Mitt – A Big Hearted Caring and Decent Guy… Who Can Fix the Economy

Romney’s life has been characterized by little-told stories of generosity and service

PHOTO: Charles Krupa/AP – h/t to the Daily

Mitt Romney, seen above visiting a Lutheran church in New Hampshire; a man who does not talk about his good deeds. As his wife Ann has said, “Mitt doesn’t like to talk about how he has helped others because he sees it as a privilege, not a political talking point.”  and Greg Gutfeld co-host of the Five and host of Redeye observed, “Mitt Romney is an alpha-male in a religion that prizes humility… ”

Mitt Romney is a big hearted caring and decent guy whose main hobbies are his family and his faith, which includes helping others, and based on feedback from those who know him he is funny, generous with both his time and money, and has endless energy that he will use along with his business expertise to turn America and our sinking economy around.  Mitt Romney has never failed at anything he has done, says his wife Ann, and “Mitt will not fail” as president of the United States if we give him the opportunity.

Ann and Mitt Romney with 16 of their 18 grandchildren… two more have been born since this photo was taken

Up until the Republican National Convention in Tampa most people paying attention to the election process seemed to feel that Romney (and his VP choice Paul Ryan) were capable of turning our Country around including: creating a climate that would create private sector jobs, reducing the debt, lowering the ever rising costs of everything from milk to gasoline, taking on government entitlement spending to make sure necessary programs would survive for future generations, and even restoring our AAA credit rating, etc.  But some people still didn’t feel that they really knew Mitt Romney and in our present day 24-hour media cycle and touchy feely world that connection is more important than ever before.

Mitt is a private humble man but many believe the reluctance of highlighting his Mormonism has kept the tales of his generosity and service out of the political limelight, even more.  But the words of Ann and Mitt Romney and Mormon speakers at the RNC, marking a sharp departure from Romney's reticence on faith, seem to have turned the tide and made a whole lot of people say… “I like that guy… I like those guys…  I can see them in the White House and think they can do the job America needs!”.

The Daily:

One cold December day in the early 1980s, Mitt Romney loaded up his Gran Torino with firewood and brought it to the home of a single mother whose heat had been shut off just days before Christmas.  This is one story surrounded by considerable lore but unknown to most advisers — Romney seems to only have alluded to it once publicly, in 2007.  Romney got a phone call from a Mormon bishop in Utah who said the adult daughter of one of his members — a single mother who did not belong to the church — needed help. The woman’s heating oil had been turned off in the dead of winter.  He enlisted his young sons to help, loading up his Gran Torino with firewood, he drove the car from his family’s house in the Boston suburb of Belmont to the woman’s home in the Dorchester neighborhood downtown.

“I remember well loading it all up,” Tagg Romney recalled. “And we drove it to her house and made a fire for her and dropped off quite a bit of firewood so the family would be able to keep warm.”

Years after a business partner and close family friend, who worked with Mitt at Boston Consulting Group and later at the private equity firm Bain Capital, died unexpectedly of a heart attack, Romney helped the man’s surviving daughter, Ellen Hummel, who was only 5 when her dad died, with loans for tuition to help her pay tuition at Columbia Medical School; loans he forgave when she graduated.

“I went to him asking him for help and he freely gave it,” said Dr. Ellen K. Hummel, today a general practitioner at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan.  Just before graduation, she received a note from Romney, forgiving the loan. “It was a Christmas letter,” she said. “It was something caring and it was something saying ‘This is a gift.’ ”

Then there’s Kim Clark, the president of Brigham Young University-Idaho… When an adverse reaction to medication landed his 16-year-old son Michael in the hospital in 1997, Clark turned to Romney.

“I called Mitt because I wanted to give Michael a blessing,” Clark told The Daily. “Whenever in our family we had situations arise we always called Mitt because we knew he would always come.” Even after it was clear the teenager would recover, Romney remained at the hospital with the family through the night.

Stories like these — of long hours spent with grieving families, financial assistance to those in need and timely help given to strangers whether asked for or not — abound in the adult life of the Republican presidential candidate. Many of them, but definitely not all, are connected to his work as a Mormon bishop.

And yet these stories have been largely absent on the campaign trail.

Some supporters believe Mitt isn’t touting them because it’s impossible to separate the good works he’s done from his Mormon faith, which might have been partially true, but as his wife says, “Mitt is a private person and considers it a privilege to help others… not something to take credit for on the campaign trail.

But taken together, the stories point to a central contradiction between Romney the candidate and Romney the person. In short, a man painted by the Obama administration as a heartless corporate raider who can’t relate to people actually has a history of doing remarkably kind things for those in need; many people close to Romney find the contradiction maddening.

“The people that know him — the picture the media paints is not the Mitt that I know,” Romney’s oldest son, Tagg, told The Daily. “And I wish I could do something about it. I can’t tell you how many people tell me that.”

