By Gary GlennConnor Boyack of Lehi, Utah -- well-known religion and politics blogger , Brigham Young University graduate, active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and self-described former Mitt Romney supporter -- nails Romney's "chameleon-like qualities" on a broad array of issues, up to and including Romney's personal responsibility for the executive order that actually implemented so-called homosexual "marriage" in Massachusetts:
"Governor Romney took it upon himself -- absent any authority or legal mandate -- to order town clerks to begin issuing marriage licenses to homosexual couples, making Massachusetts the first state in the country to allow them. For all his subsequent grandstanding -- criticizing the Court, participating in pro-traditional marriage rallies, and endorsing changes to the U.S. Constitution to require marriage be between a man and a woman -- Romney was either ignorant in regards to his duties as governor, or duplicitous in his actions. Being bound in no way (and having no authority) to issue such an executive order prior to legislative action, the first homosexual marriages -- and no doubt the impetus for other states to follow suit -- occurred due to Mitt Romney’s actions alone."
Many of these issues were discussed by multiple critics during the 2008 presidential election cycle, but Connor's critiques -- to the extent they become broadly known -- are something new: he threatens to dramatically multiply the damage to Romney's credibility precisely because, as a practicing member of the LDS Church, Connor is immune to Romney apologists' knee-jerk weapon of first (or at least eventual) resort: the false characterization of any and all criticism of Romney's public policy record as motivated by religious "bigotry."
Gary Glenn is a long-time conservative and pro-family activist who co-authored and helped lead the successful ballot campaign to enact Michigan's Marriage Protection Amendment.
Gary Glenn is a long-time conservative and pro-family activist who co-authored and helped lead the successful ballot campaign to enact Michigan's Marriage Protection Amendment.
This is not the only issue on which Romney's actual record is at odds with the values of his own church.
ReplyDeleteRomney before and after running for president (including right now) has been a member of the Marriott Hotels board of directors. Marriott sells tens of millions of dollars a year of in-room pay-per-view pornographic movies. Romney and the Marriotts are both members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The LDS Church's website states: "Members of the Church should avoid pornography in any form and should oppose its production, distribution, and use."
The Deseret News, the Mormon Church-owned daily newspaper in Salt Lake City, Utah, said this in a July 10, 2007 editorial on the subject:
"Pornography taints everything it touches. Mitt Romney should have understood that. So should the Marriott Corporation and other hotel owners who offer hard-core movies in hotel rooms. Romney caught a bit of flack last week because he spent nearly 10 years on the Marriott board and yet never tried to reverse the company's policy of providing pornography on demand... For a presidential candidate who has railed against pornography, this is not entirely insignificant. Even if the subject never came up at a board meeting, one can argue that at least part of the $25,000 plus stock he was paid annually for his board membership came from the money some hotel guests paid for access to the films."
So according to the major daily owned by his own church, Romney personally profited from Marriott's porn-peddling.