Mormons and Michiganders against Romney

24 July 2008 @ 11:48 am | 6 comments

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It now seems clear that the recent McCain VP buzz was just supposed to keep the senator on the front page rather than actually crash Obama’s world parade. However, as the Romney name keeps getting mentioned, some interesting people are starting to push back on a Romney VP pick.

Speaking as a Mormon, Orson Scott Card “begs” McCain to not commit political suicide by picking a Mormon as his VP.

What is he going to bring you? Utah? You have Utah already.

What Mitt Romney would do, as your vice presidential candidate, is weaken you in areas that you absolutely must carry: The South and the Bible Belt.

You cannot afford to underestimate the number of people who will never vote for a ticket that includes a Mormon. . .

When you consider that in the South, the black vote will — understandably! — be energized and turn out in record numbers, the last thing you need is for the Evangelical Christian vote to be unenthusiastic, with large numbers of them sitting it out.

And from Romney’s home state, Michigan Democrats have actually produced a web ad as a preemptive strike against Romney on his biggest strength, his business experience.



I think Romney would make the best VP, but he may not be the best political choice. So OSC’s point is legitimate and pragmatic but a total concession to the crudest of identity politics.

And if the Michigan Democrats really think Romney is such a bad pick, why are they running ads discouraging McCain to NOT pick him? Somehow I don’t think they have McCain’s best interests in mind.

(Possibly) Related posts:

  1. It’s Not Romney?!
  2. A candidate’s take on the Republican primary
  3. McCain never really considered Romney?

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  1. Chris H.’s avatar

    Chris H. on 24 July 2008 at 12:44 pm

    Orson Scott Card’s comment on Romney is grossly simplistic. This seems to be norm with him as of late. He should stick with b-list fiction.

  2. DavidH’s avatar

    DavidH on 24 July 2008 at 1:21 pm

    Actually, Card is probably right. If, as Card theorizes, it is important for McCain to re-energize the GOP base, he should probably select Huckabee as his running mate. This would diminish some of McCain’s LDS support in Utah, though, so that he would likely carry the state only by 75% to 25%, instead of 85% to 15%, but it might be enough to ensure McCain enough additional energized white evangelical conservative voters to carry the south and a few other states. Perhaps selecting Huckabee would be enough even to prod James Dobson beyond considering endorsing McCain to actually doing so.

    Parenthetically, I wonder why Card still registers as a democrat, in light of his almost shrill support of GWB (and McCain) and opposition to the democrats and anyone who expresses reservations about GWB’s foreign policy.

  3. Chris H.’s avatar

    Chris H. on 24 July 2008 at 2:27 pm

    I think he is trying to bring back the George Wallace wing of the party. Zell Miller failed, so will he.

  4. smallsimple.wordpress.com’s avatar

    smallsimple.wordpress.com on 24 July 2008 at 2:38 pm

    I am a Mormon, and I live in Michigan. I would be thrilled to see Romney as the VP candidate. But I am afraid Card is right.

    I agree that the add in Michigan is really odd considering that Romney isn’t even on the ticket.

  5. TrevorM’s avatar

    TrevorM on 24 July 2008 at 3:44 pm

    Wow Chris, ad hominem today no?

  6. Chris H.’s avatar

    Chris H. on 24 July 2008 at 10:13 pm

    TrevorM,

    You are probably right.

    He visited our campus last year and I no longer take him seriously. I particularly take issue with warmongering homophobes who claim to be Mormon Democrats. We have enough problems.

    That was probably more ad hominem. If anything, this was all a nicer versions of what I really think.