Payola

One big strength of Mitt Romney's presidential campaign is that he has a lot of institutional support from establishment-minded social conservatives. One big weakness of Romney's presidential campaign is that he seems like a great big phony all the time. To liberals, he looks like a phony. But to the socially conservative rank and file he . . . also looks like a phony. So why all the love from elites? Tom Edsall and Ethan Hova have the story: Bribery!

Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney is distributing numerous payments, primarily to religious and social conservatives, most of them in Iowa, for what he calls "GOTV Consulting." "GOTV" is political shorthand for get-out-the-vote - just what walk-around payments financed. [...] The payments start at $500 a month, the base rate for student leaders, many of whom are chairs in the "Iowa Students for Romney" campaign organization. At a higher level, Joe Earle, former director of the Iowa Christian Alliance (the successor to the Iowa Christian Coalition) gets $4,000 a month, and Gary Marx, a top-level member on the Romney for President National Faith And Values Steering Committee, gets $8,000 a month.

Well, that explains it.

Comments

You need to fix that link!!

Posted by Joe Klein's conscience | December 8, 2007 4:15 PM

Not too surprising coming from a Venture Capitalist...

And maybe all those "MittBots" who are constantly commenting on every Romney thread here should practice full disclosure and put their payments next to their names, e.g.:

John from Iowa [$750]:

Romney's great speech was absolutely Reaganesque in its subtle blending of deep religious faith and pluralism. I'm sure every Christian in America will now vote for him, just as all my friends will...

Posted by RKU | December 8, 2007 4:20 PM

Perhaps this explains Hugh Hewitt.

Posted by whalt | December 8, 2007 4:46 PM

WILLARD!

The MorMitt is raising a varmint army. "Get 'em!"

Posted by baba durag | December 8, 2007 4:55 PM

In anticipation of a check from the Romney campaign, I now wholeheartedly support Mitt's anti-antheist, anti-Hindu, anti-Buddhist, and anti-agnostic campaign. I can be reached at 1-800-382-5968.

Posted by gregor | December 8, 2007 4:56 PM

Mitt Romney is honorable, God-fearing man who will take of the American people the same love and concern as he would his family, including his dog.

Posted by Kolohe[$3.50] | December 8, 2007 5:02 PM

Mitt Romney is honorable, God-fearing man who will take of the American people the same love and concern as he would his family, including his dog.

Hi-Yooo!

(rimshot)

Posted by Apprentice to Darth Holden | December 8, 2007 5:17 PM

here's the link

Posted by cleek | December 8, 2007 5:28 PM

Since Romney brought up the religious issue, analyzing religious beliefs should be fair game; a good reason, by the way, for “believers” and organized religion to keep religion separate from civil government and politics.

Mormonism is in fact very different from traditional monotheistic religions --not that there is anything wrong with that. It is more akin to paganism with their characters “Jesus” and “Lucifer” similar to pagan gods.

Will Russert or some other MSN elite ask Romney, if as President, he will change the coins to in Gods and Goddesses we trust?

Posted by erict | December 8, 2007 5:38 PM

I'd like to hear more about God's wife. I honestly didn't know until this week that Mormons believe he has one. (It IS just one, right?) What's her name? Does she get involved in his work? Does she resent it when Catholics call Mary the Queen of Heaven?

Posted by Ron Thompson | December 8, 2007 5:46 PM

$4000/month in iowa is a very comfortable 'consultancy fee'; $8000/month is fucking sweet.

Posted by linda | December 8, 2007 5:59 PM

What's her name?

I have always heard her referred to as Mrs. God.

Posted by Nanorich | December 8, 2007 6:01 PM

What's her name?

I can't tell ya.

Awwwwww.

Posted by fourmorewars | December 8, 2007 6:25 PM

Warren Zevon lives.

Posted by Raoul Paste | December 8, 2007 7:11 PM

Why should we be surprised. He spent about $22,000 per head for the "votes" he got in the Iowa GOP "Straw Poll" a few months ago (total expenditures divided by the number of actual Iowans who "declared" for him.

Anybody know what percentage of his total campaign funds raised came from his own pocket? This is clearly the best example yet of someone trying to use his own fortune to buy political office. He'll take whatever political positions he feels he needs to at any point in the process and spend whatever he has to in order to win the nomination and the presidency.

Will America decide this is what they want in their President? Nothing surprises me any more.

Posted by DWEB | December 8, 2007 7:16 PM

"Anybody know what percentage of his total campaign funds raised came from his own pocket?

posted by DWEB"

I don't know actual figures but as I recall he's made multi-million dollar contribution in at least 3 reporting periods.

Nice to be a trust fund baby, eh.

Posted by cal1942 | December 8, 2007 7:32 PM

I'd like to hear more about God's wife. I honestly didn't know until this week that Mormons believe he has one. (It IS just one, right?)

No, Mormon teaching is that once godhood is reached (you too, by the way, can have your own world, if you're Mormon and do the right stuff) it's your job to populate your own created universe. To do that, you need lots of "vessels".

Posted by justinb | December 8, 2007 9:05 PM

I'd like to hear more about God's wife. I honestly didn't know until this week that Mormons believe he has one.

Whaaaa?

No, Mormon teaching is that once godhood is reached (you too, by the way, can have your own world, if you're Mormon and do the right stuff) it's your job to populate your own created universe.

