Romney’s faith could fix compassion gap

Democrats are weaving together a string of anecdotes about Mitt Romney to argue he lacks compassion, and the former Massachusetts governor might have to fight back using something he doesn’t like to talk about— his Mormon religion.

The tales about Romney range from the trivial to the traumatic, from the political to the personal. But the Obama campaign’s hope is that they create a synergistic, decidedly negative portrait of a candidate who is still largely unknown to many voters.

Romney’s sins, according to Democrats: He once strapped his dog, Seamus, to the roof of his car during a family vacation; he reportedly bullied a fellow high school student who was gay; and he helped ship jobs overseas while working at the investment firm Bain Capital.

They’ve also pointed to various Romney statements, such as that he “likes to fire people” and he’s “not concerned about the very poor,” to suggest a political myopia for a man who wants to be president.

The veracity of the stories and statements has been debated but, whatever their merit, all are intended to buttress the notion that Romney is missing a compassion gene.

An AP poll this month showed that voters thought President Obama understood their problems better than Romney, 51 percent to 33. The most recent NBC/Wall Street Journal poll showed Obama beating Romney by 30 points on “caring about average people” and 29 points on “being compassionate enough to understand average people.”

And in Quinnipiac’s most recent poll, only 44 percent said Romney cared about the problems and needs of people like them, while 57 percent said the same about Obama.

So the evidence is clear: A compassion gap exists, and Romney needs to figure out how to cut into it.

There’s no shortage of anecdotes about Romney’s compassion and kindness on a personal level — many of them recounted in Michael Kranish and Scott Helman’s biography, The Real Romney. But there’s a distinct danger in regaling voters with these stories. Many of Romney’s acts of kindness were toward Mormon families, and so any discussion about those tales also raises the prospect of a less welcome discussion of Romney’s religion.

Romney himself has made it clear that he’s not interested in veering into theological discussions during the campaign, and it’s not hard to see why. Mormon doctrine remains a mystery to many Americans, and the Romney campaign would rather litigate Obama’s record, not Joseph Smith’s.

Thus, it’s easy to see why the campaign might be reluctant to talk about Romney’s many acts of kindness. That hesitation seems to be born nearly entirely of religion and not a sense of personal modesty, as the following story suggests.

In 1996, the teenage daughter of one of Romney’s co-workers at Bain Capital went missing for three days. When the police struggled to find her, Romney temporarily shut down his Boston-based company and flew both himself and his employees to New York City to help find the girl, who was eventually located.

It’s a moving tale of compassion, but also politically instructive. When he ran for president in 2008, Romney cut a TV ad telling the story, and then four years later, a super-PAC supporting him, Restore Our Future, released a nearly identical version of the spot. As for Romney himself, The Associated Press notes that, although he hasn’t mentioned it frequently on the campaign trail, he has occasionally recounted the story.

What’s particularly noteworthy is why Romney and his allies would choose to focus on this particular tale of compassion over others, and the answer might very well be that it wasn’t related to Romney’s religion.

That’s not the only time Romney’s campaign has chosen to highlight a non-religious example of his compassion. After the allegation of Romney’s high-school bullying broke, one of his advisers went on TV to defend Romney as “deeply compassionate” and, oddly, pointed to a presidential debate during which Romney tried to help a stumbling Rick Perry collect his thoughts.

It was striking that the campaign chose to trot out that moment to defend the candidate’s “kind impulses,” and not the myriad stories detailing his charitable work with the Mormon Church.

Since delivering an address on Mormonism in his 2008 run, Romney has assiduously avoided a deeper personal discussion of his faith. Some pundits have suggested that he open up about the subject, and although that carries risks, it also brings opportunities. If Romney and his campaign were more comfortable talking about faith, they could also stress the compassionate anecdotes.

So far, it doesn’t look like Romney’s interested in indulging in a deeper look at either his faith or his role in the church, but the compassion gap between him and Obama is massive, and, at some point, Romney might put voters’ sympathy for religious tolerance to the test.

You are disingenuous.

Romney CREATED GAY MARRIAGE (RomneyMarriage).

