The American Spectator

WL| 2.14.12 @ 4:51PM

I am not a Romney supporter by any stretch...I want anyone to win except him, in the Republican Nomination....

However, why do you guys always find a way to play along with anyone who is obviously trying to smear Mitt for religious practices of his church???

You are right about Harry Reid, if we assume that this questioning is even legitimate...but I differ from you. If WIESEL was that damned concerned about it, that he only hits Mormon Republicans about it...I am not sure that "you had better well answer it"

This is a boatload of CRAP, and I pray for the day our so-called "conservative" media doesn't give it legitimacy...

Furthermore, I don't remember hearing Mr. Wiesel saying much about Rev. Wright and his Jew Hatred...or Obama and his screw Isreal policies....

Sorry, but I am done being told that Nobel prizes mean something...by the same conservatives who know they DON'T. I am also tired of being told that we have to step into every arena that has been OBVIOUSLY crafted by the Left to take down our people.

WL| 2.14.12 @ 5:03PM

It's almost as bad as watching our conservative media folks talk about how bad the New York times is...(and it IS)....but then get all goo goo eyed and eager to quote from them...

We will always be a SECOND RATE movement...until we stop letting the left yank us around at their behest.

I do want to clarify that I don't have anything against Mr. Wiesel...I understand he has done some wonderful things (and I think the world of the Survivors like him etc etc)...however, I also think what you are doing now is more important.

And right now...he is launching a scurrilous attack on a Republican JUST BECAUSE he is a Republican, and I am SICK OF IT.

Drek| 2.14.12 @ 6:17PM

What gives WL?

It's no big mystery here, it's just that some folks don't cotton to strangers wandering around "baptizing" their deceased near and dear. And rest assured, those getting "baptized" aren't just Jews, but Christians of every denomination.

Romney was ALWAYS going to lose a general.

And by the way, this IS what you term, and properly term: "BAGGAGE!"

WL| 2.15.12 @ 3:52AM

Don't worry Drek...I agree with everything you just said...

I have spent this whole nomination season sending my few bucks to anyone even remotely close to Romney...he's a LOSER...

I don't give a whit about Romney getting smeared necessarily...

I just get aggrevated that we allow the left (in this case, Huffpo) to smear our people (any Repub)...and become complicit in it...

Romney is not that whole church, to be fair.

If we don't circle the wagons against any of the bombs the left throws at us...and we only get mad when it is our guy that gets some crap thrown at him...

The left will hand us our butts every time.

As far as the Baggage...I also know that this will be terrible for Romney in the general...and yes...he will lose because of it. That's why I am hoping somebody beats him.

I know, I know..my points may seem conflicting, but I hope it makes some sense.

Vern Crisler| 2.14.12 @ 5:07PM

It's a smear against Romney, of course. The Mormon religion is a lot of baggage in itself, so Romney would be smart to distance himself as much as possible from Mormonism. Not deny it, of course, for that would seem insincere; just avoid any discussions of his religion.

However, it serves Romney right that the left will turn its smear machine on him, as he's turned his smear machine on others.

WL| 2.14.12 @ 5:19PM

I agree with ALL of your sentiments Vern...
I just get sick of us marching to the beat of the Left's drum.

Drek| 2.14.12 @ 6:20PM

Yes, it's wearisome dancing to a tune played by the Left.

But what choice is there when our leadership consists of one guy apt to go off at any moment on a crying jag, and creatures like Dick Lugar in the Senate. Of course we're screwed.

But the media may have shot their bolt too early.

IF, and this is a big IF, if the rank and file snap out of it and realize at this late date that much more of this garbage is what's in store between now and November, --------- IF they do that the race might narrow to Gingrich v. Santorum.

Now that might be worth the while.

WL| 2.15.12 @ 3:57AM

I see the point...and maybe this will be constructive for our ends...

That would definitely be worth the while.

Bo Darville| 2.15.12 @ 1:36PM

The "mormon baggage" is probably why Mitt pretended to be ok with abortion and stuff like that in Massachusetts.

Vern Crisler| 2.15.12 @ 9:54PM

No, I'm talking about all the oddball theology of Mormonism.

Bill Hussein O'Stalin| 2.14.12 @ 5:20PM

Weisel is a weasel.

Marco2| 2.14.12 @ 8:29PM

Weasel is still alive? Who knew? Still time for the baptism to take. Rick strongly advises Roman Catholicism, of course. What the hell, join up for the great church music, like Newt did.

JJ| 2.15.12 @ 8:40AM

He is not much older than Ron Paul.

