Harry Reid 'Sullies' His Religion

During my recent absence from civilisation into the various wilds of the Southwest, I was completely unaware of the events in the World until my return just yesterday.  One of the items that immediately struck me was the absurd statement made by Senator Harry Reid (D-Nevada), Senate Majority Leader, during a conference call with reporters, that Mitt Romney was “not the face of Mormonism” and that he had “sullied his faith”.  Reid feels compelled to make this observation about Romney’s character apparently because Reid is the highest-ranking Mormon in US politics, and wants to side-step the political issue of his own religious belief by branding his co-religionist as an ‘outsider’, just as he took a politically advantageous stand against his church in the lead-up to its position on California’s Proposition 8 that declared that marriage be defined as between one man and one woman.  This comes at the same time as a rash of articles in the MSM, particularly The Daily Beast (the former Newsweek) and Time with a cover story, ramps up to explore a sudden interest in Mormonism.  (This is the same media that disdained to delve into a link between Obama and Jeremiah Wright.)

Pondering on Mosiah 2:17

[Full disclosure: I have a more-than-passing interest in the history of Christianity (see bio) and, though I am not a member of the Latter-day Saints, I have studied the movement (among others) and have a better understanding, if I may be immodest, of their sect than most.  While I cannot agree with their theology and to some extent their enclosed sense of community, I can see how their culture and society can have an appeal for many, and they have had an unusually positive social success within recent times.  The Mormons with whom I have associated have almost uniformly been pleasant, sincere and industrious.]

Reid has added this insult to his pile of scurrilous and spurious defamations, including the claim (safely delivered on the floor of the Senate, shielding him from charges of slander) that Romney paid no taxes for the last ten years, since refuted.  Reid has previously claimed some sort of revelatory powers when he has claimed that Republicans somehow cannot be good Mormons (which should have elicited a call from President & Prophet Munson).  Not only that, but Hispanics can’t be good Republicans either.  A Black, of course, can be a good Democrat, particularly if he is “light-skinned” and “has no Negro dialect, unless he wants to use one” (as we have recently seen).

Since Reid has introduced religion into the political mix, let us remind ourselves that the accusation most often used by Christ was “hypocrite”.  With that in mind, what is it that puts Harry Reid into the position of being an arbiter of what constitutes a proper Mormon outlook?

He has pushed legislation that would increase the value of his property holdings and favor his political cronies, including Jack Abramoff, and bought gifts for the staff at his condominium with campaign funds.  Coincident to the exposure of the influence of ACORN into voter fraud in Nevada, Reid fought a rear-guard action in the Senate to prevent an investigation into and de-funding of the SEIU-affiliated group.  But that is just a starter: besides being a US Senator, he was also the Chairman of the Nevada Gaming Commission, which besides continuing its communication with the still-lingering mob influence in the industry there, also sets the standards for licensing and regulation of prostitution in the state.  True, Reid once made a speech wherein he expressed an opinion that prostitution should no longer be legal in Nevada, a noble and expedient public declaration, but he has done precisely nothing to change its status since.

This is the self-professed ideologue that casts stones at people who don’t measure up to his high religious ideals.