RNC chair says Romney's faith hurt him

Steele should resign, or be forced out. He is getting Biden-esque in his gaffing.

[I am a conservative Independent] The base of the repub party is conservatives, not religious bigots, as Steele and this blog item imply. The Mormons are probably the most conservative living folk in the country, it pains me as a Catholic to admit, since we had that role in the 1950's. Utah and Idaho are 2 of the most reliably Christiah states in the union. Mormons were helpful in preserving traditional marriage in that most untraditional state, CA.
As a Christian, I find Mormon theology odd at best, but as Romney said many times, he was not running for Theologian in Chief. He no more than the Deist Jefferson nor the 'Catholic'
Kennedy governed the nation according to their religious preference, but from their perception of the common good.
I think the caller noted in the article was right, that either Romney would have beaten Obama, or made it much closer than McCain. The principle factor why McCain lost was the tanking of the economy when he was ahead in August/September, and McCain said some dumb things. The recession would have played right into executively experienced Romney's hands, since if nothing else his career in high finance, running the olympics, and governing MA despite the spendthrift dem majorities would have looked good against the wet behind the ears Obama. McCain also lost because Obama clobbered him in the debates with his loquacity, whereas Romney is a much better speaker than McCain. And yes, some people do go on looks, and Romney is at least as handsome as Obama, whereas McCain looked worn, older than his stated age.

What hurt Romney the most was his move from being a centrist conservative to kowtowing to the extreme right weirdos and re-creating himself as someone just as weird as the wing-nut right.

Before he was an appealing realist, after he was just another anti-thinker like all the other so called "Christians."

Who's the real Mitt? I'm not sure even Mitt knows.

I echo gaudete's comments. Steele has been an unmitigated disaster for the GOP especially at a critical time when the GOP really needs to find itself and tell the country what it stands for.

As a social & fiscal conservative, as well as a practicing Roman Catholic, it pains me to see this once great nation going down the toilet because of the unending political correctness, lack of moral and fiscal leadership, as well as the fear of tackling the most pressing issues which too many people both in Washington and on Beacon Hill are afraid to face because they're afraid of "offending someone".

Like gaudete, I have trouble understanding the Mormon faith yet no one can deny that they have a reputation for being extremely hard working, faithful, and family oriented.

Where does Mitt get his reputation from? He reduced republican support in the BAy State to microscopic levelss- his handpicked successor was crushed- the only acheivement he claims is a health care plan that he would call socilalist if it happened to some other governor. Surrounded himself with campaign dingbats. Spent $40 million on a presidential campaign to to achieve........nothing. Thought he was supposed to be good with money but we can all see that was a myth too (somebody else at Bain must have really been making the investment decisions)

The reason why Romney slapped Steele about the comments is because Mitt cannot, has no plans to, move away from LDS, so don't insinuate to the base that's what the problem is. Given the only other option Mitt thinks he can, however, convince the base he isn't the unctious, slimeball they believe he is.

I'm a Christian. I'm a thinker. I'm not an extreme, right wing weirdo. I voted for McCain, but I would have voted for Romney or whatever idiot the republicans threw out there. Lighten up Francis! I mean CJ

I stipulate to everything APC said in comment 4; however, he was/is still better than any conceivable democrat, both here in the People's Republic, and on the national scene, with their french revolutionary like unanimity and unstoppability of one party.

Think god they didn't pick him otherwise I would bore to death already.

Hey Steele, maybe he lost because he talks out of bouth sides of his mouth and is the ultimate flip flopper.

Once upon a time he was pro-choice. Once upon roughly the same time he said he would be a better advocate for gay rights than Senator Kennedy. I predict that before the 2012 campaign rolls out he'll come out as a Methodist.

I don't think people cared that Mitt is a Mormon. I think they cared that he's a phony and an empty suit.

Republican primary voters made the best choice they possibly could in John McCain. He was a semi-moderate candidate running in a Democratic year. Romney would have been smoked in the general election

I give Mitt Romney credit for sticking by his religion and staying true to his faith despite the media's attempt to turn up the heat on Mormonism. Contrast that with Obama's weak-kneed behavior. Obama not only repudiated his pastor, he stopped going to his longtime church.

Romney did not lose because he was a Mormon. He finished second in a competitive primary involving 10 candidates. He collected over 4.2 million votes. He won 11 state primaries and caucuses. And he is the presumptive frontrunner in 2012.

It's amazing Romney went as far as he did in 2008, starting out as a little-known governor to giving John McCain a credible and serious challenge. Ultimately, Republicans in 2008 did what they usually do - they nominated the person thought to be next in line, John McCain.

The flipflopping line is just out-and-out silliness. He changed on one issue of significance - abortion. Lately, Democratic politicians like Howard Dean and John Baldacci have gone from anti-gay marriage to pro-gay marriage. Does the media tag them as flipfloppers? No, of course not. They celebrate their conversion as an enlightened moment. The double standard is really quite breathtaking.

