Sunday, July 17, 2011

Did Tim Pawlenty Play The Mormon Card Against Romney And Huntsman?

A lot of buzz has been generated over Tim Pawlenty's new campaign video in which he talks about his religious faith. Before we get into why his video has generated controversy, lets watch it first:


Some people watch this video and think that T-Paw's new campaign ad was created to play the "Mormon card" against Mitt Romney and John Huntsman:
He makes clear early in the video that he thinks voters are due an explanation from him -- and from other candidates -- as to what exactly it is that they believe.
"When somebody is running for or holds high office, whether it's mayor, governor, or president of the United States, voters want to know, and deserve to know, 'Who is this person?' You know, 'What shaped their values? What are their values? Is this a person that's good to their word? Can we count on them?'" Pawlenty says in the video, aiming squarely at fellow candidates Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman, who are both of the Mormon faith.
"And for me, my faith is very important to me. It influences all that I do and it informs people about what my values are. And of course that has a great bearing on how you conduct yourself in public office," he says.
Both Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, and Huntsman, a former Utah governor and ex-U.S. ambassador to China, have taken pro-life positions and spoken in favor of heterosexual marriage, yet they have generally tried to avoid making social issues a focus.
Pawlenty draws a sharp contrast between their faith and his, making an explicit confession of Christianity. Speaking of his Catholic upbringing and journey into evangelicalism after meeting his wife, he discusses the way in which his faith helped him cope after his mother died when he was 16 years old. "Our faith is not in these earthly things, but it's in Jesus Christ," he says.
Currently, Tim Pawlenty is polling third in Iowa with only 7% of support from Iowans. He really needs do something to raise his chances of wining Iowa to make him more competitive on the national stage because he's only got 3% of American supporting him right now.

The timing of this video comes shortly after Tim Pawlenty hired Mike Huckabee's daughter, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, as Senior Advisor who will start helping Tim Pawlenty win Iowa.

As we all know, Mike Huckabee won Iowa in the 2008 presidential primaries by focusing on his Christian faith. He released a campaign video that focused squarely on his faith that was specifically appealing to Christian voters in Iowa. This led many people like Marc Ambinder and Charles Kruathammer to believe that he was playing the Mormon card against Mitt in the Iowa Primaries. Lets review Mike Huckabee's controversial campaign video below:


The claim that Mike Huckabee was playing the Mormon Card against Mitt Romney is not without merit. Mike Huckabee himself said that Romney's faith was valid criteria to use in selecting who would be the next President and that the contents of his religious faith should be a matter for scrutiny by the voters: 
You have declined in a couple of interviews to say whether or not you feel the Mormon religion is a legitimate type of Christianity, or a type of Christianity. I have spoken with a number of evangelicals, and one of them was talking about her concern [regarding Mitt Romney] of having a president who might not be praying to the God she believes in. The other concern I have heard is having a president who would lead people not to be saved in other Christian faiths by promoting another very evangelical religion. Do you share any of those concerns?

You know, I just don't think that's an appropriate issue for me to get into, the nuances of the Mormon faith. And it is not the sole criteria by which I think a person should be judged fit or unfit for the presidency, any more than I think people ought to necessarily make it the defining issue for me. I am very comfortable answering questions about my faith. I am probably the only candidate that has been subjected to this sort of detailed questioning about faith. I don't think Romney has even been. And my faith is a pretty mainstream view of the world and of the Bible. But I accept that as part of the whole process. I just think all of us should be prepared to answer questions regardless of what our views are, and let people sort that out. But that's why I don't feel comfortable in saying, "Let me tell you what this guy believes." You know what? I don't know what he believes. Even if I knew what his church believes, I don't know that I can say what he believes until he expresses it.
The claim that Tim Pawlenty is playing the Mormon Card against Romney and Huntsman is valid. Its no coincidence that this video was released shortly after Mike Huckabee's daughter was hired on the campaign. Its also no coincidence that shortly after she was hired, we see Tim Pawlenty using the same strategy that Mike Huckabee did by creating a campaign ad targeted towards Christian voters in Iowa. It appears that Tim Pawlenty is using a strategy from Mike Huckabee's campaign playbook. 

2012 Presidential candidate Rick Santorum thinks that Romney's faith will not be an issue in the 2012 election. Unless Tim Pawlenty wants to also adopt Mike Huckabee's strategy of playing passive agressive on Mitt Romney's faith, I'd like to know if he thinks the American voters should make Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman's faith an issue in 2012.

This article has been crossposted from Conservative Samizdat

Please check us out on Facebook and If you like what you see, please "Like" us. You can find us here.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well of course Tim Pawlenty is looking to repeat the Huck path in Iowa. While this might be a subtle slam at Romney's faith, there's a lot of plausible deniability in there, so I'm going to give Tim the benefit of the doubt. At least until he does something more overt, like Huck did. Maybe he's desperate enough to play the religion card, but I hope not.

As to Sarah Huckabee--yes she is known to have said some anti-Mormon things just like daddy. When Tim hired her, I was disappointed in his judgment for that very reason.

I'm not sure any of this matters, because he's going nowhere fast.

-Martha

Anonymous said...

Who knows maybe its sarah huckabee's idea. Anyways its a non-issue, we'll see if t paw still holds faith that he can win iowa. NOT.

Anonymous said...

this definitely has a "vote for me, not the mormon" feel to it. Too bad it wont work for pawlenty, even if you hire someone with the last name of huckabee. pawlenty is just dry, boring and wasting his money. Get out already and endorse romney.

Ohio JOE said...

"I'd like to know if he thinks the American voters should make Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman's faith an issue in 2012." What does Mr. Huntsman have to do with this post? He essentially said that he longer is a Mormon.

Right Wingnut said...

What?

I just watched both videos. While I'm clearly not a fan of either Pawlenty or Huckabee, I feel that you're grasping for straws here.

Yes...both videos were produced for the sole purpose of pandering to the evangelicals in Iowa. But to extract some sort of anti-Mormon message from this reeks of paranoia.

Please tell me we aren't about to be subjected to months of baseless claims of anti-Mormonism.

Anonymous said...

No he didn't play the 'Mormon card'. This is extreme paranoia and only serves to make its purveyors look extremely foolish.

DanL

Anonymous said...

Let me clarify. Pawlenty's statement wasn't nonsense. What is nonsense is the claim that Pawlenty played any kind of Mormon card.

DanL

Anonymous said...

Did Huntsman really say he isnt no longer mormon? I heard something about him that he would distance himself sort of from his religion during the campaign, which is cowardice on his part. To distance yourself from your religious beliefs only to get a few more votes is ashame.

Anonymous said...

when huntsman was challenged on backing away from being a mormon in the campaign by a mormon lady, huntsman said something like he is amormon and proud of it, and not backing away from it.

Bob said...

I'm sorry, I didn't see it in the Pawlenty ad. Then again, I'm not a Mormon and I may not be as sensistive to such things.

Anonymous said...

I don't think there was any Mormon bashing going on........but I believe it was "code" for fellow evangelicals that take their voting direction from their leaders. Since there has been so much anti-Mormon info in evangelical churches (many, I'm sure not all), it's just a "subtle" reminder that Mitt is not "one of us".

That is the concern, I believe.

I am very religious and want God's help in our country and our leaders not to hesitate to sincerely invoke His name. However, I do NOT like people wearing their religion on their arm, forehead, waist, etc. I'm not voting for a preacher!

Most disgusting is using one's religion to "buy" votes.

OK

Anonymous said...

Maybe, maybe not, but if you all think that pawlenty is not secretly hoping for a wave of anti-mormon stuff to help his campaign, your clueless