Whaaa? x 2

Posted by Julia Grey | December 8, 2007 10:09 PM

Whaaa? x 2

Yup. If you do all the right things, you end up in the Celestial kingdom (the bestest of the three), where eventually, you end up as a god (God?) yourself, with your wives, and all your creation (spirit children, who eventually get incarnated physically and populate your own world/s).

Of course, Mormons also believe that the kingdoms are physical places - planets, and that their location is more or less known.

By extension, the Mormon God has multiple wives, although talking about it will get you excommunicated (see the purge of Mormon intellectuals in the late 90s).

Posted by justinb | December 8, 2007 10:18 PM

Oh, this definitely explains Hugh Hewitt.

I'd bet that Romney has already promised all the positions on his cabinet away. Considering the nonstop campaign advertising for Mitt on Hugh Hewitt's show, my guess is that he's been promised press secretary at least, and maybe a Supreme Court appointment.

That's just how cynical this Romney character is, and his great "speech" about his "faith" (see "cult") proved it.

Of course, saying Mormonism is a cult makes me a bigot, according to Hewitt, which is surprising, considering how often he has real religious bigots like Yanni the blogger and Mark Steyn on his show. Of course, when we're talking about Islam, there is no such thing as bigotry.

Posted by Pope Ratzo | December 8, 2007 10:43 PM

If Mitt becomes the GOP nominee, I wonder who will be his Jeff?

No matter who they nominate, the pair will be known as "Mitt and Jeff," for sure.

I hope, I hope, I hope.

Ed

Posted by Ed Drone | December 8, 2007 11:47 PM

As someone who has observed Romney up close as governor (sort of), I'm with MY and his experience with Mitt (well, except I certainly never voted for him), he is very likely the 'best' president the GOP is offering.

If god(s) forbid he is elected, I predict he slowly but surely moves center, setting up his legacy/re-election.

Because as we all know, that will make Dean Broder and all of his disciples quite happy. He's not a dummy.

Posted by Andruw | December 8, 2007 11:50 PM

As a Catholic I've often been told that I'm not a "Christian" by Protestants who are clueless as to how deeply offensive that is. So I get nervous when people start dismissing Mormonism as non-Christian or a cult.

Under Joseph Smith it maybe was a cult. You can object to their social practices all you like, and you can make fun of their unusual theology and bizarre mythology all you like. But after 160 years it's time to admit it's a religion.

Posted by SV | December 9, 2007 12:31 AM

Perhaps this explains Hugh Hewitt.

Why pay for what you're already getting for free?

Posted by Scott Lemieux | December 9, 2007 12:57 AM

But after 160 years it's time to admit it's a religion.

Well, most all religions seem equally strange to those of us without freedom (e.g. without religion). Well, scientology is maybe a little stranger than most ...

Posted by justinb | December 9, 2007 1:25 AM

SV

They're all cults.

Posted by Kurt's Friend | December 9, 2007 2:20 AM

"But after 160 years it's time to admit it's a religion."

This seems to be a very "Liberal" definition of what constitutes a religion. I can imagine the discussion at Merriam Webster: "Ahh, a bunch of Loons out in the Heber Valley have believed in some pretty odd things for past hundred and sixty years. Well geez, that must be a religion."

Posted by Henk | December 9, 2007 11:02 AM

Clarification: After 160 years it has BECOME a religion.

Kurt's Friend: Yes, they all start out as cults, whether the cult leader is Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, or H.Ron Hubbard. Or Paul of Tarsus, for that matter.

The difference between a religion and a cult isn't whether it is sensible or not - it can't be because religious doctrines are not subject to rational analysis. Most definitions instead make a distinction based on:
- How long the group has been in existence (which is why I mentioned the 160 years), and
- Whether it has the structures or practices in place to be self-sustaining or is still dependent on a single leader (for instance the Millerites were a cult but the Seventh Day Adventists are a religion)

Posted by SV | December 9, 2007 12:52 PM

The Moronic Revelation is not a crank religion cooked up in the 19th century by a con artists, with fairy tales of Lamanites and Nephites and dudes sailing across the Atlantic Ocean in the 5th century.

It is Christian too, in spite of the addition of the Book of Mormon, Doctrines & Covenants, and the times when God calls down on the Red Phone to the Prophet in Salt Lake.

Jeb for Mitt [$25]

Posted by Jebediah Josephat | December 9, 2007 1:08 PM

SV: so a religion is defined by how closely it conforms to the Catholic ideal? Convenient.

Posted by Ginger Yellow | December 9, 2007 1:55 PM

"SV: so a religion is defined by how closely it conforms to the Catholic ideal? Convenient."

???

I have NO IDEA where you get that impression. Where does anything I posted have any kind of pro-Catholic partiality? If anything over two generations old is a religion, with no further gradiation based on age, that's pretty non-partial.

The only thing I was arguing for was language accuracy. Most definitions of the word "cult" focus on so-called "destructive cults" (the kind whose followers commit mass suicide under purple shrouds). But despite its pejorative connotations the word "cult" by itself is a neutral term and is generally related to the newness of a group.

In addition to the focus on the authority of the founder, cults are marked by their breakaway from tradition to what is considered "heresy". When people adopt or inherit a faith that is already practiced by an established community of believers, they are by definition no longer heretical, regardless of how strange non-believers may consider them.

I personally find Mormonism bizarre, misogynist, and creepy. But misuse of terminology and over-generalization just detracts from any criticism you might have.

Posted by SV | December 10, 2007 12:21 AM