You’ve heard about the JFK book “Profiles in Courage?” This could be the inspiration for a book “Profiles in Political Jellyfish”: several Republican Presidential candidates are carefully parsing their words on the attack on former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney’s religion and whether that rules him out for the Oval Office. They clearly don’t want to lose ANY voters so why offend bigots? The most forthright: former House Speaker Newt Gingrich whose comment showed some political spine.
GOP presidential hopefuls Herman Cain, Michele Bachmann and Newt Gingrich today declined to say whether rival Mitt Romney’s Mormon church is a “cult,” as they tried to steer the debate from a controversy over religion back to the economy.
Gingrich, speaking on CBS’ Face the Nation, denounced comments by Dallas pastor Robert Jeffress, who said Friday that the Mormon church is a “cult” and that “Mormonism is not Christianity.”
“None of us should sit in judgment of someone else’s religion,” said Gingrich, the former House speaker, adding that Jeffress’ comments have “no place” in the presidential campaign
Bravo, Mr. Former speaker. But no bravo for this:
Cain, former CEO of Godfather’s Pizza who is now second to Romney in some national polls, repeatedly said he is “not running for theologian in chief” in two Sunday show appearances.
“I believe that they believe they are Christians,” Cain said on CBS, when asked if he believes Mormons are Christians.
Even a can of string beans in the grocery store will recognize that as trying to avoid a strong answer.
In a separate interview on CNN’s State of the Union program, Cain said he would not “get into an analysis of Mormonism vs. Christianity. “
That’s changing the subject. The subject here is bigotry. The controversy isn’t over an intellectual debate over Mormonism. And Cain knows it, But how can he lose those votes?
Cain is rising in the polls and seems to have a lot of principles but you get the feeling reading this comment that if he sought the votes of voters he sorely needed who were clad in white sheets he’d insist they were wearing big handkerchiefs and could wear whatever they chose.
All Cain left out was “it all depends on what is is” and of course his supporters who blasted Bill Clinton as President for being so weasely and legalistic will pretend this isn’t the same thing. It is.
GOP presidential hopeful Michele Bachmann called the controversy over Romney’s religion “inconsequential” to the campaign. “To make this a big issue is just ridiculous right now,” the Minnesota congresswoman said CNN’s State of the Union.
So does she agree with the attack on Romney’s religion and that voters should vote for the “true” Christian or not? She didn’t say here (which is the intent). Remember this is the Bachmann who will repeat a point a zillion times to get her views across.
She moved away from this faster than if it had been a plate of cantaloupe.
And Rick Perry? He showed some backbone unlike some of his rivals. Or did he?
Perry, who has been dropping in some recent national polls, over the weekend distanced himself from Jeffress’ remarks and said he did not agree with the pastor’s view of Mormonism.
“I don’t think the Mormon Church is a cult,” Perry told The Des Moines Register over the weekend.
Fair enough. But wait…there’s more:
“People who endorse me or people who work for me, I respect their endorsement and their work, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that I endorse all of their statements.”
So do you REPUDIATE that statement? Should voters vote for you if they think Mitt Romney belongs to a cult? Or is that a bad reason? Or do you seek to get votes any way you can humanly get them? (Place your bets in Vegas on that but I suspect the odds are lopsidded).
So who will GOP primary voters vote for?
A candidate or a jellyfish?
I suspect Chris Christie would have been more emphatic……
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.