, Mo. This week, Mitt made his much-anticipated religion speech, and stood up for his rights not to be discriminated against for his beliefs, and not to have to explain the part about Jackson County. Good for him on both counts. ... Except that you have to wonder why he felt compelled to dip into dogma just long enough to assure voters that he believes “Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the Savior of mankind.” Romney’s message, which boiled down to let’s-all-be-religious-together, was certainly different from the John Kennedy version, which argued that a candidate’s religion is irrelevant. But then Kennedy was speaking to the country, while Romney had his attention fixed on the approximately 35,000 Iowa religious conservatives who will tip the balance in the first-in-the-nation Republican caucus. Can I pause here briefly to point out that in New York there are approximately 35,000 people living on some blocks? If my block got to decide the first presidential caucus, I guarantee you we would be as serious about our special role as the folks in Iowa are. And right now Mitt Romney would be evoking the large number of founding fathers who were agnostics. But I digress. Iowans are not the only people who are looking for a Republican to root for. We were all waiting to see if Mitt might be the much-yearned-for Inclusive One. So it was disheartening to discover that the Romney big tent does not seem to have any space for nonbelievers. However, the assurances about his commitment to separation of church and state were all very — reassuring. ... Except that Romney has a history of changing his mind on what seemed to be deep-seated convictions, without any warning whatsoever. Which is his right. A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds. ... Except that these conversions always seem to happen at the most politically convenient moment imaginable. Churchgoing Americans are more open-minded than they’re sometimes given credit for. Many of them seem to think highly of Rudy Giuliani, who has not entirely abandoned his belief in abortion rights and gay rights, and whose personal religious convictions are probably actually pretty close to J.F.K.’s in more ways than one. Rudy’s candidacy might offer religious conservatives a chance to prove that they are capable of looking past the hot-button social issues if they can find a man with a deep understanding of the world and the ability to make Americans come together for the common good. ... Except that Giuliani has no clue how to handle foreign policy and would have us all at each other’s throats in 15 seconds. To be fair, inclusion runs two ways, and social conservatives might want to ask the pro-choice contingent if they’re capable of getting beyond abortion. Perhaps they could accept Mike Huckabee, who seems to respect everybody and has a record of using the power of government to take care of the poor and the helpless. ... Except that Huckabee is already turning into one of those empty vessels that dispirited voters pour all their hopes and dreams into, only to discover that he’s just like all the other guys, only less qualified. According to the Web site at Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University, Huckabee told the students there that God orchestrated his sudden surge in the polls. And this week he couldn’t answer questions about the new National Intelligence Estimate. Do we really want somebody in the Oval Office who hasn’t heard that Iran stopped working on nuclear weapons? Spending money on the needy is important, but Huckabee may be getting a tad too much credit for a nursing home bed tax and a surcharge for parks. What about John McCain, the only major candidate on the Republican side who actually has a lot of experience with foreign policy? McCain just about wrecked his presidential campaign standing up for a rational immigration bill, and it would seem only fair if some of the people who have been denouncing all the anti-immigrant pandering could reward him by jumping on his bandwagon. ... Except that McCain’s other big principle is staying the course in Iraq, if it takes the rest of the millennium. Only 25 more shopping days until the Iowa caucuses and still that transcendent Republican hasn’t emerged. It would have been nice to discover that Fred Thompson, currently devoting his entire campaign to a tour of Southern gun stores, was as great a guy as he seemed on “Law & Order.” ... Except that he isn’t. nytimes.com