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Best of Boston 2009

The Mormonator

Mitt Romney’s blinding ambition. Plus, the inexplicable opposition to an Armenian-genocide memorial.
By EDITORIAL  |  October 30, 2006

061027_edit_main

Political dynasties are as American as apple pie. Since the Civil War, witness the marks made — or still being made (for better or worse) — by the Tafts of Ohio, the Stevensons of Illinois, the Roosevelts of New York, the Bayhs of Indiana, the Bushes of Connecticut and Texas, the Clintons of Arkansas and New York, and the Kennedys of Massachusetts, New York, and Rhode Island.

Now comes Mitt Romney, son of George, who as governor of Michigan in 1968 unsuccessfully sought to become the first Mormon elected president. Son Mitt hopes to succeed where dad George failed. And Mitt, the governor of Massachusetts, is not going to let anything stand in his way. On the surface he is as smooth and as gentlemanly as his dad. But in his heart Mitt is a sharpie, as cold as he is ambitious. Like George Bush II, who saw his dad outflanked on the right by Reagan, and on the left by Clinton, Mitt Romney is not going let the failings of his paternity mess with his success. His will to power, whatever the price, is straight out of Nietzsche. And his desire to do his dad one better, whatever the cost, feels like pure Freud.

Armchair analysis aside, Mitt Romney’s dedication to his own success is undebatable. With the help of Christy Mihos (a politically delicious irony), he strong-armed Republican acting governor Jane Swift aside to stake his claim to Beacon Hill. He shamelessly fudged his Utah residency to get on the Massachusetts ballot. He cavalierly abandoned Massachusetts’s voters after two years in order to launch his White House run, and he held on to his office to use it as a convenient bully pulpit. From that perch he morphed from a centrist to a right-winger, flip-flopping on choice and suggesting — with a straight face — that the sort of stem-cell research conducted at Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School should be criminalized. Mitt Romney: what an hombre.

In his latest exercise in duplicity, Romney secretly lobbied an influential member of the Mormon church’s innermost ruling council to leverage resources in the service of his White House campaign. The scandal of this is that Romney has long sought to wrap himself in the mantle of Roman Catholic John Kennedy, who in his 1960 presidential run stressed that he would not be an ideological slave to the pope. On the eve of that election American Protestants — especially the evangelicals and fundamentalists whom Romney now courts so assiduously — still feared Rome’s potential influence on the American Caesar. (What a difference 50 or so years can make.)

Today, however, all that has changed. Secular voters fear the powerful influence of the religious right. And many conservative Christians still look with suspicion on the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-day Saints, as the Mormons are properly known.

An argument can be made that Romney is getting a bum wrap: that the Mormons aren’t just Romney’s faith community; they are also his ethno-cultural community. Just as evangelical Jimmy Carter cultivated his fellow believers, so should Romney be able to reach out in an organized way to his fellow Mormons. In fact, the parallel is closer to ethnic groups than to Christians of any stripe. For Romney not to court Mormons would be akin to an Italian candidate not courting fellow Italians.

The problem is that Romney — unregenerate power player that he is — subverts his own advantage in this line of argument by going right to the bosom of his church to tap into the affluent Mormon communities that marble the nation. Blinded by his own naked ambition, he shoots himself in the foot. Jack Kennedy was much defter at exploiting his cultural heritage while arguing convincingly that he could insulate his public self from his private beliefs. But then, Mitt Romney is no Jack Kennedy. In terms of slick ambition, Romney might turn out to have more in common with Dan Quayle. Be wary, America; be very wary.

The case for an Armenian memorial
The Boston Globe, the Boston Herald, Mayor Thomas Menino, and the Greenway Conservancy advisory board chaired by well-respected corporate citizen Peter Meade all agree that a proposed monument commemorating the deaths of at least 600,000 Armenians in the Turkish-prosecuted genocide — the first historically recognized genocide — has no place in a park named after Rose Kennedy, located on land cleared by the Big Dig near the waterfront. We ask this simple and clearly inconvenient question: why not? Are these Boston worthies afraid of offending local Muslim sensibilities? Is their vision of the Rose Kennedy Greenway so sterile and so suburban as to hold that history should not punctuate the reality of this public space as it does so elegantly in the Public Garden and along the Commonwealth Avenue Mall? Our advice is simple: set a limit. Reserve space for a set number of monuments and memorials. Devise design requirements. And set a high-minded example by approving this worthy project. The august and historic Public Garden found a place for a tasteful and quietly moving memorial to local victims of the 9/11 attacks. The Holocaust is memorialized near Faneuil Hall. The Irish Potato Famine is remembered on Washington Street near Downtown Crossing. The firemen who fell battling the blaze that almost destroyed the Hotel Vendome, in 1972, are honored for their service on the nearby mall — although approval for that modest shrine required a shameful battle.