Democrats scoff that whatever good Romney has done in his personal life doesn’t mean his policies would be any less destructive for those same struggling people.

“No one is questioning whether or not Mitt Romney has a nice family or has lived a life of success in which he’s tried to give something back,” said Jen Psaki, a Democratic strategist and former communications staffer in the Obama White House. “But that doesn’t matter to people who are still struggling, families that are trying to pay for college, people trying to pay for health insurance, middle class families who are trying to make ends meet. Romney hasn’t shown a plan to help them. That’s what voters are looking for, and he leaves a lot to be desired on that front.” 

Romney actually has laid out a very detailed plan, and did so during the primaries.  It is posted on his website.  And now he and the partner as Romney and the campaign call vice presidential candidate, Paul Ryan, have a short 5-point plan they talk about on the stump.  The Romney-Ryan plan will create 12 million jobs.

Rick Wilson, a Florida-based Republican strategist who is not affiliated with the Romney campaign said recently “I do think they should tell the personal stories because it rounds out who Mitt is… and he is a great guy! It also shows people that here’s a man who lives his personal values — he’s not just a politician. The fact that they never made a big deal out of this stuff says something itself.”

Romney and the Romney campaign needed to tell Mitt’s personal side tales and finally did as well as shining a light on his faith at the Republican National Convention and in at least two recent interviews with CNN as well as with Chris Wallace on Fox.  (There have also been several brutal indictments on Mormonism showcased by the liberal media lately, so beware.  Something that is pretty surprising for a party who put up the first Catholic, John F. Kennedy, for president, who generally promotes secularism (so why should anyone’s religion matter to them) and bristles at comments about President Obama’s connections to or at least his affinity for Islam and who consider themselves so welcoming… noted by evangelical and former Governor of Arkansas and 2008 GOP presidential primary candidate Mike Huckabee in his speech at the Republican Convention in Tampa.)

Mike Huckabee stated:

“Let me clear the air about whether guys like me would only support an evangelical … I care far less as to where Mitt Romney takes his family to church than I do about where he takes this country.”

Video: Pam Finlayson's Full RNC Speech 8/30/12

Video: Touching Story of Oparowskis and Mitt Romney

A top Romney strategist said, the campaign has preferred not to engage in an argument over likability against a personally popular president at the expense of fostering Romney’s image as a fix-it man for the economy.  But each day, President Obama is showing the American people that he really isn’t capable, isn’t up for the job and isn’t even such a nice guy.  And just in the days running up to the Democrat National Convention the attacks on Romney, Ryan and the Republican National Convention coming from the left have been baseless, mean-spirited and in many cases down right lies… whereas, even agreed to by the media from both sides, the tone of the GOP Convention with few exceptions was overall positive.

There is no escaping the fact that Romney’s many kind acts, some of which were first reported in the recent book “The Real Romney” were sharply at odds with his persona on the campaign trail before the convention.  But both Ann Romney and Mitt’s acceptance speech showed America a very different Mitt.

Stories like those highlighted above and many more are legion, like Romney gathering neighbors in a quick effort to clear out a burning house until firefighters arrived on the scene. Showing up unsolicited to clear a hornet’s nest near an injured church member’s house. Organizing a New York City search for a business partner’s missing daughter… a story actually told by Romney’s campaign in a 2008 ad reprised by a super PAC supporting him this year.

Religion aside, any politician who talks up his good deeds runs a risk of appearing a bit too fond of himself, something President Obama has been accused of more than once. But with Romney unable to shake off his buttoned-up corporate image, constantly pushed by Team Obama, sharing his personal experiences and inner self was crucial and it appears they hit the right note at the convention… although now the left is complaining that the RNC convention didn’t have enough meat, even though Romney and the RNC accomplished exactly what they needed to.

“People need to get to know a man who’s a potential president of the United States,” said GOP strategist Wilson . “The more you fill in the blanks the better for Romney.  It makes him human and it mitigates the plutocrat attacks.”  The personalization of Mitt Romney made a lot of Americans believe when he said:  'My Promise Is to Help You and Your Family' 

 17 Million Evangelical Voters… Who Did Not Vote in 2008, Can Lead to Obama's Defeat and from what the latest polls and buzz on twitter, facebook and the blogosphere are showing, Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan have now tapped into that vote.  The GOP convention also made it very clear that there is no conservative or Romney war on women and that the Republican tent includes blacks, Latinos and people of all stripes.

Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan are the right men for the times.  They have the know how and ideas that President Obama and his team are lacking to turn around America’s economy, create jobs and take control of the run-away debt.  Why would anyone believe that another 4-years of Obama-Biden will make anything better with his/their record…. Especially when you can have a successful businessman with the added experience as both a Governor and leading a project as large as turning around the Utah Olympics… plus having the Chairman of House Budget Committee on the team, in Romney-Ryan instead?  The choice has never been clearer. Even Obama realizes that Romney and his advisors know what they are doing… He has now hired two former Bain guys to takeover the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).  And the Obama’s are so sure that America will make the right choice that they have already bought a new house in Hawaii with a move-in date of January 2013.

