Swampland - TIME.com

Romney's Religion. No, Really.

Newsweek's story on Mitt Romney looks at his entire life through the prism of his religion. Other news organizations have shied away from such an explicit approach. (No one wants to be accused of being a bigot or a boor.) His campaign has (successfully) deflected most questions about Mormonism with bromides that either downplay its importance in Romney's life or focus on the areas where LDS teachings overlap those of evangelical Christians. The piece, however, makes a convincing case that the LDS church was a powerful force in shaping Romney's career and approach to politics, intertwined inseparably with his relationship with his father. We look closely at such signature, formative experiences in the lives of other candidates, after all; to varying degrees, that's the point of talking about Rudy and 9/11, Hillary and health care, Huckabee and dieting. Along those lines, one wonders if NEWSWEEK wanted to use this jab to draw an explicit, and not very complementary, parallel between Romney and another candidate's personal journey:

The life of a Mormon missionary is relentless, but to be in France during the Vietnam War was especially grueling.

UPDATE: MikeM said it, not me:

Comparing Mitt Romney's Mormonism to Rudy Giuliani's 9/11 experiences is just unfair. For Romney, Mormonism is just a way of life. Giuliani treats 9/11 like a religion.


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About Swampland

Joe Klein

Joe Klein is TIME's political columnist and author of six books, most recently Politics Lost. His weekly TIME column, "In the Arena," covers national and international affairs. In 2004 he won the National Headliner Award for best magazine column. Read more

Karen Tumulty

Senior Writer Karen Tumulty has been TIME's National Political Correspondent since 2001, and has also covered the White House and Congress for the magazine. A native of San Antonio, she is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin and Harvard Business School, where her career choice has significantly lowered the average salary of her graduating class. But she gets lots of free magazines. Read more

Jay Newton-Small

Jay Newton-Small Jay Newton-Small covers politics for TIME. She has covered the Bush 43 White House and also Congress from the DeLay era to the present. And, yes, despite the misleading name SHE is a she. Read more

Michael Scherer

Michael Scherer is a correspondent in TIME's Washington bureau covering the 2008 presidential campaign. He has worked national assignments for Mother Jones magazine and Salon.com. Read more

Amy Sullivan

Amy Sullivan is a senior editor at TIME magazine, and author of the book The Party Faithful: How and Why Democrats are Closing the God Gap (Scribner, 2008). A Michigan native, she holds degrees from the University of Michigan and Harvard Divinity School. She writes about religion and politics for TIME, but no longer answers to the name "Bible Girl." Read more

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