Posted on 06/29/2012 10:02:42 PM PDT by RnMomof7
Is America ready for its first all-Mormon-raised ticket? We're not talking Romney-Huntsman; we're talking Romney-Rubio. Buzzfeed reports that Marco Rubio, the GOP star senator from Florida, was baptized into the Church of the Latter-Day Saints when he was 8, and remained "active in the faith for a number of years during his early youth," according to family members, and confirmed by the Rubio camp. The family converted after moving near close relatives, the Denises, who had joined the church in the seventies. But Rubio's father, a bartender also named Marco, never converted himself; he "had little use for a religion that promoted a strict code of moral conduct that seemed at odds with the way he made a living."
The conversion didn't take for the whole family, ultimately, and Marco Jr. was supposedly a big part of that. He'd been the most enthusiastic convert to Mormonism, but then, according to his cousins, was also behind the family's return to their Catholic roots. Rubio, the likely favorite for the vice-presidential slot, received his Catholic First Communion at the age of 13. So what's the big deal? Take it away, Buzzfeed:
The revelation adds a new dimension to Rubio's already-nuanced religious history — and could complicate his political future at a time when many Republicans see him as the odds-on favorite for the 2012 vice presidential nod. Vice presidential candidates are traditionally chosen to provide ethnic and religious balance to a ticket. Mitt Romney's Mormonism and Rubio's Catholic faith would already mean the first two members of minority traditions on a Republican ticket in American history. Rubio's Mormon roots could further complicate that calculation.
A sign that Rubio's aides see the story as potentially damaging: BuzzFeed's inquiries appear to have sent them into frantic damage-control mode, and after email inquiries from BuzzFeed — but minutes before Conant responded with a phone call this morning — a brief item appeared on the blog of the Miami Herald mentioning the Senator's religious past.
So the question now looks something like this: Would "secret Mormon" be as politically damaging as "secret Muslim"? Probably not: First of all, it's no longer secret, and even if the fact that Rubio selectively edited his biography to leave that chapter out raises some eyebrows and suggests it's something he finds politically damaging, it's harder for fringe conspiracy theorists (and scruple-free campaign operatives) to really do their thing with something that's out in the open as a fact. And Romney's rise to prominence within the GOP, though not without its bumps, proves that prejudice against Mormons isn't as intractable as prejudice against Muslims. Besides, even in Rubio's enthusiastic Mormon moment, when, as his cousin Michelle said, he was "totally into it," he was someone the GOP base could love. "He's always been into religion. Football and religion. Those were his things."
It’s especially silly if you ask me.
Repost from February?
Since he isn’t constitutionally eligible I don’t see how this matters.
Rubio is a Catholic.
Yea a catholic still on the rolls of the LDS
Well I would not vote for one Mormon.. certainly not
Well I would not vote for one Mormon.. certainly not 2
and so it begins....the dims are the lowest of the low.
Remember folks few in Germany wanted to defend or protect the Jews ( or true Christians for that matter)......and when they came for me no one was left....
Is America ready for its first all-Mormon-raised ticket?
Better then the Mulsim/Moron ticket the Democrats put up!
What a foolish stretch.
So he was LDS when he was a little kid for 3 or 4 years. Apparently even when young he decided that his family needed to be united in their faith and so they returned to Catholicism and he took communion at 13 years.
Anyone wanting to make an issue out of this, especially to try and indicate he is somehow “bad” becasue as a child he was LDS, is simply playing a biogot card and it will backfire badly on them.
Most Americans are a whole lot more reasobnable than that, and well they should be.
Your so right! AMEN!
I agree with you Jeff. This entire thread is foolish.
From age 8 to 12 he was a mormon.
At 13 he went back to Catholicism.
Which choice do you dispute , his choice as a child or as an adult?
Some times I think Obama could be the first Pentecostal President because he speaks in tongues.
Ummm...Errr.. Ahhh..
So the current occupant of the White House used to be a Muslim and then converted to an antisemitic, Black racist “church”.
This is the kind of thing written by people who neither know or care about religion.
Oh, come on! We’ve all dabbled in Mormon membership at some time or other, haven’t we?
Elementary school kids don’t dabble in religions. I was baptized Catholic but from 8-12, I attended the local Presbyterian church because my parents were not married in the Church at the time. When they did, I became Catholic.
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