Romney IMPOSED it by overriding the Constitution.

Those actions are lauded by RomneyBOTs, like you.

Note Romney’s use of improper executive authority. [The Romney Way™]

"Experts: Credit Romney for homosexual marriage"
"What he (Governor Bishop Mitt Romney) did was exercise illegal legislative authority'

"While former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney claims he did everything possible to throttle homosexual marriage in his state – his campaign now saying he took "every conceivable step within the law to defend traditional marriage" – several constitutional experts say that just isn't so.

"What Romney did [was] he exercised illegal legislative authority," Herb Titus said of the governor's actions after the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court released its opinion in the Goodridge case in 2003. "He was bound by what? There was no order. There wasn't even any order to the Department of Public Health to do anything."

Titus, a Harvard law graduate, was founding dean of Pat Robertson's Regent University Law School. He also worked with former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore, ...

Romney's aides have told WND that after four of the seven court members reinterpreted the definition of marriage, he believed he had no choice but to direct clerks and others to change state marriage forms and begin registering same-sex couples.

Some opponents contend that with those actions, Romney did no more or less than create the first homosexual marriages recognized in the nation. And Titus agrees."

"....But the court's decision conflicts with the constitutional philosophy of three co-equal branches of government: executive, legislative and judicial, Titus said. It also violates with the Massachusetts Constitution, which states: "The power of suspending the laws, or (suspending) the execution of the laws, ought never to be exercised but by the legislature..."

And it cannot even be derived from the opinion itself, asserts the pro-family activist group Mass Resistance, which says the decision did four things:

* First, it acknowledged that the current law does not permit same-sex marriage.

"The only reasonable explanation is that the Legislature did not intend that same-sex couples be licensed to marry. We conclude, as did the judge, that G.L. c. 207 may not be construed to permit same-sex couples to marry."

* Second, it said it is NOT striking down the marriage laws (among other things, the Massachusetts Constitution forbids a court to change laws)

"Here, no one argues that striking down the marriage laws is an appropriate form of relief."

* Third, it declared that not allowing same-sex marriages is a violation of the Massachusetts Constitution.

"We declare that barring an individual from the protections, benefits, and obligations of civil marriage solely because that person would marry a person of the same sex violates the Massachusetts Constitution."

* And fourth, given that the court is not changing any laws, the SJC gave the Legislature 180 days to "take such action as it may deem appropriate."

"We vacate the summary judgment for the department. We remand this case to the Superior Court for entry of judgment consistent with this opinion. Entry of judgment shall be stayed for 180 days to permit the Legislature to take such action as it may deem appropriate in light of this opinion."

After the Legislature did nothing during the 180 days, Romney then took action "on his own," the group said.

"Gov. Romney's legal counsel issued a directive to the Justices of the Peace that they must perform same-sex marriages when requested or 'face personal liability' or be fired," the group said."

Romney’s faith could fix compassion gap

He could start HERE; by either AFFIRMING or REPUDIATING the sentiments quoted below.

It apparently must STILL be 'not doctrine', as I've NEVER seen anything ELSE from SLC headquarters to explain or update these facts:

Questions put to Joseph Smith: "'Do you believe the Bible?' [Smith:]'If we do, we are the only people under heaven that does, for there are none of the religious sects of the day that do'. When asked 'Will everybody be damned, but Mormons'? [Smith replied] 'Yes, and a great portion of them, unless they repent, and work righteousness." (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 119).

Joseph Smith: "for the teachers of religion of the different sects understood the same passages of scripture so differently as to destroy all confidence in settling the question by an appeal to the Bible" (from Pearl of Great Price 1:12). "What is it that inspires professors of Christianity generally with a hope of salvation? It is that smooth, sophisticated influence of the devil, by which he deceives the whole world" (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p.270).

