Mitt Romney has been quite circumspect when it comes to talking about his beliefs during this campaign. Via Pharyngula, this video shows Mitt Romney very aggressively defending his Mormon religious beliefs.
This interview was conducted in Iowa in August 2007 during 2008 campaign. Romney said that he did not know he was being filmed, which I can believe since it definitely does not show him in a good light. He is visibly angry and comes across as pretty obnoxious, prone to browbeating others. He looks like a guy who is used to getting his own way and will stomp on anyone in his path.
He also looks like a true believer in his religious doctrines, however crazy they may be. He even believes in the Old Testament prophecy (Zechariah 14:4) that when Jesus returns to Earth, he will stand on the Mount of Olives which will then split in two. This is pretty esoteric stuff. The book of Zechariah comes almost at the end of the OT and most people have given up reading the Bible long before they get to it, so the fact that he is aware of it suggests someone who has really bought the whole package.
Romney does not seem like a cafeteria Mormon, picking and choosing from his church’s doctrines. He may well be the most religious person to obtain a major party nomination for the presidency in the past 100 years, and I am including born-again Christian Jimmy Carter in the comparison.
That man scares me a little. Him in charge of USA resources and military could potentially be a world-wide catastrophe.
Romney said that he did not know he was being filmed…
There were two cameras in the room, both apparently quite close to the two men speaking. Does MR not know he should notice such things?
You will note that Pharyngula singled out this video not because Romney discusses his religion, but because he makes his anti-choice view clear; something he has deliberately tried to muddy in recent “clarifications” of his views.
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Yes, Mormonism is wacky. So is Christianity.
GEE!! Romney was a BISHOP of the Mormon Church!
Excuse me while I shit my pants!
Well, if he truly buys all the mormon ideology, he’s onloaded a bunch of white supremacy. Perhaps he’s etch-a-sketched that part out; I find it hard to imagine Romney believes in anything except money and power. Perhaps not in that order.
I agree with Romney’s criticism of Jan Mickelson, the person he is talking to in that video, and a douchebag. Mickelson kept interrupting him rather than letting him make his point, kept focusing on Romney’s religion rather than his policies, and failed to allow that a religious person might govern in a secular fashion. Here’s more on Mickelson:
Talk Radio Host Wants to ‘Pistol Whip’ Nuns Who Care About Poor People
A history of Mitt’s Mormon royalty: http://amymacpherson.wordpress.com/
Jimmy Carter is a religious man, but he expresses his religion through service to others--you know, the kind of stuff Hippy Jesus said to do.
Romney seems like he has an anger problem. Other footage on youtube shows him getting really angry at reporters who have corrected him in public.
What’s more, he’s in a radio studio. That silvery thing in front of his face is a microphone. He had to know his voice was being recorded, so why the surprise about a video recording?
Well wouldn’t you get mightily fecked-off if your maid/butler/piss-boy started correcting you in front of people?
I mean, hell, that’s what we are to the 1%’ers -- staff.
Respectfully — and I’m no fan of Romney — this comment is a bit unfair. The microphone seen on-screen is an Electrovoice RE20. These types of mics are standard in broadcast radio. They are typically close mic’d; that is, the person speaks very closely into this type of microphone.
The fact that the microphones are so far away (from both Mr. Romney and the radio person) suggests that they are off-the-air (on a break or something).
How two cameras might escape his view, however, seems to be another matter entirely.
Please pardon my geeking out here a bit.