Wow. I didn’t see this one coming. But the media will do whatever they can to attack Mitt Romney.
I’ve seen, heard, and read a lot of discomfort with Romney’s Mormonism from Christians but I’ve gotta’ admit that US News reporting that Romney is hangin’ too much with the papists and it’s making evangelicals jealous is a new one.
Romney now runs the risk of “screwing this up,” a prominent evangelical activist told me Monday.
The evangelical concern is being reinforced because Romney seems to be far more interested in wooing Catholics than Christian conservatives, who have been a strong force in Republican politics for many years. Romney has named a number of high-profile Catholics to speak at the Republican National Convention here this week, including Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey, Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, and Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York, who will give the final benediction Thursday night.
Dolan is head of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Romney also named Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, another Catholic, as his vice presidential running mate and Ryan will also give a prime-time speech.On Wednesday night, Republican sources said it was possible that Mike Huckabee, the TV commentator, former governor of Arkansas and a Christian conservative, would be given a prime-time speaking slot. If that happened, it would help soothe evangelicals, who might feel that “at least it’s not a complete shutout,” a long-time evangelical activist told me.
Look, I haven’t seen any great concern that Romney’s hanging with Catholics too much. The media can always find some nameless source to trash Romney.
I’ve seen some express Protestants say that it’s kind of weird that there’s no Protestants on either the GOP or Dem ticket because Biden and Ryan are Catholic, Romney’s Mormon, and Obama is a…oh wait. He says he’s a Christian so never mind…everything’s alright.