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Related: The passion of the candidate, Mitt's equity army, Was it all a dream?, More more >
  Topics: The Editorial Page , Adolf Hitler, Christianity, Christy Mihos,  More more >
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Comments
The Mormonator
I think its morally reprehensible that the Mayor, the Boston Globe, and the Boston Herald oppose a memorial to the Armenian Genocide. Boston was one of the rallying points in raising millions for relief efforts for Armenians. It's about time there was a memorial here in Boston.
By bsiebs77 on 10/26/2006 at 9:40:09
The Mormonator
At last Mr. Bernstein, who has previously denigrated Romney's advisers as rats, who denigrated Romney's female supporters as (worse!) housewives, now reveals his anti-Mormon bigotry! I'm only surprised that Bernstein, who would throw an apoplectic fit at any hint of anti-Semitism in political discourse, could possibly miss the opportunity to trace the "cold, calculating, cyborg Mormonator" to the Protocols of the Elders of Salt Lake City!
By Tracy Hall Jr on 05/24/2007 at 2:10:34
The Mormonator
The Church of Jesus Christ (LDS) is often misunderstood . . Some accuse the Church of not believing in Christ and, therefore, not being a Christian religion . . This article helps to clarify such misconceptions · Baptism: . Early Christian churches, practiced baptism of youth (not infants) by immersion by the father of the family. The local congregation had a lay ministry. An early Christian Church has been re-constructed at the Israel Museum, and the above can be verified. //www.imj.org.il/eng/exhibitions/2000/christianity/ancientchurch/structure/index.html The Church of Jesus Christ (LDS) continues baptism and a lay ministry as taught by Jesus’ Apostles. . Early Christians were persecuted for keeping their practices sacred, and not allowing non-Christians to witness them · The Trinity: . A literal reading of the New Testament points to God and Jesus Christ , His Son , being separate , divine beings , united in purpose. . To whom was Jesus praying in Gethsemane, and Who was speaking to Him and his apostles on the Mount of Transfiguration? The Nicene Creed”s definition of the Trinity was influenced by scribes translating the Greek manuscripts into Latin. . The scribes embellished on a passage explaining the Trinity , which is the Catholic and Protestant belief that God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. . The oldest versions of the epistle of 1 John, read: "There are three that bear witness: the Spirit, the water and the blood and these three are one." Scribes later added "the Father, the Word and the Spirit," and it remained in the epistle when it was translated into English for the King James Version, according to Dr. Bart Ehrman, Chairman of the Religion Department at UNC- Chapel Hill. . . .He no longer believes in the Nicene Trinity. . The Church of Jesus Christ (LDS) views the Trinity as three separate divine beings , in accord with the earliest Greek New Testament manuscripts. · The Cross: . The Cross became popular as a Christian symbol in the Fifth Century A.D. . Members of the Church of Jesus Christ (LDS) believe the proper Christian symbol is Christ’s resurrection , not his crucifixion on the Cross. Many Mormon chapels feature paintings of the resurrected Christ or His Second Coming. · Christ's Atonement: . But Mormons don”t term Catholics and Protestants “non-Christian”. . They believe Christ’s atonement in Gethsemane and on the Cross applies to all mankind. . The dictionary definition of a Christian is “of, pertaining to, believing in, or belonging to a religion based on the teachings of Jesus Christ”: . All of the above denominations are followers of Christ, and consider him divine, and the Messiah foretold in the Old Testament. It”s important to understand the difference between Reformation and Restoration when we consider who might be authentic Christians. If members of the Church of Jesus Christ (LDS) embrace early Christian theology , they are likely more “Christian” than their detractors. * * * · Christ-Like Lives: . . .The 2005 National Study of Youth and Religion published by UNC-Chapel Hill found that Church of Jesus Christ (LDS) youth (ages 13 to 17) were more likely to exhibit these Christian characteristics than Evangelicals (the next most observant group): . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . LDS Evangelical Attend Religious Services weekly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71% . . . . 55% Importance of Religious Faith in shaping daily life – extremely important .. 52. . . . . . . 28 Believes in life after death . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 . . . . . . 62 Believes in psychics or fortune-tellers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0 . . . . . . 5 Has taught religious education classes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 . . . . . . 28 Has fasted or denied something as spiritual discipline . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 . . . . . . 22 Sabbath Observance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 . . . . . . 40 Shared religious faith with someone not of their faith . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 . . . . . . 56 Family talks about God, scriptures, prayer daily . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 . . . . . . 19 Supportiveness of church for parent in trying to raise teen (very supportive) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .65 . . . . . . 26 Church congregation has done an excellent job in helping Teens better understand their own sexuality and sexual morality . . . . . 84 . . . . . . 35
By Bot on 05/24/2007 at 7:45:10
The Mormonator
most residents of massachusetts have become aware that the phenom known as mitt romney is a fictional character...an odd creature who is to american politics what britaney spears is to contemporary, creative music. less is best with this fellow.
By jeffery mcnary on 05/25/2007 at 8:14:19
The Mormonator
Mitt "Big Love" Romney is a political strumpet.
By woodrow on 05/27/2007 at 6:02:19
The Mormonator
Woodrow, I love your comment. Yes, I think integrity, not religion, will prevent Romney from being president. He certainly has his share of baggage: //www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=56674 Experts: Credit Romney for homosexual marriage 'What he did was exercise illegal legislative authority'
By Krogy on 07/14/2007 at 2:24:49

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