Romney offers weak tea objection to Fischer; Fischer calls it leftist insult

There’s been a fair amount of discussion and expectation about how Mitt Romney, a speaker at the “Values Voters Summit” (cough), would react to being the person on stage immediately before Bryan Fischer (my pet dolt).  Fischer has, of course, been a regular critic of the Mormon Church, declaring it non-Christian and therefore not (in his worldview askew) protected by the first Amendment.

It’s an argument that we’re hearing from multiple quarters on the Christianist Right — Dave Barton, pseudo-historian, and some of Rick Perry’s more fringy evangelical supporters.  Mormons aren’t Christians, Mormons are a cult, Mormons don’t deserve religious freedom if they step 0ut of line.  And, of course, you can’t risk one of those untrustworthy, cultish, un-True-American™ in the White House …

So people were wondering how Mitt would react to this.  Of course, he was willing in the first place to appear at a convention where all the above sorts were preaching their peculiar brand of American Exceptionalism (“We’re all Americans except those gays / Muslims / liberals / atheists / feminists / illegal aliens / Mormons / ACLU types …”).  Sure, he wants to be president, so he needs to pander to Rick Perry’s zany base, but …

… but would he dare say anything as he passed the mic on to Bryan “You Mormons are a bunch of polygamists at heart” Fischer?  Would he?

Well … kind of, he did. During his address, he said:

Almost all Americans live for a purpose greater than ourselves.  Our heritage of religious faith and tolerance has importantly shaped who we have become as a people.  We must continue to welcome faith into the public square and allow it to flourish. Our government should respect religious values, not silence them. We will always pledge our allegiance to a nation under God.

Our values ennoble the citizen, and they strengthen the nation. We should remember that decency and civility are values too. One of the speakers who will follow me today, has crossed that line I think. Poisonous language does not advance our cause. It has never softened a single heart nor changed a single mind. The blessings of faith carry the responsibility of civil and respectful debate. The task before us is to focus on the conservative beliefs and the values that unite us – let no agenda, narrow our vision or drive us apart.

Not bad.  A nice little blurb.  Of course, he didn’t actually address Fischer by name. He didn’t actually identify the uncivil, indecent, poisonous language he was referring to.  He didn’t mention his faith by name … and he got fairly “tepid” applause for his efforts.

That’s okay.  Even if Romney was unwilling to actually connect the dots, his indirect target was more than happy to engage.  When Bryan Fischer was asked about Romney’s speech, he replied:

I thought it was tasteless. I thought he was allowing the New York Times and the Southern Poverty Law Center and People for the American Way to dictate the content of his speech, which I think was a mistake for him to do at the Values Voters Summit. That was kind of an insult to the people in the room. …  I don’t think it helped him.

Because, apparently, calls to civility and decency are the sigh of the NY Times, the SPLC, and PFAW.  Real True American Christians™ aren’t civil or decent.  At least that’s what Fischer thinks, and assumes “the people in the room” feel the same way.

When pressed, Fischer wouldn’t actually come out and say that Mormons were a “cult” or disqualified for the presidency.  He just kept repeating that the LDS church was “outside the mainstream of historic Christian orthodoxy” — which response should be kept in context of his repeated statements during his own VVS speech that any US president must be “a man of sincere, authentic, genuine Christian faith”).

(For more on Fischer’s speech — where he lambasted all the usual targets — see here.)

I do give some credit to Romney.  There’s nothing particularly wrong with arguing for civility and speech.  I think expression of religious values in life is good and valuable (though, just like expression of any other values, they don’t immunize the person or those vales from criticism).  He through in the Public Square and Under God bits, which (like so much of what Romney says) is difficult to interpret as heartfelt sentiment or opportunistic pandering.

But, honestly and bottom line, he seems to have been the only one at the VVS who was willing to stand up to the litany of hate and “Us against Them / Good vs Evil” which was both Fischer’s speech and the speech of so many others at the VVS.  Rather than upping the rhetorical  ante by throwing more bloody red meat to the crowd, he offered … well, maybe a neatly trimmed, but somewhat dry, chicken breast.

Fischer on the other hand, demonstrates that the wingnutty Right are unwilling to listen to such appeals for moderation and respect.  That kind of talk is an “insult,” just what one would expect from the liberal media, the groups willing to identify others for hate speech, and the groups looking to protect religious freedom for all.

Which tells you a lot about Fischer and the VVS.  As does the fact that Romney felt he had to go speak there in the first place, in order to win the GOP nomination.