I Don't Like You Either.

Eyebrow-Raising Stuff

BN-POLITICS. Damozel is out of town, so PBSmind and I are covering.  Eyebrow-raising stuff has transpired.  Here are some highlights:

Tim Griffin: Former Rove Aide Leaves Justice for Presidential Campaign?

BN-POLITICS BY D CUPPLES.   Tim Griffin, protégé of Karl Rove and Interim U.S. Attorney in Arkansas, said he will resign from the U.S. Attorney's office--even after Bud Cummins got kicked out to make room for him.  Rumor has it that Fred Thompson (character actor, former U.S. Senator and possible 2008 presidential candidate) is considering Griffin for a spot in his campaign.

House Republicans Plot to Slip Senate the Big Blue One

BN-POLTICS BY D CUPPLES.   As the Senate struggles with the immigration bill, some House members lay in wait--wringing hands and dabbing drool--for the opportunity to "blue slip" the bill.  Read about it on Buck Naked Politics.

R-Candidates Rely on Discredited War-Rhetoric

AT BN-POLTICS BY D CUPPLES  They aren't old enough for Alzheimer's, yet they speak with no hint of short-term memory--making themselves easy targets for ridicule. According to the Boston Globe, Republican presidential candidates are falling back on President Bush's war rhetoric, including simplistic sound bytes that have been repeatedly doused with doubt . . . .

Continued at Buck Naked Politics

Limousine Conservatives.

The Gun-Toting Liberal (that card-carrying member of both the ACLU and the NRA)  points out that while Republicans can't seem to stop talking about Hollywood/Limousine Liberals and how Sean Penn needs to shut up, they make whatever use of Hollywood types (when they can find any) to promote their own causes.   

[quote begins from The Gun Toting Liberal:  Hollywood's Loudest Critics Are Predictably Turning Once Again to (You Guessed It) Hollywood for Their Leadership]

Preserving Purity. Should Liberals Try to Protect Young Women from Themselves?

Among my some of my favorite liberals, there is currently a debate raging over whether there should be an age of consent for a young "girl gone wild" to pull her shirt up for free while in an impaired state.

Jon Swift Has Not Actually Read this Book Either.

Jon Swift, that reasonable conservative,  discusses  why Mitt Romney---despite Mr. Swift's initial reservations----would, after all, make a great president.   The following is a short excerpt from the article (which you will of course wish to read).

[quote from excerpted material from Will Mitt Romney Take Battlefield Earth to the Whitehouse? by Jon Swift May 2, 2007]

[W]hen Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney revealed that his favorite novel was Battlefield Earth, written by Church of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, many were puzzled. Few understood why he would pick this science-fiction pulp novel over a more respectable American classic. It seems unlikely that his campaign had not anticipated this question and that he had actually answered spontaneously. Clearly, he was sending supporters a coded message. But what was it? Was his answer a calculated bid for lucrative Scientology funding? Was he trying to appeal to conservative bloggers who are overwhelmingly made up of single white male science-fiction fans who live in their parents basements? Was he signaling a break with President Bush, who prefers slim intellectual volumes like Albert Camus' The Stranger, by citing a 1,000-page low-brow bestseller?...

I have not actually read Battlefield Earth**, but I did manage to stay awake through part of the movie, which starred John Travolta, and I have skimmed a summary of the plot. From what I was able to learn about the book, however, it's easy to why it might appeal to someone like Romney and the insights I have gained from this choice reassures me that he would make a great President....

[T]he parallels between the book and our current situation are uncanny.   The Psychlos want to fight the terrorists on Earth so that they don't have to fight them at home. And they are not above using enhanced interrogation techniques to stop them. The terrorists, however, plan to send radioactive dirty bombs to the Psychlos' home world. Can the Psychlos defeat the terrorists on Earth before they follow the Psychlos home? Or will traitorous Psychlos give up and declare the war is lost like Harry Reid, who also happens to be a Mormon, though for some reason he has not been excommunicated yet. I'm afraid I couldn't tell you what happens at the very end of Battlefield Earth because I couldn't make it through the movie or the summary....

Of course, Battlefield Earth is just a "fun book," as Romney called it, so I don't want to make too much of it. But I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't get a few pointers from the Psychlos about how to run America if he is elected President. Like a lot of members of the Christian Right, I was a bit nervous about Romney, afraid that he might want to take the oath of office on the Book of Mormon or that he might try to pass a law forcing everyone to wear magic underwear, but now that he has revealed Battlefield Earth is his favorite novel (and that the Bible and not the Book of Mormon is his favorite book) I'm reassured that he is just the kind of man we need to fight the terrorists. Isn't it great that we are finally learning something important about the candidates?

**Fans of Mr. Swift will be familiar with his political book  reviews (now, sadly, removed from Amazon, but preserved at his blog here.)   

---from Jon Swift, Will Mitt Romney Take Battlefield Earth to the Whitehouse?

Althouse (and Chris Mathews) on Romney. Does religious faith have relevance?

NOTE:  REVISED/EDITED AT 5 PM OF THE SAME DAY (IN ORDER TO CLARIFY).

Ms. Althouse  weighs in after live blogging the Republican debate at the request of her many readers.  Among other things she says:

Ann Althouse at ALTHOUSE excerpt from "Simulblogging the Republican Debate," May 3, 2007.

Romney is asked about religion, and he is speaking very well about it. Matthews keeps asking the question about whether religious faith has any relevance to the presidential race. The right answer here is rather obvious, and I think everyone on the stage knows what it is. A person's religious faith gives rise to values that matter in public life, but which religion it is doesn't matter and we shouldn't argue about that. It's really just a matter of saying that in a clear and inspiring way: America is great because of our religious tolerance, etc.

Romney lights into Patrick Fitzgerald and the way he went after Scooter Libby. I like the way Romney is cool and controlled but gets passionate -- in a controlled way -- when it goes with his issue. Or do you think he's too slick? I think he's doing well. He's seems ready to play the role of candidate. Republicans ought to want to take advantage of that.

[quote ends]

I'm not sure that which religion doesn't matter. It might matter .  For example, I wouldn't vote for someone who belonged to a small sect of right-wing Christians who wanted to turn America into a theocracy as in The Handmaid's Tale.  I wouldn't vote for someone whose more conventional religious beliefs included the notion that women do not belong in the workplace.  I'd prefer not to vote for someone who opposes gay marriage (though I doubt that I am going to have a choice on that issue).  To know about values, you may need information about the person's specific beliefs.

Like most people, I don't know much about Mormons except that the ones I've personally met here in Florida  are exceedingly kind and lovely people and that many Mormons live in Utah.   I have a general idea of what most Christian denominations or sects believe.  I've acquired a great deal of information about the Mormons from people who used to be, but no longer are, Mormons (and who generally present a very negative view of them) which I can't in good conscience count as "knowing much about the Mormons."  The current Mormons I've met don't really talk much about the things I really would like to know about. 

I don't think it's out of line to ask what being a believing Mormon means about the person's values, which is exactly the same question as "questions about values."   People really creep around the whole Mormon issue and there are some things I've read that definitely give me pause.

Just to lay my cards on the table: Romney's Mormonism matters to me only because he is also a Republican, and the Republicans have shown a tolerance for faith-based politics that doesn't sit well with me.  If he were a Democrat, I wouldn't be concerned.  ("Two words," hissed one of my friends, "HAROLD FORD."  Okay, I wouldn't be AS concerned.

So yes, it matters to me what Romney, a Mormon, thinks on specific issues where policies that I support conflict with his religious beliefs.