I'm surprised it took this long: Romney Birtherism. After four years in which the "Obama is a Muslim atheist born in African Kenya" thing refused to die, some Democrats are striking back. Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer recently doubled down on his statement that one of the reasons Romney has trouble appealing to a national electorate is because his father was born on a "polygamy colony." And the search for the high road continues…
Granted, Gov. Schweitzer's remarks aren't actually false: Romney's grandparents did move to a Mormon colony in Mexico in an effort to escape U.S. anti-polygamy laws, and Mitt's dad was born there. Mitt has responded to the remarks by saying that his father's parents were not themselves polygamists, which is probably true. It's also true that if you move to a colony in Mexico whose reason for existing is legal polygamy, you are, in fact, moving to a Mexican polygamy colony, even if not yourself a polygamist.
But that's not the point: Schweitzer's remarks still smack of the petty bigotry of birthers. There's a legal difference, sure — the law says you can't be president if you're foreign-born, whereas to my knowledge, it steers clear of the polyandry of the president's progenitors (*slowly bows*).
But you know what? The people attacking Obama for not being American aren't really worried about the sanctity of our laws — they're racists using a vague legal pretense. Just like Gov. Schweitzer isn't harmlessly giving us a history lesson; he's suggesting that Americans can't connect to a Mormon because there's something shady or untoward or, dare I say it, un-American about Mormonism.
There are lots of reasons Mitt Romney can't "connect" with Americans — he has an elevator for his cars, and if a poll said Ohioans find baldness presidential, he'd almost surely shave his head — but I don't think it's his Mormonism.
Oh, but hey, did you hear? Romney might strap the odd to dog to the roof of his family sedan, but he never ate one. Unless… Can someone please find out if they do that in Mexican polygamy colonies?
