In N.H., Voters Get Anti-Mormon Calls
The first push-poll scandal of the 2008 season has erupted, forcing two leading campaigns to deny their involvement, and raising questions about the tenor of what could be a nasty final stretch for the Republican nomination.
Voters in Iowa and New Hampshire on Thursday began receiving telephone calls that at first appeared to be polling calls, but quickly offered exceedingly negative views about former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney and his Mormon religion.
The calls were first reported by the Associated Press and the Politico website. A push poll is not a survey, but is instead a political telemarketing call disguised as a poll meant to pass along rumors and innuendo.
On Friday, Arizona Sen. John McCain asked the New Hampshire attorney general to investigate the incident, calling the calls "repugnant and despicable" and saying that "it is especially shameful that those responsible would hide behind a push poll to impugn a candidate's faith."
McCain's camp has denied being behind the calls, which the AP reported were conducted by Western Wats, a Utah-based company. Former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani has also denied being responsible for the calls.
Romney has largely chosen to downplay the issue of his Mormon faith and concerns in some quarters that bigotry could lead some Christian conservatives to vote against him. Aides say he has not decided to give a major address on the issue, like John Kennedy did about his Catholicism .
But his campaign was quick to condemn the push-polling this week. Spokesman Matt Rhoades said that "Whichever campaign is engaging in this type of awful religious bigotry as a line of political attack, it is repulsive and, to put it bluntly, un-American. There is no excuse for these attacks. Governor Romney is campaigning as an optimist who wants to lead the nation. These attacks are just the opposite. It's ugly and divisive."
A spokesman for Western Wats told the Associated Press that his company does not do push polling.
--Michael D. Shear
Posted at 11:04 AM ET on Nov 16, 2007
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Posted by: cactus_reese | November 17, 2007 10:47 PM
No one is saying Romney can't believe how he wants to believe. But the people voting for him do have a right to question the past decisions that he's made, including his decision to join and be a part of such a ludicrous cult. If a Rastafarian were running for office, does anyone think that his belief that smoking marijuana to worship God would not be attacked?
Romney believes that that the American Indians are principal ancestors of a lost tribe of Israel, "Jews with cursed dark skin" despite the DNA evidence that has proven this not to be the case. In my view this is also a racist belief.
Romney also believes in a religion that held that God cursed and marked the Africans with dark skin and excluded them from the priesthood (a position later changed in 1976 because the Mormons said they received a revelation from God).
Romney believes a book to be truth (the Book of Mormon) that the archaeological community has unanimously discredited. (see the Smithsonian institute's official statement). There is no archaeological, linguistic, or geographical evidence for the Book of Mormon, and there is evidence that it's the product of Smith's vibrant imagination.
Romney believes that Smith's Book of Abraham was translated by Smith from Egyptian papyrus that has now been shown by professional Egyptologists to be the work of Joseph's imagination; Smith's alleged translation of some Egyptian papyrus was nothing more than a common funeral rite found on the chest of a mummy!
Romney believes in a religion where women are viewed as mere helpmates, in the temple they are told to veil their faces and swear to obey their husbands and they are ritually designated one of many queens to his Kingly harem in heaven. Women are not allowed to hold the priesthood power either which creates inequality.
Romney is a member of a religion that shuns academic scholarship, scientific research, and logical analysis when it conflicts with the Mormon dogma.
Now, knowing what Romney believes in and deducing how he arrives at those beliefs, isn't it reasonable for people to question his logic and thought process in choosing to believe these things? Do we really want a man in charge of the most powerful nation in the world, making decisions not based on evidence and scientific research, but rather on praying and waiting for a "burning in his bosom"? Romney will believe what the Mormon church tells him to believe. You think the weapons of mass destruction charade was bad, just wait till this guy is in office!
Posted by: bustyn | November 17, 2007 3:47 PM
These push polls are yet another example of politicians and parties abusing the system and getting out of laws that regular companies are regulated by.
In this case the Do Not Call registry.
I bet that these "polls" were done to 1000's of people who signed up for the DNC registry.
Shaun Dakin
StopPoliticalCalls.org
Posted by: shimane1 | November 16, 2007 10:28 PM
It is an outright prevarication tha Mitt's church is not Christian. It is more First Century Christian than any other denomination. Members of the church believe every word of the original Greek New Testament, and spend twice as much time studying the Bible as they do studying the Book of Mormon.
Check http://MormonsAreChristian.blogspot.com for details.
Posted by: bot1 | November 16, 2007 2:49 PM
On the same line, there's a false e-mail being circulated that Sen. Barack Obama insisted on taking his oath of office over the Koran.
There would be nothing wrong with this, of course, as religious freedom was part of the founders' vision for the nation.
However, Islam is not Obama's religion. It was Rep. Keith Ellison who exercised his right to take his oath of office on the Koran. (Thomas Jefferson's copy)
Posted by: renatarollins | November 16, 2007 12:33 PM
The comments to this entry are closed.
bustyn,
Your post would lead one to believe that Mormons are irrational thinkers, blindly following their leaders, and denying 21st century science. Instead we are Aerospace Engineers (as myself), captains of industry, leaders in government (maybe the Senate Majority Leader is more to your liking), respected academics, and even DNA Scientists ( see http://maxwellinstitute.byu.edu/publications/bookofmormonview.php?subcat=198&cat=5).
The sloppy and dogmatic declarations that were listed in the 1996 Smithsonian Institute statement about the Book of Mormon have been disputed by many reputable scholars of Ancient American studies. The institute no longer issues that statement when it receives inquiries regarding the Book of Mormon. If you don't believe me, ask them yourself.
I think my wife would take issue with your categorization of her as a mere helpmate but I'll leave that to her to argue if she wishes since I don't want to put words in her mouth.
Much scholarly discussion can take place on other of your claims but it would be of little use. A testimony of these things can ultimately only occur through sincere prayer.
In closing, I want you to rest assured that no mind altering drugs are used in Mormon worship services and that Mitt Romney would be the candidate most likely to be sober at a time of sudden crisis.