To be fair, right now I ain't supporting anyone's bid. It's too early. I can say, however, that Romney does not sit at the top of my list. When I pipe up in "Romney" posts over at Hewitt's, it's not to defend the man, but our shared religion. I'd do the same for Harry Reid, if I gave enough of a rat's ass about the guy to read any posts about him, that is. [On second thought, were I in fact to comment about "Mormonism" in a Harry Reid post, it would be for the purposes of excoriating the corrupt s.o.b. on theological grounds.]
Romney as a candidate bugs me, but I can't put a finger on why that is, though I'll try:
Are his missteps because he's still politically naive, or because he's practicing some kind of cynical manuevering and taking the support of his enthuiastic core as a sign that he can take a whole lot more for granted?
Is it just that he reminds me just enough of John Kerry to get my hackles up? There's plenty of time left, so maybe he'll wise up and stop playing this thing like a game. But right now he seems to me to be playing this as a game - and I think that's what annoys me, however sincere he may be in his faith, and however sincere he may be as a conservative.
Maybe it's the Mormon in me that's doing all the reacting here (ironically enough). If there's one thing some Mormons don't like, it's too much polish, and Romney seems to have it to spare.
Look: Have you ever seen one of our General Conferences?
AND stayed awake through the first fifteen minutes?
Exactly.
It's the way he's doing this campaign that reminds me of the kind of missionary (thankfully few and far between) that sometimes pop up in a mission who'll baptise anyone with a pulse, testimony and faith being issues that can be dealth with later. I don't think Romney is like that, I must mention, but the way he's campaigning reminds me of that, and it speaks poorly of him. Would it have killed the man to say, "Well, you know, I'm just not a hunter. But I support your right to hunt" instead of stretching a thin fact to near invisibility in order to whore himself out to the NRA for more money?
Maybe I just have a built-in distrust for Mormons who choose politics as a career. I dunno.
But, like I say, maybe he'll shape up.
Romney as a candidate bugs me, but I can't put a finger on why that is, though I'll try:
Are his missteps because he's still politically naive, or because he's practicing some kind of cynical manuevering and taking the support of his enthuiastic core as a sign that he can take a whole lot more for granted?
Is it just that he reminds me just enough of John Kerry to get my hackles up? There's plenty of time left, so maybe he'll wise up and stop playing this thing like a game. But right now he seems to me to be playing this as a game - and I think that's what annoys me, however sincere he may be in his faith, and however sincere he may be as a conservative.
Maybe it's the Mormon in me that's doing all the reacting here (ironically enough). If there's one thing some Mormons don't like, it's too much polish, and Romney seems to have it to spare.
Look: Have you ever seen one of our General Conferences?
AND stayed awake through the first fifteen minutes?
Exactly.
It's the way he's doing this campaign that reminds me of the kind of missionary (thankfully few and far between) that sometimes pop up in a mission who'll baptise anyone with a pulse, testimony and faith being issues that can be dealth with later. I don't think Romney is like that, I must mention, but the way he's campaigning reminds me of that, and it speaks poorly of him. Would it have killed the man to say, "Well, you know, I'm just not a hunter. But I support your right to hunt" instead of stretching a thin fact to near invisibility in order to whore himself out to the NRA for more money?
Maybe I just have a built-in distrust for Mormons who choose politics as a career. I dunno.
But, like I say, maybe he'll shape up.