Mitt Romney Convention Intro Video

CBS Airs Shocking, Must-See Positive Video About Mitt Romney

For anyone who missed Romney’s Convention Speech… See: Mitt Romney Gets Personal in Fiery and Poignant Speech – He Gave America a True Choice

Former Clinton strategist and advisor Dick Morris said, “Romney's speech last night at the GOP Convention hit the mark. ‘If Obama tries to be JFK eloquent but remote, Romney was Reagan last night. He was open, approachable, empathetic and idealistic. Tune in!’”

And Michael Reagan said: “Romney could not be better. When Dad died we lost AMERICAS cheerleader -- TONIGHT we have a new one. Bravo!”

The RNC played a Reagan Tribute early in the evening on the final night at the convention

Personal Romney Information:

· His full Name is: Willard Mitt Romney.

· He was Born: March 12, 1947 and is 65 years old.

· His Father: George W. Romney, former Governor of the State of Michigan.

· He was Raised in: Bloomfield Hills , Michigan.

· He is Married to: Ann Lois (Davies) Romney since 1969; they have five children. (Mitt says his kids and grandkids are his main hobby, not golf or tennis. They sent out Christmas cards of the ‘whole’ family, like above, as governor.)

· Education: (One year at Stanford) and then completed his B.A. from Brigham Young University, J.D. and M.B.A. from Harvard University. 

· Religion: Mormon The Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints. (Ann converted to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1966 on her own while Mitt was gone on his mission).

Working Background:

· After high school, he spent 30 months in France as a Mormon missionary. After going to both Harvard Business School and Harvard Law School simultaneously, he passed the Michigan bar, but never worked as an attorney.

· In 1984, he co-founded Bain Capital a private equity investment firm, one of the largest such firms in the United States.

· In 1994, he ran for Senator of Massachusetts and lost to Ted Kennedy.

· He was President and C.E.O. of the 2002 Winter Olympic Games.

· In 2002, he was elected Governor of the State of Massachusetts where he eliminated a 1.5 billion deficit (and their unemployment was around 4.5%).

Some Interesting and Noteworthy Facts about Romney:

· Bain Capital, starting with one small office supply store in Massachusetts , turned it into Staples; now over 2,000 stores employing 90,000 people.

· Bain Capital also worked to perform the same kinds of business miracles again and again, with companies like Domino’s, Sealy, Brookstone, Weather Channel, Burger King, Warner Music Group, Dollarama, Home Depot Supply, Bright Horizons, and many others.

· He was an unpaid volunteer campaign worker for his dad’s gubernatorial campaign 1 year.

· He accompanied and campaigned all over Michigan (unpaid) with his mother when she ran for Senator.

· He was an unpaid intern in his dad’s governor’s office for eight years.

· He was an unpaid bishop and stake president of his church for ten years.

· He was an unpaid President of the Salt Lake Olympic Committee for three years.

· He took no salary and was the unpaid Governor of Massachusetts for four years.

· He gave his entire inheritance from his parents to charity.

· Mitt Romney is one of the wealthiest self-made men in our country but has given more back to its citizens in terms of money, service and time than most men.

If you think you still need to know more about Mitt Romney here are a few reading suggestions: The Real Romney, No Apology, Turnaround: Crisis, Leadership, and the Olympic Games, The Mormon Way of Doing Business: How Nine Western Boys Reached the Top of Corporate America  And check out his detailed plan at: http://www.mittromney.com/

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New site:  Women For Romney 2012

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Technorati Tags: Mitt Romney,Romney,the real Mitt Romney,Romney-Ryan,Election 2012,2012 Election,Mormons,RNC,Mitt Romney in 2012,Republican National Convention,saving America,America's Comeback Team,real hope and change,likeability factor,likeability

Largest Donor to Obama Super PAC Calls Mormonism a 'Cult'

Tweet: RT @stevenrosenblum: @secupp How many showers to feel clean after being on set with Bill Maher last night?

Tweet:  Really? Atheist Progressive Bill Maher is Obama’s Only 1mm SuperPac Donor… concerned about religion again?

Video:  Bill Maher Show with S.E Cupp, Paul Begala, and Andy Ross Sorkin…

Weekly Standard: Bill Maher, the largest donor to President Obama's super PAC, called Mormonism a "cult" on his HBO show last night, and said that donating money to that religion doesn't count as charity because it's "bulls---."

Maher has given the president's super PAC a cool one million dollars. "The biggest individual donor revealed Friday was hedge fund billionaire James H. Simons, who cut a $1 million check to Majority PAC at the end of last month," Politico reported. That matches him with controversial comedian Bill Maher, who gave $1 million to Priorities USA Action in February, as the biggest Democratic super PAC donors so far this year."

