Judging from some of the responses to Phil’s piece that I’ve seen, not including John’s, we’ll be lucky to avoid competing identity-politics whining by both parties if McCain picks Romney. Legitimate criticisms of Obama will be dismissed by Democrats as racism; legitimate criticisms of Romney will be ruled out of bounds as anti-Mormon bigotry.
For the record, I’ve defended Romney’s faith from both secular liberals and conservative Christians. As a Massachusetts native, I voted for him in both his runs for statewide office and would have supported his re-election as governor had he run. But I do think the extent of his “Mormon problem” is often exaggerated by overzealous Romney supporters, frequently without any evidence.