Steele is certainly a disappointment. But then again... so is the entire Republican Party... so I guess you could say Steele is a perfect fit.

Romney was never pro-the-choice-for-abortion. What he said was, that, unfortunately, abortion on demand was the current law of the land, and that it was his unfortunate duty, as chief executive officer of this hellhole of a state, to enforce the current law, while working toward its change. This is different from the 'personally opposed, buts' from T.Moore Kennedy on down, who not only accept the current law, but cheerlead it and seek to expand it, an abortion in every pot.

I don't see the double standard that kfb12 sees on the flip-flopping issue. Mitt Romney changed his positions (and there are examples beyond abortion) specifically in order to be perceived differently by what he calculated to be the base that would get him the nomination. I'll leave Howard Dean alone for the moment, but Gov. Baldacci can by no means be said to have changed his position in order to win future elections. He stuck his neck out for what he came to believe was right. There was no similar recognizable path of discernment traveled by Mr. Romney.

I believe that the Republican Party is poised to remake itself, as it should, into something that looks more like the Grand Old Party that existed before its political strategists realized they could scare people to the polls and win elections with wedge social issues that were wholly unrelated to the really important political issues of the day -- like economic or foreign policy, or health care. If such a makeover is successful, does anyone really think Mr. Romney’s talking points in 2012 will be the same as they were in 2008? Highly doubtful.

gaudete you are a breath of fresh air (sort of)! As a liberal independent, I've often gotten the impression that the conservatives have been completely taken over by the ultra-religious. I liked Romney and McCain as I found them to be a little more moderate in their thinking, and I just assumed that the Republican party would reject them for that. It's good to know that there are a few Republicans who don't vote how their cross tells them to vote. While I'm sure I'd disagree with a ton of your views, I'm just glad to hear that someone is conservative because their conservative, not just because they have "faith". One thing I'll never understand though, is how the faithful freak out over a gay person, but extreme violence hardly registers with them. There's a commandment about not killing, and no commandment about gay people, yet a conservative will go to war and wipe out a civilization in a heartbeat, and spend their remaining time yelling about gays. I dunno. I don't think I'll ever get that one...

Michael Steele was an awful Lt. Governor in Maryland and he's been a terrible Chair of the RNC...Absolutely no brains or charisma, not to mention mini-scandals all over the place in Prince George's County (MD). However, he's telling the truth. No offense to Mormons, but the born-again Christians are simply uncomfortable about having a Mormon as a President. Romney won in Massachusetts by being a Rockefeller Republican and then changed his stripes to be accepted by the right wing of the Republican Party. However, most Republicans didn't buy it nor did they buy Romney.

However, Steele is still an absolute loser and the Republicans can do SO much better.

He lost because he will flip flop and lie about his stand on any issue to adapt to whoever he's speaking to. It's like watching a used car salesman run for office - he gives off a slime-energy like no other candidate.

No one from MA can look at his Presidential campaign positions, compare them to his MA positions and not laugh out loud. The funniest one is when he takes Obama to task for proposing a health care plan that REQUIRES people to buy health insurance. Doh!

In response to BostonJPguy:

Baldacci was against gay marriage when it suited his purpose to be against it, and then changed when it was politically convenient for him to change.

Romney was never an abortion champion to begin with; when he ran for governor, he said he did not want to be labeled "pro-choice." His deal with the voters is that he would protect the status quo on abortion, not add to the laws but not subtract from them either.

In 2005, he fully embraced the prolife cause after he researched the issues underlying the embryonic cloning debate in Massachusetts, a period that had him meeting with scientists, clergy and ethicists. His conversion path is much more compelling than Baldacci's

I notice that liberals are also blind when it comes to President Obama's many changes of position. For partial birth abortion, then against it. For DC gun ban, then against it. For immediate troop withdrawal in Iraq, then against it. Against military tribunals, now for it. Just last week at his 100 day news conference, CNN's Ed Henry asked Obama if the Freedom of Choice Act is still his highest legislative priority, as he stated during the campaign, and Obama answered, "no." Not a word was written about it the next day.

I used to live in Boston, now I live in the deep South. Believe me, the Baptists and Evangelical based had a HUGE problem with Mitt Romney because he WAS Mormon. They have been against Mormons for years thanks to the biased conditioning of their pastors. IMHO it will take the endorsement of the Dobson or other so called Christian leaders to get Romney elected. I hope they have learned their lesson by not voting for Romney because now they are fearing losing their religion, guns and country.

anyone who thinks Romney lost for anything other than being a Mormon is not being honest with themselves. He was clearly the most experienced Republican running and probably would have done better in the General election than in his own parties Primaries.
While it may not be the case in the Northeast, the National Republican party has been infested by an extreme Christian wing and they absolutely would not vote for a mormon. How else do you think an utter fool like Huckleberry got as far as he did?