Considering Maher's financial support of Obama's reelection effort, one can't help but wonder whether his views on Mormonism are in line with the president's and his supporters.

Class Warfare: S.E. Cupp Battles Bill Maher And Panel Over ‘Demonizing Prosperity’

On Real Time with Bill Maher tonight, the host and panel took on the general election race. When Maher brought up the class warfare seemingly being waged between Mitt Romney and President Obama, S.E. Cupp argued that Democrats should not be “demonizing success” and defended Romney by pointing to his charitable donations. Maher shot back by pointing out they were to the Mormon church, and both ended up in a back-in-forth over whether Romney was giving to the poor through the church or not.

After some talk about how both campaigns are trying to capture the youth vote, Maher brought up the Obama campaign’s new tactic of going after Mitt Romney as a radical conservative rather than painting him as a flip-flopper, a strategy that worked when the George W. Bush campaign used it against John Kerry eight years ago. Paul Begala said it was effective then because it was during a time of war and the intent was to portray Kerry as “weak.” And while Begala did not dismiss the notion that Romney is a habitual flip-flopper, he argued that in a time of recession, the Democrats are going after Romney for “amassing power and wealth at the expense of the middle class.”

Cupp admitted she couldn’t figure out why the Obama team has suddenly abandoned a narrative that has worked somewhat effectively against Romney early on in the campaign. She suggested that if the president’s campaign played it smart, they could try to paint Romney as being in alliance with Obama’s policies, only to then argue that the Republican nominee has less experience. Andrew Ross Sorkin agreed with Begala, saying the “right wing crazy person” narrative works better for the Obama team. Cupp shot back, saying they could not honestly make that out to be the case, but Sorkin explained that if the key to winning the election is moderates, Obama can’t afford to imply through accusations of flip-flopping that Romney is a “Massachusetts moderate.”

Maher boiled down Romney’s basic problem with the public to “Mitt Romney is everything the American people hate about a politician.” Yet despite this (or perhaps the two are somewhat correlated), Maher credited Romney for being a “master politician.” He called out the candidate’s “straw man” argument telling Americans who think there’s something wrong with success to “vote for the other guy,” and argued President Obama himself is an example of the kind of success Romney was talking about.

“Does he think he’s more successful than Barack Obama? Do you? Barack Obama was born of a single mother on food stamps, and he became the first black president of the racist states of America. And Mitt Romney is the son of a rich dad, and he’s a rich dad? Who really is more successful?”

Cupp argued that it shouldn’t matter whose success is worth more than the other’s and that their accomplishments should be equally celebrated. She said that many previous presidents were personally successful and rather wealthy when they came into office.

Begala shot back that Obama wants to give young people today the same opportunities for success he had, while Romney wants to close them off. Cupp tried to split the difference between Romney the politician and Romney the person, bringing up his charitable donations to poor people. Maher interrupted her by claiming Romney’s donations were going to the Mormon church.

Cupp argued that he was giving back to the poor through the church, but Maher was having none of it. He dismissed Cupp’s claims as “bullshit,” and she shot back by being amazed that Maher was demonizing “charity based on religion.”

S.E. Cupp herself is an atheist and wrote: Losing Our Religion

RELATED:

Brit Hume To Laura Ingraham: ‘Harsh Criticism’ Of Romney’s Mormonism May Help Him 

The Mormon Minutia … Real? Created? And is it Fair or Even Relevant?

About Mitt Romney

Mitt Romney Kicked-Off His Presidential Campaign

Feds and Rumors of Feds

I read two very troubling posts today and I feel I have to comment. If they are true (and I have no reason to believe yet that they aren’t), then things are speeding up and it sends a cold shiver down my spine. Never a good sign.

Of the two, I’ll address the one on the feds going to a food cannery first as it bothers me the most. Oathkeepers put up an excellent post today: Federal Agents Demand Customer Lists From Mormon Food Storage Facility. They say this has already been verified to be true.

In short, the Feds went to a Mormon cannery in Tennessee and wanted the list of all those who had purchased bulk food. When the proprietor informed them that no such list exists, they asked for credit card receipts or anything else that would give them info on the customers who did business there. The owner then told them that it was a cash-and-carry business and they would not give them that info either. Good for them. It is none of the Feds business who is buying or how much. From Oathkeepers:

A fellow veteran contacted me concerning a new and disturbing development. He had been utilizing a Mormon cannery near his home to purchase bulk food supplies. The man that manages the facility related to him that federal agents had visited the facility and demanded a list of individuals that had been purchasing bulk food. The manager informed the agents that the facility kept no such records and that all transactions were conducted on a cash-and-carry basis. The agents pressed for any record of personal checks, credit card transactions, etc., but the manager could provide no such record. The agents appeared to become very agitated and after several minutes of questioning finally left with no information. I contacted the manager and personally confirmed this information.

