Mitt Romney, The Latest Republican Model In A Long Line Of Lemons

I have no doubt that presidential candidate Mitt Romney considers himself to be a man of faith. Today he made his pitch to the American people as to whether his being a member of the Church of Latter Day Saints (Mormon) should be something on which he is evaluated as a presidential candidate. The truth be told, he made his pitch to conservative Christians who for so long have had a strangle hold on the Republian party. It's sad that we live in a time where he feels that he has to. But it isn't religion that is the problem with Mitt Romney as a candidate, it's the man himself.

There's a big difference between being a Mormon and being a moron. Unfortunately, Romney doesn't seem to know it.

Without a doubt, Mr. Romney looks Presidential. He's tall, good looking and has impeccible hair. When on message, his voice sounds commanding. But that's where it stops. When asked a direct question his answers are too often vague, evasive or just plain wrong.

When directly asked in the recent YouTube debate if he supported homosexuals openly serving in the military, he dodged the question saying, "this isn't that time." When asked by another questioner if waterboarding meets his definition of torture, he said, "I don't think it's wise for us to describe specifically which measures we would and would not use." When asked by a questioner holding a Bible, "Do you believe every word of this book?," he danced again saying, "I believe the Bible is the word of God, absolutely. And I try to live by it as well as I can, but I miss in a lot of ways. But it's a guide for my life and for hundreds of millions, billions of people around the world. I believe in the Bible." When pressed by moderator Anderson Cooper, Romney said, "You know -- yeah, I believe it's the word of God. The Bible is the word of God. I mean, I might interpret the word differently than you interpret the word, but I read the Bible and I believe the Bible is the word of God. I don't disagree with the Bible. I try to live by it."

Three direct questions. Three direct dodges

It supports the criticisms that Mr. Romney has no true moral center, but rather that his beliefs are fluidly forged by whatever he perceives as the politically expedient position.

But there are some things about Romney that are not so murky. For example, his feeling on habeous corpus. When debating torture during the debate he tipped his hand a little, saying, "I don't want the people that are carrying out attacks in this country to be brought into our jail system and to be given legal representation in this country."

In his speech this morning, he demonstrated a profound lack of understanding of our founding principles. Said Romney, “The founders proscribed the establishment of a state religion, but they did not countenance the elimination of religion from the public square. We are a nation ‘Under God’ and in God, we do indeed trust." Well not exactly. Mr. Romney implies that the ideas of "One nation under God" and the slogan that adorns our coinage, "In God We Trust" have direct lineage to the founders. It's what the Christian right wants to hear, but it's patently false. "One Nation Under God" was adopted as a national slogan in 1954 and "In God We Trust" didn't appear on a coin until 1864.

As George Bush has demonstrated, a person who is vague with the facts can be a dangerous person indeed!

And maybe that's what Mr. Romney is, a better looking model of George Bush. And George Bush was a better looking model of Dan Quayle. When you look under any of these hoods all that's there is an empty hampster wheel.

You've been warned, America.