Bill Maher on Mitt Romney

Folks, I have to admit to you that Bill Maher is a conundrum.  While profoundly liberal, and little more than a hate monger with a smile, I also find him to be often amusing and watchable.  However, a recent skit he did on Mitt Romney and the Mormon Church rubbed me the wrong way.

Against my better judgement, but in the name of making it easy for the reader to follow my thoughts, here is a link to the Maher bit:



In this discussion Maher proposes Romney, and Mormons in general, to be:

  * Cultist (general)
  * Racist (general)
  * Hot-headed (Mitt)

Now, let me go on record as saying I am not a member of the Church of Jesus Christ and Later Day Saints (the proper name for the Mormon Church).  Neither am I a fan of Mitt Romney, particularly. Given any reasonable alternative in any election I would pass by the bubble next to Romney's name. And as stated I am not a big fan of Bill Maher's politics, or at times, his humor.

So WTF am I doing in a fight where I have no dog?  Because it's wrong - and being the "black and white" thinker I am, it's worth pointing this issue out.  One of the founding principals of this country was religious freedom, one of the rights of our citizenship is the right to worship freely.  Also, I would be remiss if I don't correlate this to broader liberal thought processes.

First, some theology.  There is a defined standard which nearly all Protestant religions use to define a cult.  The most profound book on the subject is written by Dr. Walter Martin, and called "The Kingdom of the Cults".  A great read if you have an interest in Theology (as I do), but otherwise as good as Ambien to invoke sleep.  Dr. Martin makes a strong case in labeling LDS a cult.  Whether you believe them to be a cult to the degree of Heaven's Gate, Branch Dividians or Jonestown I will leave to the reader.  But for the sake of discussion let's say that will there may be evidence, theologically, to support the finding, I have never in my life known a Mormon whom I expected to ask me to put on Nike's, lay in a circle with others and take Cyanide.  In this man's opinion, after having read both of the major testaments in Mormonism - The Book of Mormon and Doctrine and Covenants (D&C), as well as many times reading Dr. Martin's writing I do not find the LDS to believe as I believe, but I do not find them a threat to myself, my family nor our culture.  In fact, most I have met are damn nice people.

It's also worthy of note that Mitt felt the need to undertake damage control early and often with regards to his faith.  So he must realize that being a devout member of a faith people often think of as questionable needed to be addressed.  And he knows that in the long run, it's an impediment when he steps onto the national stage - especially in the Baptist Belt and Deep South.

The LDS religion does have a history with slavery.  And so what?  So does every other long-standing religious convention in the United States.  Let us not forget that while a regrettable part of history, there was a time when slavery was not only socially acceptable, but absolutely legal.  I find it short-sighted and selective to single out the LDS church in this regard.  In later years, relatives of Joseph Smith (considered the father of LDS) has disparaging quotes regarding blacks, and other peoples of color.  It should be noted these quotes were personal from a person who held an official position, but lacked real authority, within the church.  I would equate him to the Mormon equivalent of Billy Carter - in more ways than one.  I have Mormon temples near where I live, and the Blacks, Asians and Hispanics I see congregating there seem just as happy as the white folk.  I just don't see the racial stereotype Maher points out.

As far as temperament, I cannot say with any conviction Mitt is or is not a hot-head.  In this particular incident, he seemed to have made a reasonable request to someone he did not know - which turned out to be the hip-hop artist (using the world loosely) Sky Blue.  Knowing of few of these people - many of whom embrace the street thug and anti-white sentiment - it is not out of the realm of possibility that Sky Blue would have escalated the incident into something grander.  Perhaps even purposefully.  It appears to airline believed so as well, as they chose to remove him from the airplane.  Folks, a man or woman should be held accountable for their own actions - and skin color has not a damn thing to do with it.  If you screw up, own it and don't blame it on the closest person.  And also, life is not fair.  As all know who played any level of competitive sports, it's more often the second foul that gets seen and called.  It's the way of things, live with it.

Now from a political perspective, its bears note to the greater liberal/progressive mantra to blame someone else for your shortcomings.  The current administration is still blaming Bush for it's failures, and using Republicans in general as their motive to jam something we the people don't want down our throats.  Liberals believe we are too stupid, too simple to fix things on our own; or let free market, free thinking and the profound initiative of free (wo)men to accomplish great things.

Well hell, it's worked for 224 years plus, what makes you think it wont for another 224?

Maher doesn't want to believe that - his brain is too scrambled with liberal mush.  And sadly, we all know sensationalism sells.  Nobody turns in to watch the "Happy Happy Joy Joy" channel.  Maher's bit in a way is a microcosm of Liberalism - blame someone else, use them to instill fear in people, show them why your way spoons feeds them what you think they want, and tell them to swallow as you jam it down their craw.  And independent thought is neither desired nor welcomed.

All in all, I think next time I'll skip Bill and watch Robot Chicken.....