By giving into the howls of the mob [Romney] has unleashed a ridiculous exploration of the details of his religion (which seems bizarre in a presidential race- did I miss this with Joe Lieberman?), assured 24/7 Mormon coverage( which let’s face it will make some uncomfortable) and ultimately will make The Speech, I think, seem either disappointing or like he was “pulling a fast one” when The Speech itself doesn’t march through Mormon theology.

You didn’t miss it with Lieberman, Jennifer, because no mainstream individual, political group or media outlet could get away with saying, “Say, Joe, you better explain this crazy Jew stuff because it’s making some Christians nervous.” Thankfully, we got Joe Lieberman: The Historic Choice instead. (FYI: Anti-Semitism is mostly only acceptable these days in left-wing screeds about neo-con cabals.) I tend to agree Romney shouldn’t have built the speech up, especially through a few weeks of open heming and hawing, mostly because A) None of the other candidates are being asked to answer for their brand of Judeo-Christian faith and B) To a certain extent, this validates a prejudice that, as I wrote last night, is shameful in the first place. The howling mob you refer to, destined to be made so tragically uncomfortable by news reports of a competing religion, is, I assume, made up of many of those people who find Huckabee just so gosh darn emotive and likeable. That kind of attitude goes beyond simply being too foolish to care about policy, I’m afraid.