Jack in Wi.| 2.14.12 @ 11:09PM

You stole my line Hussain, before I could use it. I don't like Romney and I don't like Weisal. I don't like Weisal playing the Holocaust song and dance 67 years after the fact. He is nothing but a shakedown artist who has been milking it for too long. Next he will demanding reparations from the Mormons. The way the Zionists have been dumping on Romney, it must be that they don't trust him. Well I hope that they are right. If I was Romney I would kick all those neocons, he has stinking up his foreign policy team, right out the door.

Ryan| 2.15.12 @ 8:20AM

Not that I agree with Wiesel specifically here, but your statement about the Holocaust is a little out of line.

No, it shouldn't be "milked" for political gain or anything, but there is also the side that we should never remove any instance of genocide from our consciousness.

I think it comes down to that with the problems I have with the Paulites. Their foreign policy prevents any intervention in genocidal activity which is not in the "best interests" of the US.

Boston Catholic| 2.15.12 @ 8:44AM

Aaron has a great line: "If Elie Wiesel asks you a question then you had better well answer it."

Have you read "Night"?

Elie Weisel embodies a moral force that must be, and deserves to be, reckoned with.

Aaron Goldstein| 2.15.12 @ 3:00PM

Yes, I read it shortly after he won the Nobel.

Drek| 2.14.12 @ 6:09PM

I thought for sure the Dems/media would wait until it was a dead certitude that Romney had sealed the deal before hitting him hard with some of the peculiarities of his mormonism.

But they're not even waiting until Super Tuesday!

I said before that Romney was going to get morphed into Super High Pontiff of all things LDS, and that the media was going to make him answer for every real and perceived misdeed, and make him explain each and every single tenet of mormonism.

They are nothing if not predictable.

Drek| 2.14.12 @ 6:12PM

And I'm sure that Santorum and all of his are just all to pieces over this, they're just crying crocodile tears..........

I'm sure that right now the Santorum folks are rending their garments over this.........

Drek| 2.14.12 @ 6:14PM

And just think too the creatures over at NR went on and on about how electable Romney was!

And all the while, stuff like this was just a waiting to go absolutely viral!

Unbelievable!

Absolutely unbelievable!

Drek| 2.14.12 @ 6:23PM

And AARON,

this isn't something that Romney can "put behind him." This is an action of his faith, and something that hasn't been going on in the 19th century, but going on very much in the present.

There's no defense for this, which means there's no way that it can be "put behind him."

NotALibertarian| 2.14.12 @ 6:31PM

It sounds as though Mr. Wiesel may have too much time on his hands. I mean, for a Holocaust survivor, the guy seems to have lost some perspective, here, no?

Does he have any public comments to offer about the Obama Admin's treatment of Israel, or is it just those insufferable Mormon baptisms that get his goat?

NotALibertarian| 2.14.12 @ 6:32PM

Come to think of it, I believe this kind of public spectacle is also known as "shark-jumping".

RCV| 2.14.12 @ 6:42PM

I respect Ellie Weisel, but really, who cares? If you don't believe what Mormons do, then who cares if they "convert" or "baptize" you or your ancestors? If you do believe what they do, then obviously you'd be pleased.

Dai Alanye| 2.14.12 @ 10:36PM

Perhaps Jews could get even by circumcising deceased Mormons.

Claypoole| 2.15.12 @ 9:04AM

Good one, Dai!

Quartermaster| 2.14.12 @ 7:06PM

I have no respect for Wiesel. As Bill put it, the man is a weasel. His Novel "Night" has long been sold as fact, when it is mostly fiction (there are three versions in different languages and they are all different).

I don't want Mittens to get the nod, but if I were him I'd simply say "I'm not doing and have no control over anyone that may be, if there are people doing it. Peddle your idiocy somewhere else."

Wiesel is not owed an answer by Romney.

Drek| 2.14.12 @ 8:11PM

But it won't just be that morbidly-fixated-on-the- Holocaust-Wiesel who will be doing the demanding of answers.

It will be others.

I don't see how Romney avoids getting morphed into the uber high pontiff of mormonism, and I don't see how he'll avoid giving the answers and the explanations that will surely be demanded of him. Romney is hardly the kind of guy to gut something out. He's no Gingrich.

Recall his answer when queried about contraception during that debate. Did the guy, or did he not, appear ever so ready to fold under questioning.

They're going to push him, they're going to press him, they're going to surround him with creatures repeating variants on the same theme, ----------- and he's going to fold.

