Tuesday, March 6, 2012

I'm voting against 4 more years of Obama...

...which means that I will vote for Mitt Romney in the Georgia Republican primary today.

While I love listening to Newt Gingrich, the thrice married, ex-Southern Baptist now Roman Catholic former Speaker of the House, he would be buried in the November election.

I'd rather win elections than debates. Newt can still talk if anyone will listen when he is not a presidential candidate.

Sorry. Nope. No Newt.

Rick Santorum, lately beloved so much by evangelicals that the Roman Catholic former Senator is often called an evangelical, as if a Catholic could actually be an evangelical, which they cannot, has less than no chance of beating Obama.

I like Santorum but absolutely cannot visualize him as president.

Ron Paul isn't really running for president, libertarianism not being much of a governing philosophy. I like to watch him in debates though - unpolished, unrepentant.

So, I'll vote for Romney. I voted for him in the 2008 primary (and would anyone maintain that McCain was a better candidate that year?) and will vote for him again.

He's electable. He's presidential. He is sufficiently conservative. He will do just fine.

Ah, but he's also a Mormon.

Many of my religiously highminded SBC colleagues refuse to vote for him on this basis alone. No other reason is needed.  That would be, ipso facto, religious bigotry, not an unusual thing to be found in politics.

Well meaning Baptists consider that electing a Mormon as president of the United States to be promoting Mormonism. That's a bit misguided.

Consider that Romney's religion has been given considerable scrutiny in the primaries. There have been numerous stories on the bizarre Mormon practice of proxy baptism. Don't worry, brethren, all of the difference between Mormons and orthodox Christians will be aired, even the sacred undergarments.

We SBCers have long complained that Mormons downplay the more outlandish parts of their belief system. The political process will inevitably put more truth in the eyes of the public on this, and that is good.

And, honestly, brethren. Do we think that God is powerless and His truth will be lost if there is a Mormon president?

I think not.

But in the end this is a political question. Mitt Romney will be a vastly superior president that Barack Obama.

But if my anti-Mormon Baptist colleagues prefer the latter, they may certainly act accordingly. We are certainly well practiced in the SBC in cutting off our nose to spit our face.

7 comments:

Bill said...

This is also where I am. Gingrich is a nightmare, and I liked Santorum much more when he was obscure and didn't talk as much.

Romney is not perfect, but he can govern, is intelligent, can speak his way out of a wet paper bag, and most importantly, is the most electable.

Anonymous said...

The standards of "family values" seem to be stronger throughout Mormonism. There may be openings we have not considered with a Mormon president. Seek the changes from his strengths. No president will be everything to everyone.

Anonymous said...

I'm wondering why the do door to door stuff so well when they could just get names and be baptized for them.

Ahhh, next time one knocks on my door I will ask them to be baptized for me and to leave me alone. That way I win on both ends.

jle ;-)

Anonymous said...

Please explain how Mitt Romney would be a better president than Barack Obama. We still have the Bush tax rates. Obama continued the Bush wars. Do you really think school prayer would be legal and abortion would be illegal had McCain won? Would you be happy having Sarah Palin one heart beat from the Oval Office? Perhaps Rev. Thornton, like most Southern Baptists, just dislikes people with exotic backgrounds different from his own.

Anonymous said...

Here are a few of my thoughts on why Romney would be better than Obama.

1 - Romney would support the pipeline from Canada.

2 - Romney would not push abortion rights or work to make religious organizations and people of faith pay for people to have birth control.

3 - Romney would not apologize to other countries as the present President does.

4 - Romney would not bow to other leaders.

5 - Romney would approve drilling for oil in America.

6 - Romney would not have bailed out the auto companies.

jle

Anonymous said...

I'm thinking that Romney, the Mormon rich guy is to me rather exptic.

I bet you ten thousand dollars on it.

william

Anonymous said...

William, if I knew what EXPTIC was, I might take you up on that bet.

Larry