I believe this is a precursor to accusing Americans of ‘hoarding’ food and passing regulation both prohibiting bulk food purchases and the seizure from homes of such food caches. This would be blatantly unconstitutional and fascist. It is a level of tyranny we have not seen in our lifetimes in the Land of the Free, but I fear it is almost upon us. Be very careful who you tell that you have stockpiles of food. Keep your private life quiet and protect your family and their future by being discrete.

The next troubling part of the report:

And here in Tennessee, we just learned that Nashville Metro Public Health and the Tennessee Department of Health are conducting “door-to-door assessment of disaster preparedness … using a tool designed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to go door to door and check to see how disaster ready you are. .. in 30 neighborhoods in Davidson County [TN] that have been randomly selected to be the target of a door to door assessment.” I have confirmed that that is a state run effort.

This sounds like government and state reconnaissance of individual households to find out if they are hoarding food and/or weapons. Not good. The local government claims that they have good intentions – I don’t believe it. You cannot trust the government and the Feds. They are not doing any of this out of concern for you. I smell a rat, big time here. Oathkeepers states it flatly and correctly:

“Deprivation of food has long been a weapon of war and oppression, with millions intentionally starved to death by fascist and communist governments in the 20th Century alone.

Accordingly, we will not obey or facilitate orders to confiscate food and other essential supplies from the people, and we will consider all those who issue or carry out such orders to be the enemies of the people.”

If those who carry out such orders to confiscate food are enemies of the people, then that same label also fits anyone in the government compiling lists of Americans who store food. There is no legitimate reason for the Department of Homeland Security to compile such lists. Al Qaida suicide bombers are not known to store powdered milk and buckets of wheat. Nor are they known to store away dehydrated carrots and instant potatoes, or fruit punch mix for the kids. But the Mormons are known to do so, and so are many other Americans who have the common sense and maturity to take personal responsibility for ensuring that their families will have food, come what may.

It is part of Mormon Church religious doctrine to store food for hard times and emergencies, with a recommendation that each family store a year’s worth of basic dry goods along with three months worth of store-bought canned and boxed foods. To facilitate that practice, the Mormon Church runs its own food storage canneries selling powdered milk, wheat, flour, rice and beans, sugar, salt, and various other dry goods either in bulk 50 lb bags or in #10 cans for long term food storage (up to 30 years for some items). These Church canneries also often sell food storage items to non-church members, seeing it as both morally right and prudent to help their neighbors store food, whatever their faith. The cannery in Tennessee that was “visited” by federal agents follows that practice of helping the general public become better prepared.

On to the second post of interest. This is rumor and has not been confirmed, but where there is smoke there is usually fire. This is said to have occurred in the National Guard:

He just got home from a EDRE (emergency deployment readiness exercise) at the armory. He said that during the exercise 3 companies of infantry were polled by questionnaire about the drill and it’s purpose. One of the questions was, will you as a member of the Nat. Guard use lethal force against the American public if ordered to do so? One of the men stepped forward and refused to take the poll and explained that it was a moral judgment on his part and that he could not do so. He then placed his weapon on the ground and fell in behind the formation. Devon said it was like a waterfall, Every member laid their weapons on the deck and fell in beside the one lone specialist. This included ALL NCO’s, STAFF NCO’s and SENIOR NCO’s. The only people left in front of the original formation was 3 Capt’s. 2 Lt’s and the BN Commander who was so upset he started having chest pains from yelling and screaming about court martials and disbandment of the unit into other units.

The Specialist who first laid down his weapon was held in county jail by the Bn CMDR, awaiting a hearing under the UCMJ. He was there for a few hours and has been released. An investigation is being conducted into those who started the poll and no charges against the soldiers are being filed.

If this turns out to be true, it is very disturbing. I am gratified the soldiers behaved as they did, but why was this EVER asked of them? From Oathkeepers:

Again, this is unconfirmed, and we are working on confirming it. Please keep that in mind. But this is certainly the kind of mass, whole-unit stand-down that may well become necessary, especially in light of the treason of the US Senate, which voted 93-7 to authorize military detention and trial of U.S. citizens — claiming the power to apply the laws of war to the American people in the same way as they are used on a conquered, enemy population, like Iraq or Afghanistan. While National Guard units can, and have been used for riot control without violating their oath, we suspect that this survey was asking them about whether they would do something far worse than just keep the peace during riots. We will do our best to get to the bottom of this, and provide all details once confirmed.

If accurate, this is reminiscent of the stand-down during Katrina by SSGT Joshua May’s Utah National Guard Unit, where the whole unit let their commander know, in a peremptory refusal, that they would not participate in any gun confiscation.