And when that happens, ------------------- I hope to God that there are enough of us to demand answers from NR, from Rush, from Hannity, from The Weekly Standard, from Ingraham and Coulter. I hope to God that Drudge consigns himself to political oblivion for his sick role in all of this.

There's got to be a reckoning within our ranks for those who rammed Romney down our throats.

Anthony| 2.14.12 @ 9:03PM

Traditionally, Americans don't take to people who try to smear others about their religion. Romney should welcome the attacks from leftists because moderates and libertarians will be inclined to oppose those attackers. Wiesel would appear to be an odd man to come out attacking someone for his religion but then again he always did seem to be a little off, making a living off the holocaust and all.

RJ| 2.14.12 @ 7:25PM

I am confused by Elie Wiesel on this issue. I understand that Mr. Wiesel and others are true to Judaism and evidently find Mormon baptisms as an offensive conversion practice. But why be offended by another congregation of the faithful trying to demonstrate their love of their fellow man, particularly when you have personally suffered from man's inhumanity to man and at a time when there is so much hostility in the world? Baptisms are performed to be available to the spirit if the spirit desires it, but it is up to the spirit to accept it. Think of it as opening a door; an expression of welcoming, but you need not walk through.

Directing this issue to Mitt Romney, and particularly at this time, makes it political. A sincere concern would be better addressed to the head of the Church.

Drek| 2.14.12 @ 8:05PM

RJ,

some people aren't into the whole mormon love thing. In fact, I can't think of many people who would find strangers, wandering around the grave stones of their departed, "baptizing" them into a creed they wanted no part of, --------- I can't think of many people who would find that, shall we say, ---- KOSHER.

Christian denominations are just as livid about the whole thing. Think of it this way, Americans are uniquely free-spirited, uniquely prone to pursue their own path, --- for such a people, the idea of somebody Shanghaiing, dragooning, "baptizing" somebody into a creed foreign to them, and doing it while they're dead, so they're not able to voice their outrage, ------- for such Americans, what the mormons are doing is an outrage.

An absolute outrage, notwithstanding LDS pronouncements upon the subject.

This is just a foretaste of what we'll all have to go through if the mormon garners the GOP nomination.

And NR whining about it, Hannity decrying it, Beck going ballistic over it, ------ won't change anything.

Heretofore the mormon has been getting carried.

But he's about to get dropped, and dropped hard, on to a cement floor.

This isn't going to be pretty.

As for Ellie Wiesel, ------- never had much time for him, because he's been a one-trick pony. I took a full 3 credit course on the Holocaust, and I find the whole MO of Wiesel going on and on about it to be in poor taste.

Solzhenitsyn moved on, after spending 20 years putting together his tour de force, The Gulag Archipelago. Solzhenitsyn moved on to his Red Wheel cycle, {"knots" of which are fascinating}. Not Wiesel though, as others observed long ago, he's a one-trick pony.

obadiah| 2.15.12 @ 8:55PM

Two credits would have been more than enough for such lousy material.

Festus| 2.14.12 @ 8:08PM

Goldstein. Which group votes more conservative and Republican,Jews or Mormons?

Drek| 2.14.12 @ 8:22PM

Ask yourself this, ----- how many Electoral College votes can each group deliver?

Outside of Utah, {which I believe has what, 3 or 4 ECVs} what states can mormons deliver?

Answer: None.

What Electoral College votes can American Jews deliver for the GOP?

Let's see, can they deliver New York? No.

Can they deliver New Jersey? Not really.

Could their votes swing the Keystone State our way? Not very likely.

What of Florida? Again, they aren't decisive.

American Jews are not in a position to swing a state from one column to another.

Commentary/Contentions every year or so has some post, written in some breathless style, about some polling that indicates American Jews "might" be rethinking their fixation with Democrats.

Of course nothing ever comes of it.

American Jews would experience an existential crisis if they were to vote Republican.

And as for American Jewish women, I think it was Norman Podhoretz who quipped that for them, abortion is a sacrament.

Regardless of the anti-Israeli animus of the President and his whole administration, regardless of the many millions of their fellow citizens suffering from this prolonged economic agony, regardless of the obvious fact that obama is a damn blockhead, -------------- regardless of all that, I expect that obama will receive 75% of votes of the American Jewish community.

WL| 2.15.12 @ 4:04AM

You did leave out one thing that the Jews do have an effect on...MONEY...

If just a few will take the path of the owner of my favorite of all the casinos in Vegas (the venetian)...it would help.

JmsA| 2.14.12 @ 9:21PM

I heard Harry Reid is a mormon, too. Just saying.

