Because Jim Bopp and some other leading Christian right activists are advancing the candidacy of former Gov. Mitt Romney in the 2008 presidential race, I can't help but chuckle about the latest brouhaha raised by some over the polygamy practiced by Romney's ancestors. Keep in mind Bopp is urging social conservatives to support Romney, in part, because of his opposition to gay marriage.
It seems the great-grandfather of Gov. Mitt Romney, Miles Romney, married his fifth wife more than 6 years after the Mormon church banned polygamy and long after it had been outlawed in this country by a federal law (Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act) signed by President Abraham Lincoln in 1862. His great-great grandfather, Parley Pratt, actually topped that number with 12 wives. The Pratt family actually defended the practice of polygamy as a direct revelation from God. The Romney family fled in the late 1800s to Mexico to escape prosecution. That's where Mitt Romney's father, George, was born, who later went on to become governor of Michigan and was once considered a leading GOP presidential contender. Unlike Mitt, Gov. George Romney was a progressive Republican on social issues in the true tradition of the Republican Party.
An AP story notes that Gov. Romney's wife, Ann, makes light of his family's polygamist past by noting that unlike contenders Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and former New York Mayor Rudy Guiliani, her husband has had only one wife. The Romney campaign wouldn't provide a comment to the AP for the story about the family tree.
10 comments:
nitpick: how could Daddy George Romney be a contender for the Presidential race if he were born outside of the USA in Mexico?
Because his parents were U.S. citizens. I assume the laws were similar to what they are now and allowed baby Romney to be declared a U.S. citizen because he just happened to be born outside the country while his parents were temporarily away.
from the US Constitution:
"No person except a natural born citizen, or a citizen of the United States, at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the office of President;..."
'Ahnold' is a US citizen - what is his problem then?
A "natural born" citizen is not defined in the constitution. It is, however, defined in the Immigration and Naturalization Act and it includes the children of U.S. citizens born abroad. Schwarzenegger, by comparison, is defined as a naturalized citizen, under that same act and, therefore, ineligible to run for president.
Makes sense now! Thanks ... it helps to have an expert in a field answer the questions.
Your fanaticism shows again, Gary. If the deeds of our grandparents are now reason to judge us as candidates, then we have truly hit a new standard in politics. Heck, my own grandfather, on at least one side, was a hero. So maybe I should run for office by your standard.
And by the way, I'd bet very big money that your own grandfathers (both of them) were adamently opposed to homosexuality. Forget the whole marriage question! That probably never even crossed their minds. So let's think about this. Such views make a person an anti-gay bigot, according to the rash of your recent posts. And since this post puts forth the notion that our grandfathers' view apply to us, I guess that also makes YOU an anti-gay bigot.
How interesting. How very, very interesting.
So this should be our strategy. FOrget the current bow-to-Bauer strategy.
Gays should come out in favor of multiple same-sex spouses. I'll have four, thank you very much.
anon 1:08, First of all, it was Romney and his wife who first injected his family's past into the presidential race by making light-hearted jokes about it as noted in the AP story. Secondly, it is the religious right that is getting all worked up about it. These folks who are constantly bashing same-sex marriage like to warn us that allowing them will lead to polygamy.
"These folks who are constantly bashing same-sex marriage like to warn us that allowing them will lead to polygamy."
And it should. If government has no business telling adults who they can and cannot marry when it comes to gender, it has no business telling people they can't wed more than one person either.
The Romneys have a lot of nerve dragging up Guiliani's and McCain's prior marriages given his past history of lying about his position on hot button social issues to please his audience, in addition to his family's past issue with polygamy.
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