Brigham Young stated this repeatedly: "When the light came to me I saw that all the so-called Christian world was grovelling in darkness" (Journal of Discourses 5:73); "The Christian world, so-called, are heathens as to the knowledge of the salvation of God" (Journal of Discourses 8:171); "With a regard to true theology, a more ignorant people never lived than the present so-called Christian world" (Journal of Discourses 8:199); "And who is there that acknowledges [God's] hand? ...You may wander east, west, north, and south, and you cannot find it in any church or government on the earth, except the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints" (Journal of Discourses , vol. 6, p.24); "Should you ask why we differ from other Christians, as they are called, it is simply because they are not Christians as the New Testament defines Christianity" (Journal of Discourses 10:230).

Orson Pratt proclaimed: "Both Catholics and Protestants are nothing less than the 'whore of Babylon' whom the Lord denounces by the mouth of John the Revelator as having corrupted all the earth by their fornications and wickedness. Any person who shall be so corrupt as to receive a holy ordinance of the Gospel from the ministers of any of these apostate churches will be sent down to hell with them, unless they repent" (The Seer, p. 255).

Orson Pratt also said: "This great apostasy commenced about the close of the first century of the Christian era, and it has been waxing worse and worse from then until now" (Journal of Discourses
, vol.18, p.44) and: "But as there has been no Christian Church on the earth for a great many centuries past, until the present century, the people have lost sight of the pattern that God has given according to which the Christian Church should be established, and they have denominated a great variety of people Christian Churches, because they profess to be ...But there has been a long apostasy, during which the nations have been cursed with apostate churches in great abundance" (Journal of Discourses , 18:172).

President John Taylor stated: "Christianity...is a perfect pack of nonsense...the devil could not invent a better engine to spread his work than the Christianity of the nineteenth century." (Journal of Discourses , vol. 6, p.167); "Where shall we look for the true order or authority of God? It cannot be found in any nation of Christendom." (Journal of Discourses , 10:127).

James Talmage said: "A self-suggesting interpretation of history indicates that there has been a great departure from the way of salvation as laid down by the Savior, a universal apostasy from the Church of Christ". (A Study of the Articles of Faith, p.182).

President Joseph Fielding Smith said: "Doctrines were corrupted, authority lost, and a false order of religion took the place of the gospel of Jesus Christ, just as it had been the case in former dispensations, and the people were left in spiritual darkness." (Doctrines of Salvation, p.266). "For hundreds of years the world was wrapped in a veil of spiritual darkness, until there was not one fundamental truth belonging to the place of salvation ...Joseph Smith declared that in the year 1820 the Lord revealed to him that all the 'Christian' churches were in error, teaching for commandments the doctrines of men" (Doctrines of Salvation, vol. 3, p.282).

More recent statements by apostle Bruce McConkie are also very clear: "Apostasy was universal...And this darkness still prevails except among those who have come to a knowledge of the restored gospel" (Doctrines of Salvation, vol 3, p.265); "Thus the signs of the times include the prevailing apostate darkness in the sects of Christendom and in the religious world in general" (The Millennial Messiah, p.403); "a perverted Christianity holds sway among the so-called Christians of apostate Christendom" (Mormon Doctrine, p.132); "virtually all the millions of apostate Christendom have abased themselves before the mythical throne of a mythical Christ whom they vainly suppose to be a spirit essence who is incorporeal uncreated, immaterial and three-in-one with the Father and Holy Spirit" (Mormon Doctrine, p.269); "Gnosticism is one of the great pagan philosophies which antedated Christ and the Christian Era and which was later commingled with pure Christianity to form the apostate religion that has prevailed in the world since the early days of that era." (Mormon Doctrine, p.316).

President George Q. Cannon said: "After the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was organized, there were only two churches upon the earth. They were known respectively as the Church of the Lamb of God and Babylon. The various organizations which are called churches throughout Christendom, though differing in their creeds and organizations, have one common origin. They all belong to Babylon" (Gospel Truth, p.324).

President Wilford Woodruff stated: "the Gospel of modern Christendom shuts up the Lord, and stops all communication with Him. I want nothing to do with such a Gospel, I would rather prefer the Gospel of the dark ages, so called" (Journal of Discourses , vol. 2, p.196).

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Ezra Taft Benson

MITT ROMNEY - THE PROVEN BAD GOVERNOR