The young man who originally posted this on Facebook will not be posting on it further out of respect for his friends and the fact that the military is now investigating this internally. I would really like to know for certain whether this happened or not, because if true, it is like the canary in the coalmine and baby, she’s blasting for all she’s worth if this occurred. I read the comments on this and people are upset and very concerned over it and rightly so.

There is soooo much going on that I can’t keep up with it. But I sense things are beginning to spiral out of control and next summer should be a doozy. Store food, get items to barter and buy guns and lead. Keep it to yourself and get ready for one hell of a ride. I’m sure we’ll hear much more on Feds and rumors of Feds…

Recommended Preparedness Resources:

http://www.providentliving.org/
http://www.survivalblog.com
http://www.thesurvivalpodcast.com
http://www.opperationsleepinggiant.com

By: Terresa Monroe-Hamilton at the NoisyRoom

Related:

From Oath Keepers:

http://oathkeepers.org/oath/2011/12/08/oath-keepers-alert-federal-agents-demand-customer-lists-from-mormon-food-storage-facility/

http://oathkeepers.org/oath/2011/12/08/oath-keepers-receive-tip-of-national-guard-unit-stand-down-refusing-to-answer-questionaire-asking-if-they-would-use-force-against-the-american-people/

The Mormon Minutia … Real? Created? And is it Fair or Even Relevant?

When I heard the latest media circus created in response to key Perry supporter Pastor Robert Jeffries’ comments at the America Family Values Summit in Washington, D.C., that Mitt Romney belonged to a “cult” because he is Mormon, I thought both really and here we go again?!?  The attack was made against Mitt Romney but fellow GOP candidate Jon Huntsman is also Mormon and so is Glenn Beck, who was one of the other speakers at the event, who along with historian and Founder of Wallbuilders, David Barton, has been instrumental in resurrecting the Black Robe Regiment, made up of religious leaders of all faiths.

I am a Christian who throughout my life has had many Mormon friends and business associates but I don’t have a personal dog in this hunt. But it bothered me.  Mitt Romney is also not my first choice for our party’s standard bearer, but he is not my last either and I will vote for whomever the GOP nominates because any of them will be better than the present occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

Just as I started doing a little research for my article I received the following titled: the Mormon Thing…

Article VI, U.S. Constitution: “…No religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.”

First things first—I know very little about the Mormon faith system and, frankly, I don’t care. I may or may not have friends who are Mormon, but since I don’t ask and don’t select my friends on the basis of their religion, I don’t know if they are or not.

The simple fact is that virtually any religion you can name has aspects that seem odd to those not born into it, cause others to drop out of it, and provide rich material for those who mock all religion. I personally feel more secure around people who have a religion—any religion—than around those who have none, but that’s just me.

So when the media, as usual, seized upon some obscure Texas pastor’s comments about the Mormon Church as a “cult” after he introduced the hapless Gov. Rick Perry at some event, the whole Mormon thing raised its ugly head again as various members of the chatteratti and various ink-stained wretches tried to raise the issue of Mitt Romney’s religion. It is also Jon Huntsman’s religion.

The question, generally stated, is whether Romney could be a good President as a Mormon? It is an idiotic question, the kind that was raised back in the 1960s when John F. Kennedy, a Catholic, ran for office. For my part, I would take Romney any day over the present occupant of the Oval Office who claims to have been a parishioner and close friend of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, a racist and America-basher of the first order.

For deep dish conservatives concerned about Mormons serving in the White House, Stephen M. Studdert, a former Special Assistant to President Ronald Reagan, recalled that he “truly admired the Latter-day Saints. His administration included more members of the Church than any other American president ever.”

Among those close to Reagan during his eight years as the greatest president of the modern era was Richard Wirthlin, his chief strategist. Terrel Bell served as Reagan’s Secretary of Education, Angela Buchanan was Secretary of the Treasury, and Rex Lee was Solicitor General.

Reagan’s White House included Jon Huntsman, Jr., currently a former governor of Utah and a candidate for the GOP nomination. The national security advisor to Presidents Ford and George H.W. Bush, Brent Scowcroft, is now an elder statesman. Suffice to say there were many others. No one recalls that any those Mormons served with anything other than dedication and patriotism.

Still scared of Mormons? Sen. Bob Bennett of Utah was first elected to the Senate in 1992. John Doolittle formerly represented California’s 4th Congressional District. Jeff Flake represents Arizona’s 6th District. Mike Crapo is a Senator from Idaho. A former Senator from Utah, Jake Garn, has previously been an astronaut. Anyone caring enough to check will find many other Mormons who have honorably served in Congress.

One of the most respected members of the Senate is Orrin Hatch of Utah, a Republican. Indeed, all the Congress critters named to this point have been Republicans, but the Senate Majority Leader, Sen. Harry Reid, a Democrat, is also a Mormon.

You can even go back to Eisenhower’s administration and find that Ezra Taft Bensen served as Ike’s Secretary of Agriculture for both terms.

