Well, if you were wondering what tactic the Democrats and the media would use to try to drive a wedge between Republican voters and Republican presidential candidates, wonder no more. They’re going all in on using religion.
This should come as no surprise — the left tends to hold religion with less respect than the right. So their seeing it as yet another political weapon is pretty much in character. And it started with the attacks on Michele Bachmann and Rick Perry based on their faith over the past few weeks.
Well, today it gets even sillier. Mitt Romney, the candidate of choice of the GOP, is a Mormon. You might have heard that. Well, according to the press, it’s the single most defining aspect of his character. Now, I’ve been at least casually aware of Romney for most of a decade now (he was governor of Massachusetts, and I live just north of that state), and “Mormon” is hardly the first thing I think of when I think of Romney. “Technocrat.” “Businessman.” “Decent.” “RomneyCare.” “Flip-flopper.” I could keep going, but I don’t think “Mormon” cracks the top ten. And Romney has hardly made his Mormon faith a key point.
But take a look at this very lengthy piece in today’s Boston Globe, outlining the contentious political history of Mormonism. The underlying message? Mormons are scary, especially to liberals.
We saw the beginning of the pushback, when a Christian blogger of a conservative bent decided to play the same game and ask some liberal-style religious questions of President Obama. And now, the Powerline guys — who have been decidedly un-fans of Congressman Keith Ellison — have put together a little introduction to the first Muslim elected to Congress, and their own faith-based questions they’d like him to answer.
There’s a part of me that dearly loves this whole tit for tat move, the taking of the liberals’ latest line of attack and ramming down their throats. But again, I have too much respect for religion and belief (even as a non-believer) to fully enjoy its use as a weapon.
But as long as the left keeps using it, I think we have no choice but to keep holding their politicians to the same standards that they want to hold ours to. To keep using their tactics as long as they do.
If they’re smart, if they’re decent, then they’d learn from this and knock it off.
Sadly, I don’t think they are smart and decent enough.
