8/9/12

ABC: Romney's Dirty Religion Ad

Mitt Romney, who has served as an official of the Mormon church, which pothumously baptizes Jews, knows a thing or two about waging war using religion.

USA Today reported in March 2012 that in the past Romney was, "a Mormon bishop (equivalent to a pastor) and a stake president (presiding over several area congregations) in suburban Belmont, Mass."

In February 2012 Allison Yarrow wrote, "Mormons Still Baptizing Dead Jews Despite Agreements to End Practice":
The Church of Latter-day Saints apologized Tuesday for posthumously baptizing Nazi-hunter Simon Wiesenthal’s parents amidst much Jewish vitriol. But despite more than two decades of negotiations and agreements between the two groups to prevent such baptisms of dead Jews, the practice persists.
The charge that Romney's ad makes against Obama is false and inflammatory, as the ABC report describes. In America, those who use religion as a political weapon, often find that it blows up in their face. We think this ad will backfire and leave Romney's campaign damaged.
Romney ad accuses Obama of waging a ‘war on religion'

Mitt Romney is out with a new television ad that accuses President Barack Obama of declaring a war on religion.

The 30-second spot renews a fight Romney launched against Obama at the height of the GOP primary, when he trashed a provision under the Obama health care law that required religious institutions including schools and hospitals to offer its employees free access to contraception and the morning after pill even if its against their beliefs.

In February, Obama responded to the uproar by signing off on an "accommodation" that exempted religious institutions from the rule by allowing women to get free birth control directly from their insurance provider. But that's not mentioned in the Romney ad, which begins with a narrator asking, "Who shares your values?"

"President Obama used his healthcare plan to declare war on religion, forcing religious institutions to go against their faith," the ad says. "Mitt Romney believes that's wrong."

The spot, jointly paid for by the Romney campaign and the Republican National Committee, is clearly aimed at Catholic voters. It features footage of Romney's recent trip to Poland, including his meeting with former Polish President Lech Walesa—whom, as the ad touts, endorsed Romney's bid for president.

It also features snippets of a speech Romney delivered in Warsaw, in which he touted a historic 1979 mass delivered in the city by Pope John Paul II.

"When religious freedom is threatened, who do you want to stand with?" the ad asks.

The Romney campaign did not say how much it is spending on the ad or where it is airing.

4 comments:

Ariel Sokolovsky said...

>>>"In February, Obama responded to the uproar by signing off on an "accommodation" that exempted religious institutions from the rule by allowing women to get free birth control directly from their insurance provider. But that's not mentioned in the Romney ad, which begins with a narrator asking, "Who shares your values?"<<<
This is deceptive as the exemption is very narrow and doesn't include many religious organizations.
So the Romney's ad is correct.

Nachum said...

Not nearly as bizarre as attending, for decades, the sermons of a man who screams "God damn America."

If you want to play that game.

Tzvee Zahavy said...

The former is a sanctioned formal religious practice. The latter is an act of homiletic rhetoric.

Nachum said...

Whatever gets you through the night- I know that voting Democratic is your most important value.