Biden defends Romney's Mormon faith

[rug]

(2011-11-04)

(Reuters) Vice President Joe Biden defended Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney over his Mormon faith on Friday, saying it was "outrageous" for anyone to suggest he should not be president because of his religion.

With a new Reuters/Ipsos poll showing President Barack Obama facing a tough fight for re-election next year if Romney is the Republican nominee, Biden acknowledged the former Massachusetts governor "may very well be our opponent."

Biden weighed in on the issue of Romney's Mormonism after a controversy over an evangelical Texas pastor's comments last month. The Democratic vice president also referred to opinion polls that have shown concern among some voters about Romney's faith.

"I find it preposterous that in 2011 we're debating whether or not a man is qualified or worthy of your vote based on whether or not his religion ... is a disqualifying provision," Biden told an audience at the University of Pittsburgh.

http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/wkno/news.newsmain/article/0/14/1871690/Reuters.News/Biden.defends.Romney's.Mormon.faith

[Cirque du So-What]

1. There are any number of good reasons why Mitt der Shitt should not be president

His religion is not one of them. If repug bigots cannot bring themselves to vote for him because he's a Mormon, well, that's their business. Good for Joe Biden for rubbing their noses in their own bigotry!

[Name removed]

6. Deleted message

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[Jim__]

2. "Our opponent?" Hmmmmm ...

Has anyone else thought that Obama might shore up the ticket with a different vice presidential candidate?

[monmouth]

4. President Obama has stated he wanted Biden..n/t

[monmouth]

3. I so well remember what JFK had to go through because of being Catholic.

The WASPS were outraged, especially with the "dirty Irish" background. They were very nasty back then too. The Irish in this country really had his back and we were proud to do so.. Good on ya Joe, he remembers also.

[NMMNG]

5. Would Biden be giving such a strong defense

of a Muslim, a Pagan or an atheist? Supposedly the person's religion isn't supposed to matter but the truth is that if you're not a Christian (preferably of the right flavor) you don't get to play.

[rug]

8. I'm pretty sure he would.

[NMMNG]

11. I'm pretty sure he wouldn't

We've all seen how much effort every presidential candidate puts into proving how Christian they are. We witnessed how Obama bent over backwards to distance himself from accusations that he was a Muslim and an atheist (as if there's anything wrong with either). There's not a snowball's chance in Yuma, AZ, that a non-Christian would be elected president--or even stand a fair chance--in the near future in this nation.

[rug]

13. Maybe some atheists should run openly. Then we'll see.

[NMMNG]

14. We've already seen what happens

when atheists run for public office.

[rug]

15. The logic of that is that atheists either should not run for public office or

lie about their beliefs and run.

[NMMNG]

17. That's the quandry our biased society presents

Technically there's "no religious test". However nobody gets into any position of real importance without proving how very Christian they are. Candidates must convert (or fake it very well) or they don't stand a chance at the prize. It's essentially the same situation gay people are thrust into--pretend to be heterosexual to please the anti-gay majority or suffer the consequences.

[beam me up scottie]

10. If he did it would be political suicide.

Some animals are more equal than others.

[sofa king]

7. Now THAT is one sly-ass political move.

Clearly, Joe Biden is aware of a recent study from Nyhan and Reifler:

http://www.dartmouth.edu/~nyhan/nyhan-reifler.pdf

Results indicate that corrections frequently fail to reduce misperceptions among the
targeted ideological group. We also document several instances of a “backfire effect” in
which corrections actually increase misperceptions among the group in question.

The group in question, specifically, is conservatives. In fact, only conservatives demonstrate regular susceptibility to the "backfire effect." It's one of the things that makes them so special.

It works like this:

* Conservative a-hole smears someone with misinformation.

* Liberal comes forward to refute the smear.

* Conservative voters become more convinced that the smear is true.

Because, as you know, right-wing authoritarians are pretty stupid.

So in this case, Joe Biden is actually reinforcing the smear against Romney, by saying it's "preposterous" (a nice, librul-ass, multisyllabic word choice, too).

Biden's defense of Romney will actually make more of the knuckle-draggers distrust Romney. And it's all about trust for those poor souls, because they can't think things out for themselves.

At the same time, he sounds perfectly reasonable to everyone who isn't going to vote for a Republican, anyway.

That is some slick maneuvering, there. And as long as I write it here, none of them will ever believe it happened. Cool.

[mr_liberal]

9. He's keeping the issue alive.

I hope thats what he's doing because that is a good sign for the general election and Obama's chances to be re=elected.

This is one of Romneys biggest weak spots. It must be used if we are going to beat him.

[struggle4progress]

16. ... response to a student's question ...

... "I find it preposterous that in 2011 we're debating whether or not a man is qualified or worthy of your vote based on whether or not his religion ... is a disqualifying provision," Biden told an audience at the University of Pittsburgh.

"It is not. It is embarrassing and we should be ashamed, anyone who thinks that way," he said in a long response to a student's question about how his own religious faith affected his philosophy of government.

Biden, who is Catholic, cited the prejudice John F. Kennedy faced in his run for the presidency in 1960, which he said had "totally legitimized" Catholics for high U.S. public office ...

Biden defends Romney's Mormon faith
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/04/us-usa-campaign-biden-romney-idUSTRE7A371Q20111104

[ChadwickHenryWard]

12. I think that depends.

How strongly does he believe it? Glen Beck, for example, is not qualified to be President, largely due to his apocalyptic shtick. Maintaining a bunker in your basement and stockpiling canned goods is not sane, and that's not any less true because it's his religious belief.

I don't think Romney believes in the apocalypse, though. Truth be told, I don't think Romney believes in anything. So "Mormon" is just a label. And when it's about labels, and not ideas, that's simple bigotry.