What hurt Romney was being a Republican. The angry far-right has completely taken over the party and nobody has the guts to get rid of them. This is Lincoln's party? I don't think so.

I do believe there is a movement underway within today's Republican party attempting to return to some approximation of its original, moderate roots. This is a good thing. The problem is the Rush Limbaughs and Bill O'Reillys, refusing to accept any openness to compromise. Until that element is eliminated the Republican party will continue to be abandoned due to the perception that it is wholly defined by those far-right individuals.

America has moved on and I dearly wish the Republican party would do the same.

I quite agree with Sarah. She is right about the calvinist base of the republican party, baptist and evangelicals are all calvinist deriviatives. Don't take my word for it, ask them your selves.
Calvinists base all their truth and authority on the bible.
Mormon founder Joseph Smith jr. corrected the bible they use, under the guidance of the angel moroni and visits from john the babptist and jesus christ.
No, I am not making this up, it is what they believe.
To babptist and evengelical, mormons are fundmentally the worst kind of heretics. They are the republican base, and when it comes to voting they can not get over this conflict. We modern folk who believe religion is a private affair do not have qualms picturing Romney taking the oath of office on the book of mormon instead of the king james version of the bible. Baptist and evengelicals can not stomach this at all.
Romney would make it to the presidency if he chnaged parties and ran as a democrat. It could happen.

In a way, Romney lost the primaries because Huckabee split the vote, giving McCain big wins in New Hampshire and Florida leading into Super Tuesday. And if McCain had picked Romney instead of Sarah Palin as running mate, then that might have changed the outcome of the general election, because of Romney's reputation on economics.

Either way, Steele should go. You have to be a team player to lead the GOP. Democrats have more latitude but Republicans are supposed to be lock-step.

He looks impecabble all the time. I didnt vote for him becuase their had to be somethong wrong! He must shower with his underwear on?

He lost because he is a congenital liar. People recognized that he doesn't tell the truth about anything: abortion, hunting, family involvement in civil rights marches, his legal residence. He made a speech on faith at A&M which was staged with a production that was so over the top it was unintentionally funny.

The base came away with the image of a guy who does these things, and does them in the service of attempting to impress them as a far-right wing extremist--which:

A. nobody in the base believes because of his self-professed moderation as governor, and
B. everybody can discern as false (as people endowed by their Creator with bs detectors) when they see it.

They match that with his attempts to slick himself up like a HeeHaw star, and they cry foul.

Frank Sullivan said: "America has moved on..." We conservatives agree, America has moved on, further into cultural and civilizational corruption, further on the path toward socialism, further on the path of 'playing God' by manipulating the bases of human life, further into blindness regarding the jihadist threat to kill us (just ask them.' Frank, because some have moved on, we should just shrug our shoulders and let them, at least without a debate?

Michael Steele spoke the trutch as he sees it and even if he has opinions which I mostly disagree, his approach is a breath of fresh air in Spin City. Party loyalty is a ridiculous notion when you think of it. Fewer team players and more straight talkers (what McCain was in 2000, not 2008) and independent thinkers is more of what is needed and maybe the parties like the dinosaurs can die off

Steele dared tell the truth but it's an oversimplification. Policy wise, it came down, yes, to his abortion flip flops and Mormanism seeming mysterious to some and unChristian to others. As a Catholic, I find Mormanism very peculiar, but the bigotry against Mormanism is patently offensive. PBS ran their long documentary on Mormanism and its rise in the middle of primary season which I doubt was a coincidence. (Despite misfires, I do believe that Steele should remain as RNC chair. Misfires though they have been, his every word has been unfairly scrutinized and, yes, I think it has a lot to do with being black and being Republican and the sniveling condescention that ensues.)

But back to Romney: what I haven't heard anyone mention here is the simple fact that Romney is simply not that good a retail campaigner on the national level particular in a campaign that hinged significantly on personality. I supported him and yes, I think his executive, business experience could have helped the country a great deal. But when it came to the give and take of getting out there on the campaign trail, Romney often seemed wooden, fake and overrehearsed. His vignettes on coming around on abortion and his leadership as MA governor seemed to many too convenient and overembelished.

Justin,

Yours may be the simplest, most complete answer of all.

Posted by gaudete May 13, 09 10:51 AM

Gaudete, conservatives talking about "cultural and civilizational corruption" is more than a bit ironic. Your recent administration was the most corrupt in American history, and it was they who chose to "play God" with the lives of as many as 1 million Iraqis - by ending those lives. Jihadist threat to kill us? Your side surrendered to the jihadists when you became the same as they are - religious fanatics who despise liberty and welcome torture and mass death. And given the state of the economy, the last thing this country needs is some second-rate CEO like Mitt Romney in the White House. It was businessmen like Romney that created the conditions that led to the difficulties we now face. Or have you forgotten that Bush has an MBA?