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?
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