History buffs will tell you that Leroy Eldridge Cleaver who, after a past that included thirteen years as a guest of the California penitentiary system for narcotics possession and assault, became the face in the 1960s of the Black Power movement. After renouncing the movement, Cleaver joined the Church of the Latter-day saints in the 1970s. And, yes, God does work in marvelous ways.

All of this is to say that, despite the misgivings of some Texas pastor and others, Mormons have an admirable record of serving their nation and doubtless, if elected, former Gov. Mitt Romney will do so as well.

By Alan Caruba  © Alan Caruba, 2011 – Posted at the Tea Party Nation

One of the most amazing things is that in 1968 when George Romney, Mitt’s dad, ran for President and people knew much less about the Mormon religion and probably feared it more, the Mormon issue never came up. I heard Karl Rove mention that as well in an interview. His take on it was that again it is the biased secular liberal media who is against anyone on the right, religion in general and the Conservative take on the Constitution, that is raising and over-reporting this issue.

I, unlike Alan Caruba, do know which of my friends were and are Mormons but like Alan I still don’t know much more about the inter-workings or beliefs of the Mormon or LDS Church that are different from other Christian sects and don’t particularly care, at least not for this purpose.

What I do know is that every last one of the Mormon people I know are great hard working patriotic people who love America, family, God and their church.  They are terrific helpful friends and are devoted to their families.  And as a group they raise the best kids on the planet in these modern times, Kids who are almost always polite, well-mannered,  ambitious and who are also involved with their families, church and school and are proud of and willing to server America.   So what is wrong with that?

We have a guy in the White House now who attended a church for 20-years founded in Liberation Theology rooted in Islam whose pastor hates America. And Obama’s religious background and allegiance before that is pretty questionable or vague like everything else about his past. He also has surrounded himself with people who are self-avowed Marxists, Communists and Progressives that want to fundamentally change everything about America.

So looking at this and all the problems we have as a country I have to ask, “Really?  We are worried about a Mormon in the White House?”.

By Marion Algier

Related:

Perry Practicing, Polishing For Debates  -  Perry’s strategy for winning the GOP primary is focused on highlighting the Texas economy, vilifying Romney as a wealthy Mormon elitist (which is pretty amazing when start looking into Perry’s friends, associates and supporters) and painting himself as the honest  straightforward “everyman.”   I personally think looking at this whole situation of the past week unfold, it is Perry that comes out looking like the small un-relatable bad guy!

GOP Candidate and Mormon Jon Huntsman Calls Perry-Backing Pastor Who Criticized Mormonism a ‘Moron’ and Bizarrely Joe Scarborough Twists That To Attack Beck’s Viewers

Note from a friend of mine who emailed me after reading my article and said, “I just watched Dancing with the Stars where Dereck and Julianne Hough (a Mormon brother and sister who are part of their expert dance team) danced in an expose as Donny Osmond, of Donny and Marie (both former DWTS winners or finalists) and the Osmonds was sitting out in the audience.  I then flashed on them (wholesome, cute, energetic and ambitious) after looking at some of the liberals sitting in the audience and performing and reflecting on a lot of the people in Washington and thought… “Yup we could do a lot worse than a Mormon in the White House if that is the deciding issue”.

Glenn Beck on Glenn Beck

Controversial Fox Host Talks About Kicking Bottle, Turning Mormon and Common Sense

John Stossel explores why some seem to hate the conservative commentator.

Forbes magazine's new list of the 100 richest and most influential celebrities in America includes Oprah Winfrey, Angelina Jolie, and only one TV news personality -- Fox News' Glenn Beck.

Video: Preview of Stossel 20/20 Interview With Glenn Beck

A few years ago, not many people had heard of Glenn Beck. Nowadays, the conservative commentator seems to be everywhere. Over the past two weeks, he's performed before sold-out crowds on his comedy tour. He's had several New York Times No. 1 best-selling books (a new book, "Glenn Beck's Common Sense," is due to hit stores next week); 8 million listeners tune in each week to his radio show; and now he's the host of his own television show on Fox News.

Watch John Stossel's interview with Glenn Beck on "20/20" Friday at 10 p.m. ET.

Glenn Beck: The Drinking Years

"[My mother] was an alcoholic and a drug addict," he said. "When I hit 30, I was going down that same path."

Glenn Beck preps backstage for his Fox News talk show. Despite its weekday-afternoon time slot, normally a ratings wasteland, the show now has a bigger audience than any prime time show on cable.

(ABC News)

He believes the word "jerk" would be the kindest way to describe him at that stage.

"I fired a guy one time for bringing me the wrong kind of pen," he said remorsefully. "I was beyond a jerk.

"I hated myself. Hated myself," he admitted. "I tried for two years to stop drinking. I'd look myself in the mirror and I'd say, 'You're not an alcoholic, you don't have a problem.'"