Drek| 2.14.12 @ 10:19PM

Yea.

Why isn't anybody demanding answers, explanations and apologies from him. Isn't it something that the outrage is directed towards the right, not towards the left.

One can't help but observe that here we're seeing some longstanding prejudice within the Jewish community towards the right, while sparing the left. "No enemies to the Left" is the line........

Jimmy C| 2.15.12 @ 8:36AM

Oh, is Harry Reid running for president? I hadn't noticed.

Festus| 2.14.12 @ 8:39PM

Actually Mormons are a strong part of the Arizona and Nevada electorate too.
I am not Mormon,but would rather them be my neighbors than white trash born agains.

Drek| 2.14.12 @ 10:18PM

Yea, they're a part of those two states, and in some numbers. But are they enough to swing states from one column to another.

DRed| 2.14.12 @ 8:48PM

As a liberal, non-believing leftist, I'd just like to chime in to say that the Mormons, or anyone else, can baptize my spirit (or whatever it is they think they're doing) as much as they'd like.

Bob K.| 2.14.12 @ 8:57PM

Good move Aaron!

You've managed to start a religious pissing contest! And on Valentine's Day no less.

Drek| 2.14.12 @ 10:23PM

It wasn't Aaron.

He merely reported the story straight-up. This "baptizing" has been going on, Jews and Christians have demanded it stop, it hasn't, and now as a device to bash Romney, it's being brought up during a Presidential election year.

All of this was entirely foreseeable.

And Aaron foresaw it, if not this specific issue, others similar thereto. Others saw it.

But NR didn't, deliberately averted their gaze.

And the answers we want are from NR.

We want to know what went on beyond the scenes over the years to render them purposefully and knowingly blind when it comes to all things Romney.

Bob K.| 2.15.12 @ 1:58AM

There are 6 million Mormons in the USA. How do you propose to stop them from doing this?

Would it make any difference to you if some of them had ancestors who were Jewish? What if they find matriarchal lineage? Would you consider them Jewish?

We know Aaron is Jewish and he is an idiot for doing this. We don't know if you are Jewish. Maybe you think you are stoking the fires of anti-semitism among Mormons?

WL| 2.15.12 @ 4:09AM

You are correct on National Review...and it's treatment of "all things Romney"...

However, I think it's even more than that...I don't think those guys even worry about getting into the details anymore. They (most of them, not all)...just get their orders...pop a salute...and carry out the mission for the RNC, Rove, or whoever it is pulling their strings..

former Republican| 2.14.12 @ 10:30PM

Seriously...
Aaron, buy a clue.

former Republican| 2.14.12 @ 10:04PM

I can't stand Romney, don't want him anywhere near the WH...

but this is a leftist smear. end of story

Drek| 2.14.12 @ 10:26PM

Yes, it's a smear that Romney is the one that everybody is demanding answers and explanations from.

But the actual practice, of "baptizing" corpses of other creeds, ------------ that's an outrage.

And once that understanding gets out there, ------ that's likely to go viral.

By the time Fall hits, we're all going to know more about mormons and mormonism than any of us ever wanted to know, and the media is going to make damn sure that knowledge gets rammed down our throats.

former Republican| 2.14.12 @ 10:29PM

He is no more obligated to apologize for what other Mormons do than Elie W has to apologize for what other Jews do. Its bottom of the barrel, gutter politics, naked bigotry stoking, and reflects very poorly on Wiesel.

Drek| 2.14.12 @ 11:17PM

There's more to it than a matter of Romney being asked to apologize and explain "what other mormons do." IF that were the case, then you'd be dead right, that it would be outrageous for Romney to be asked to account for the actions of any, be they coreligionists or not.

But the problem is that this activity, from what I gather, has been sanctioned by the leadership of LDS, and that this activity is not confined to past relatives of their own, but extends outwards, encompassing Jews, Christians, et al.

Now as for the "obligation" part, -------- yea, why ask Romney alone to explain, when men like Harry Reid are spared any such demands.

What we're looking at is a smear campaign.

But for all that, it doesn't mean it won't work.

Karma justice is at work, Romney, who advances solely by smearing opponents, is about to get the same drubbing. Truth, decency, proportion, reasonableness, all of that will be damned, just as Romney used anything to stop anyone gaining the GOP nomination, so too with the Media/Dems use anything to thwart his desire for the White House.

And all of this was coming.

With Romney, we're walking willingly and knowingly into a trap, an ambush, and the Democrats are besides themselves with glee at the thought of going after him.

