From your lips to god’s ear. Although I don’t think having the largest prostate makes him a front runner.
Curtis LeMay wrote:
“Romney’s a Mormon. I hate to stereotype national Republican primary voters, but the Christian right is never voting for a Mormon. Never gonna happen.”
Given the Teapublican love for Mormon Glen Beck why would you think that?
Beck seems to be on a White Horse Prophecy kick.
Does the average Christian Right voter even know Beck is a Mormon?
NOt me but the guy I quoted.
Sorry. Do YOU think the average Christian Right voter knows that Beck is a Mormon?
It’s probably too late now, but I wouldn’t have minded Guiliani winning. Yeah, I know, “noun verb 9-11”, but his performance on 9-11 really was exemplary; of course he’s going to toot his own horn. And even before that, I had considerable respect for him: By all accounts he really did a lot to clean up the city (both literally and metaphorically). It’s a bit unconventional to elect a mayor to the Presidency, I’ll grant, but on the other hand, New York City has a lot more population than many states, and nobody bats an eye at electing governors.
Michael Bloomberg or Colin Powell.
I don’t think the average Republican cares nearly as much about Mormonism as the SDMB rather desperately hopes he does. It is rather reminiscent of the “JFK would take orders directly from the Pope” back in 1960.
Of course the Dems will try it pretty hard if Romney gets the nom, which I hope he does, but then I intend to bring up all their stout denials that a candidate’s religious advisers should be considered when deciding an election.
Regards,
Shodan
Guess what … you’ll be right. Religion should not be a test for office (whatever the full quote is). As for JFK, and the "threat of the Papists it just shows that the same sort of stupid still exists.
However, there has been a pretty strong “thing” among various Repubs about being a christian, or the right kind of christian, and a lot of talk over the years about our “christian nation”. So, don’t be in too much of a rush to play the religion card quite yet. Not when “your” side has been using it all along.
That was the other of my points - it isn’t that strong. I could be wrong, but I would imagine that my experience of what the average Republican thinks is at least as valid as the SDMB’s is as a whole. There is a good big dose of wishful thinking in much of what y’all say about Republicans and what they think.
Regards,
Shodan
I could live with a Charlie Crist type of guy, but my sincere hope is that changing demographics push the GOP to the ashcan of history and that the party ceases to exist.
So you think it will be mostly Democrats that will not be comfortable with Romney’s Mormon faith?
That was going to be my semi-smart-ass response to this thread.
I agree with this statement.
I don’t think the Democrats care one whit about Romney’s Mormonism. I believe** Shodan**'s point, however, which I think will be borne out, is the Republican rank and file care much less about it than Democrats want to believe.
I think what Republicans see is Romney’s viability as an opponent for Obama, which is most important. Also, don’t fool yourself into thinking that conservative Christians would necessarily feel the need to hold their noses too tightly to vote for Romney either. He may follow a form of Christianity they don’t get, nor necessarily approve of, but many of them are not thinking that deeply, and see Romney simply as a Christian Republican with money, clout, and the potential to give their side a win, and that’s what counts.
This would have more heft if we hadn’t just witnessed a series of losses by viable, more moderate candidates in GOP primaries. A party that will nominate O’Donnell has little interest in electability.
If Palin is on the ticket, she will get 30-40% of the GOP primary vote pretty much automatically. The more rational (and electable) candidates will be left fighting for the remainders. Maybe Romney gets the lion’s share of that, but at this point it seems doubtful to me.
I do agree on one thing though: Romney’s support of UHC in Mass will be a bigger impediment to his nomination than his faith.
As to the OP: I would consider Romney circa 2004 as a GOP candidate I could vote for. These days: no. Daniels is intriguing, but I’m guessing he will become much less palatable on social issues if he decides to run. So I’m left with bank-slate candidates I can project onto, or not-really-GOPers like Bloomberg and Crist. Where have the sensible, moderate, honestly fiscally conservative Republicans gone? Paul Ryan, I guess?
I can’t think of a single Republican on the national stage, that I would, right now, want to see as a sitting President in 2012. I’ll leave open the possibility that there’s someone down at the state level our outside the “Presidential-contender” spotlight, who, with time and experience, could become a reasonably competent President.
As well as his “I’m not a Reagan Republican” quote.
“Of course” the Dems will imitate the Repubs, who smearmonger without any logical consistency.
On your TV show? :rolleyes:
Hir religious “advisers” and not the core beliefs of his denomination? Pretty blatant reference to Rev. Wright, there. It’s a lot easier to walk away from the former than the latter.
This is what I was getting at. I think on the SDMB at least, many folks are trying to talk themselves into believing that the only candidate the GOP can nominate is a fundamentalist Christian. This despite the rather marked lack of success of people like Pat Robertson and Mike Huckabee on a national stage.
I don’t even worry much about the Christian part, To the extent that LDS is or is not a Christian sect, in the context of a Presidential election I don’t care).
And “is he gonna win” is also not the only issue, if you don’t mind my saying so. Yes, I want to win, and a candidate with whom I agree 51% is better than one who I agree with 35%, all other things being equal, but Romney’s qualifications are not just money, clout and winning potential. He is a businessman of very great and successful experience, a man of scrupulous honesty and unquestioned integrity, has management and gubernatorial experience, and knows what it is like to have to deal with the opposite party and responsibly compromise.
He is just the front-runner among GOP candidates, by some measures. As we have seen from this thread, there are many in the Democratic party who do not say to themselves “there are two major candidates for the White House - which should I vote for?” They say “there are two major candidates for the White House - what is the worst thing I can say about the Republican?”
Regards,
Shodan