Beck didn't admit he had a drinking problem until one morning when he was unable to remember a bedtime story he had drunkenly told his children the night before. And so, that evening, he attended an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting.

"I don't know what I expected, but you guys don't look like alcoholics," Beck recalled telling the attendees. "This lady, she must've been 70 years old. She was wearing a sweater set and pearls. She was sitting right in front of me, and she just leaned back and she said, 'Oh, honey, we're all drunks in here.'"

n typical Glenn Beck fashion, however, he didn't stop his reformation there. He became a Mormon.

"I apologize, but guys will understand this. My wife is hot and she wouldn't have sex with me until we got married, and she wouldn't marry me unless we had a religion," he said. "I'm like, ah, you've got to be kidding me! I've got to go to church for this?"

But now he says that going to church has given him the faith to ground himself, and so he's grateful to his wife. Glenn and Tania Beck have been married now for nearly 10 years, after first meeting in a parking lot.

"I was a loser at local radio and she came up to me and she said, 'Are you Glenn Beck?'" he recalled of their first meeting. "She said, 'I used to listen to you when I was in high school. Thanks for the laughs,' and then she turned around and walked away."

Beck has been called an "idiot" who engages in a lot of "crazy talk." Does it bother his wife when people have hateful things to say about her husband?

Glenn Beck: A Big Target

"If I let every single thing bother me, you know, I would have jumped off a bridge a long time ago," she said.

Glenn Beck talks with John Stossel about how he got his start in radio.

(Chris Kilmer / ABC News)

Beck has become a big target for comedians and commentators alike. Comedy Central's Stephen Colbert often mocks him, and Jon Stewart of "The Daily Show" once said of Beck, "Finally, a guy who says what people who aren't thinking are thinking."

"You can get rich making fun of me. I know. I've made a lot of money making fun of me," Beck said.

Beck is also criticized for crying on television.

"Somebody get this blubbering buffoon a Kleenex!" said journalist Tina Brown on her March 31 appearance on MSNBC's "Morning Joe." Others have accused Beck of faking the crying for entertainment purposes.

"I should be paid a lot more money if I were able to cry on will like that," he responded.

The criticism he receives from the media doesn't stop there. Al Franken wondered aloud on CNN whether Beck should be allowed on television. Keith Olbermann frequently names Beck the "Worst Person in the World."

Some even go as far as to charge that Beck's complaints about the government actually encourage violence.

"A man kills his own mother and nine others and turns out to have kept a hit list. And Glenn Beck is rationalizing it and blaming liberals for it," said Keith Olbermann on March 13.

But, does Beck actually encourage the anti-government violence of people like Timothy McVeigh?

"No. Timothy McVeigh was a coward," explained Beck. "Violence is the stupid way out. It'll discredit any real legitimate movement."

Beck added that most people who criticize him don't actually watch his show or listen to what he says.

Many in the media label Beck as a staunch Republican -- a label which he strongly disagrees with.

"Both parties only believe in the power of the party," he said. "Stand up. Throw off the shackles of the two-party system!"

He criticizes both parties for exercising more power than the Constitution intended and for abandoning what he considers to be common-sense ideas.

Glenn Beck: Freedom to...

"Look, the American experiment was about freedom," he explained. "Freedom. Freedom to be stupid. Freedom to fail. Freedom to succeed. Freedom to succeed.

"We just put General Motors in the hands of people who can't even run our own government," he added. "Our debt is -- just the interest -- a trillion dollars a year. You can't pay for that!"

Beck also compares himself to Howard Beale, the fictional anchorman from the 1976 film "Network" who famously exclaimed: "I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it anymore!"

"I am like Howard Beale," said Beck. "When he came out of the rain and he was like, none of this makes any sense. I am that guy."

And so Beck works constantly, on radio, TV and onstage, saying that a lot of life would be better if government -- Republicans and Democrats -- just left Americans alone.

"I believe that if we get out of people's way, the sky's the limit," he said. "The sky is the limit."

By JOHN STOSSEL and ANDREW KIRELL - June 10, 2009

Posted: Knowledge Creates Power

Related Resources:

• Barbara Walters (and Whoopi) Don't Check Facts, Attack Glenn Beck Anyway…
• Glenn ambushed on 'The View'
• Bit_h_s on the View at Their Nonsense Again...
• Glenn Responds to The View Debacle
• Can Andrew Breitbart Save Hollywood?
• Progressivism – The Progressive Movement Is A Cancer That Has Slowly Infested Both Major U.S. Parties Over the Past 100 Years
• Progressives dream to 'remake' America – Glenn Beck - (Part II)
• The Death of Common Sense
• We Surround Them
• Glenn Beck's Common Sense - New Book
• An Inconvenient Book - Book

WATCH:Whoopi's Blow Up With Glenn Beck