A Stitch in Haste

It looks like the radical Evangelicals have finally found a back-door tactic to write off Mitt "Null Set" Romney:

Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney, who rails against the "cesspool" of pornography, is being criticized by social conservatives who argue that he should have tried to halt hardcore hotel movie offerings during his near-decade on the Marriott board.

Two anti-pornography crusaders, as well as two conservative activists of the type Romney is courting, say the distribution of such graphic adult movies runs counter to the family image cultivated by Romney, the Marriotts and their shared Mormon faith.
...
Romney said his current concern is not about pornography per se, but children unwittingly stumbling upon it on the Internet or television.

Some hasty stitches:

--This is hardly the sort of "scandal" that, standing alone, should decide one's choice for president. I'd have more respect for the radical theocrats if they fixated instead on "Mitt and Seamus' not-so-excellent adventure." (Incidentally, I hear that hotel mini-bars sometimes have -- gasp! -- alcohol, and that hotel rooms are sometimes used for -- double-gasp! -- prostitution!) What did Romney know and when did he know it?

--Besides, in this instance Romney is right: Directors (especially independent directors) do not micro-manage large corporations. It is unreasonable to expect Romney to have known much about Marriott's porn policy, or to have done anything about it if he had known. Finally, the purpose of a board (and the management it hires) is to maximize profits, not social mores. If Tony Perkins wants Marriott to operate a certain way, then let him buy the company (cf., this).

--But this is all ancillary anyway. The radical Evangelicals are desperate, absolutely desperate, to find a wink-wink way to reject Romney. One that does not require them to state publicly what they feel privately: Mormons need not apply. To the Evangelicals, Mormons exist in a sort of social conservative limbo, right next to the Jews. Perhaps not evil, but definitely not pure.

--If the theocrats are throwing conniptions, real or contrived, over Romney's utterly irrelevant "hotel porn" passivity, then how are they going to respond when the attack ads start showing this:


With McCain imploding and the two legitimate (but hopeless) social conservative candidates still being conveniently ignored by the theocrats, it really does look like the not-yet-candidate may well prevail in securing the 2008 Republican nomination. Strange days indeed...