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**boffincash** · 08-15-2011, 03:03 AM

Do you think they'd portray a Muslim as "weird"?

I hope they bring out the ever-tolerant Reverend Jerimiah Wright to do this "weird" Mormon bit. That'll be fun.

Why doesn't Comrade Obama just run on his record and his "accomplishments" and leave the religious attacks out? His record is so outstanding that people will vote for him based on that anyway, right?

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/7...ndits-say.html

President Obama's purported 'weird'-Mormon strategy against Mitt Romney will backfire, pundits say

By Hal Boyd, Deseret News

In reaction to yesterday's Politico article claiming that President Obama's re-election campaign will cast Mitt Romney as "weird," writers like the Atlantic Wire's Elspeth Reeve wrote stories with headlines like "Calling Romney 'Weird' Sounds Like Code for 'Mormon.'"

Reeve's roundup of reaction to Politico's initial story included The Raw Story's Megan Carpentier, who had tweeted that "efforts by Obama to portray Romney as "weird" are dog-whistles to anti-Mormon sentiment."

New York Times columnist Ross Douthat published a piece titled, "Mormonism and Mitt Romney's 'Weirdness,'" arguing that while indeed Romney's Mormonism might be considered "weird" by some voters in the general election — focusing on it will be a poor strategy.

"The crucial thing to understand here is that Romney's Latter Day Saint affiliation isn't just a potential liability among evangelical voters in Republican primaries," wrote Douthat. "It's a potential general election liability as well."

He cited Gallup poll results which show that the number of persons who said they would not vote for a Mormon is lower when just surveying Republicans (18 percent) but increases among Democrats (27 percent) and independents (19 percent).

Douthat points out that if Obama decides to focus on casting Mormonism as "weird" and appealing to people "who know Mormonism primarily through pop culture … and who have a vague sense of the L.D.S. church as little bit cultish, a little bit outside-the-mainstream, and a little bit, well, weird ...(The Obama camp) will just make the Democrats look out of touch" during a campaign that will likely be focused on the economy and jobs.

08-15-2011, 03:03 AM	#1
boffincash Join Date Oct 2005 Posts 643 Senior Member	Obama's purported 'weird'-Mormon strategy against Romney could backfire Do you think they'd portray a Muslim as "weird"? I hope they bring out the ever-tolerant Reverend Jerimiah Wright to do this "weird" Mormon bit. That'll be fun. Why doesn't Comrade Obama just run on his record and his "accomplishments" and leave the religious attacks out? His record is so outstanding that people will vote for him based on that anyway, right? http://www.deseretnews.com/article/7...ndits-say.html President Obama's purported 'weird'-Mormon strategy against Mitt Romney will backfire, pundits say By Hal Boyd, Deseret News In reaction to yesterday's Politico article claiming that President Obama's re-election campaign will cast Mitt Romney as "weird," writers like the Atlantic Wire's Elspeth Reeve wrote stories with headlines like "Calling Romney 'Weird' Sounds Like Code for 'Mormon.'" Reeve's roundup of reaction to Politico's initial story included The Raw Story's Megan Carpentier, who had tweeted that "efforts by Obama to portray Romney as "weird" are dog-whistles to anti-Mormon sentiment." New York Times columnist Ross Douthat published a piece titled, "Mormonism and Mitt Romney's 'Weirdness,'" arguing that while indeed Romney's Mormonism might be considered "weird" by some voters in the general election — focusing on it will be a poor strategy. "The crucial thing to understand here is that Romney's Latter Day Saint affiliation isn't just a potential liability among evangelical voters in Republican primaries," wrote Douthat. "It's a potential general election liability as well." He cited Gallup poll results which show that the number of persons who said they would not vote for a Mormon is lower when just surveying Republicans (18 percent) but increases among Democrats (27 percent) and independents (19 percent). Douthat points out that if Obama decides to focus on casting Mormonism as "weird" and appealing to people "who know Mormonism primarily through pop culture … and who have a vague sense of the L.D.S. church as little bit cultish, a little bit outside-the-mainstream, and a little bit, well, weird ...(The Obama camp) will just make the Democrats look out of touch" during a campaign that will likely be focused on the economy and jobs.
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