It's pretty sick stuff, ---------- big time.

Kingsmill| 2.14.12 @ 10:54PM

I'm a proud Willard basher but Wiesel makes Romney look good.

JJ| 2.15.12 @ 8:38AM

Actually he makes Romney look like an idiot. What the heck is he doing baptizing dead people. What kind of belief system is that?

Kingsmill| 2.15.12 @ 10:20AM

Unless and until Willard makes forced conversions a part of his platform-- it's not an issue. There is enough to despise about Romney's secular, split the difference with the Left platform.

JJ| 2.15.12 @ 11:56AM

Stupidity is always an issue.

kingsmill| 2.15.12 @ 4:17PM

Responding to Weasel would be utterly stupid. But since Willard is programmed by consultants he's likely to follow your advice.

RightKlik| 2.14.12 @ 11:05PM

"Elie Wiesel, the Holocaust survivor who has devoted his life to combating intolerance, says Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney..."

Why does Wiesel care about this so much? Why not just tolearate it?

I'm not Mormon, but if they want to baptize my dead relatives, they can have at it.

BMatkin| 2.15.12 @ 1:12AM

A little clarity, Mormons don't baptize any dead people, they baptize living people on behalf of dead people. A vicarious ritual. The point being that if baptism is necessary for salvation then the only way some get the requirement for some is by proxy. In Mormon doctrine the dead "spirit" can either accept this or not, the choice is always with the person. Pretty hard to dunk a ghost wouldn't you think.
Just saying.

cherryyy| 2.15.12 @ 1:40AM

Gadgets,freeshipping,http://www.newfrog.com/

WL| 2.15.12 @ 4:12AM

Take your gadgets to hell with you.

JJ| 2.15.12 @ 8:36AM

Hate to say it but these proxy baptisms sound more like voodoo than religion.

Drek| 2.15.12 @ 10:32AM

And that's how the American people are going to take it. Your's is the commonsense assessment, and sadly, an assessment wholly lost on the lost souls over at NR.

martin j smith| 2.15.12 @ 10:33AM

Has Wiesel asked Obama about his policy towards Israel ? What is Weisel more concerned about gotcha with Romney or What ? If Weisel is so concerned about the way Jews are treated I do not have a problem with his asking Romney about these practices and I do agree Mitt had better get right to it. But my concern is that many Major Jewish Organizations are more concerned about what they seem to see intolerance of the Right while ignoring the blatant Anti-Semitism
on the Left including Obama..Then again they fear Obama--I suspect they have been told to shut up or else. They got the message I fear.

Derek Leaberry| 2.15.12 @ 10:55AM

Undeniably, Wiesel is an obnoxious blowhard and self-promoter. Nonetheless, Romney or any other Mormon's baptism ceremonies are irrelevant as only a Roman Catholic priest can perform a baptism. A baptism in the name of Joseph Smith is as pointless as calling two sodomite males "married".

Tim the Enchanter| 2.15.12 @ 12:52PM

Ah, yes. Nothing like the practices of the Church of Joseph Smith of Latter-Day Sinners. Gotta love 'em.

Rob| 2.15.12 @ 11:51AM

I have a great deal of respect for Wiesel, whom I had the privilege of having had as a professor at Boston University. Some of the comments posted above against him are disgustingly cruel. Wiesel's remarks may have been addressed to Romney rather than Reid because Romney had said that he had participated in baptisms for the dead, whereas I've never heard of Reid having done so as well (can anyone find any source indicating Reid saying that he had done so?).

Pete| 2.15.12 @ 11:55AM

I want Jews to apologize for voting 80% for Obama.

Drek| 2.15.12 @ 2:01PM

You're not the only one.................

I would like an explanation of their fixation with policies of the left, and their by and large acceptance of a radical secular agenda.

Tarr| 2.15.12 @ 4:25PM

Reagan's response to Wiesel is best: ignore his ideologically motivated attacks (dressed up as ethnic sensitivity.)

Doug Forbes| 2.17.12 @ 10:54AM

This demonstrates the profound stupidity of Wiesel. There are 13 million members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Is Wiesel really so moronic as to believe that Romney has responsibility for the actions of each and every one of the 13 million

Doug Forbes| 2.17.12 @ 11:04AM

While we're at it, here is some more red meat to throw out for Jewish chauvinists. Mormons claim the Aaronic/Levitical priesthood. Not only do we perform proxy baptisms, we perform them by the authority of the priesthood of Aaron (yeah Moses' brother). Go ahead and make something of that Aaron.