Romney, with his "Leave It To Beaver" family, is talking to the minority, not to mention rubbing in the "D" word (Dysfunctional) to all the people who didn't have that Norman Rockwell scenario. What are we divorced kids, 'Weaker'? Having a perfect family and bragging about it, is as bad as being rich and bragging about it. Save it Mitt, another Morality Tale for the Choir.

I think that it is absurd to believe that you have good family values just because you have never been divorced.

Don't preach MORALS to me!! I just want someone with a brain.

How about multiple moms and one dad?

Romney is starting to sound like he wants us all to enter Sherman and Peabody's "Way-Back Machine." I guess he hasn't read the recent statistic that 51% of women in the United States are unmarried. The best way to strengthen the American families that remain is to stop the war on the middle class.

Personally I think Bush has done as much to embarrass Americans as Clinton did...even without a cigar, an intern and a blue dress. Infidelity isn't the only humiliation a president can visit upon the country.

Maybe instead of cheating he will do it the Mormon way and have multiple wives. Bring on the First Ladies!

"the Monica Lewinsky affair" The only thing democrats remember about the Clinton era. How sad, and after all the work they've done in the last 6 years to prop his legacy up.

*yawn* You can't legislate morality, especial the demented morality sold by the religious right. One more religion-spouting tool is going to take my tax money and give it to 'families'? But I thought these guys were small-government! Why do people get tax credits for having children? Sounds like welfare to me.

Heck, I know Mormons with 6 or 7 wives and faithful to every one! Don't believe in abortion, either! Fndamentalist Christians: you gotta love THOSE family values!

Yea too bad Steve. I guess normal to you isn't normal anymore. We should all aspire to 2 or 3 divorces maybe a couple kids out of wedlock and maybe an affair or two. That is a good crowd to stick up for Steve.

Now this has to be the funniest campaign strategy I have heard in a while. I can just see the Norman Rockwell painting as hes speaking, its just great, dinner with the whole family, no fighting, a dog that dosent bark, a wife that dosent cheat and a politican that dosent lie. What a Joke! I hope that he was referring to Bill and Hillary so that she can get her panties in a bunch two days in a row. At what point in time do these people actually work on the issues at hand instead of beating their own drum, get to work Mitt and stop patting yourself on the back...

Willard sounds like a typical Repugnicant.

As a fellow Mormon I can testify that Romney is not just talking the talk concerning family values. To members of our faith, the family is the most important thing in the world. Also, I heard that some Evangelicals are against Romney because he is Mormon. Obviously these so-called Christians are ignorant concerning Mormonism. They need to read up on the subject before "throwing stones". Besides, what could be more "patriotic" than believing that Jesus Christ visited the Americas (and the ancient civilization of "Indians" who lived here) thousands of years ago.

I forgot to add my address to email just sent

As a fellow Mormon I can testify that Romney is not just talking the talk concerning family values. To members of our faith, the family is the most important thing in the world. Also, I heard that some Evangelicals are against Romney because he is Mormon. Obviously these so-called Christians are ignorant concerning Mormonism. They need to read up on the subject before "throwing stones". Besides, what could be more "patriotic" than believing that Jesus Christ visited the Americas (and the ancient civilization of "Indians" who lived here) thousands of years ago.

Ironic that, in the party ostensibly of "family values," the only candidate still on his first marriage is the Mormon.

Just cause mitt says it dont make it so, if theres skeletons in his closet they will fall out sooner or later. Like repubs gay closet, pedophiles, and bribe takers.

Oh, now I get it, we all have to live according to Romney's mormon code, then everything will be swell!!

Mitts whole message is so "yesterday". The spiel worked for George but Americans are hip to how phony it is. We want peace, a climate our grandchildren can live in, affordable health care, and sustainable economic opportunity. We do not want anyone sticking their nose in our family business or telling us what kind of moral code we must follow. My family values are not your family values.

It seems that coming from a family with 2 brothers and 2 sisters and having parents that married each other after high school is no longer normal...It is the single parent families that are not normal. Either from divorce or casual sex it seems that some people think it is not only acceptable but normal. Homosexuals would have you believe it is normal for them to marry same sex and adopt kids. They claim it is normal and all of the christians and not moral of normal. They speak out more in the paper and blogs but the majority of americans believe it is about getting married and having kids, then staying married and raising them...the majority of americans and all moral clear thinking people know it is about Adam and Eve not Adam and Steve...don't get it twisted

is it just me, or is it WAY TOO EARLY to start campaigning. We are going to have burn out before they ever get started.

DWBlakeley, "My family values are not your family values." Bravo and well said! Our government needs to start addressing the REAL problems in this country and quit trying to legislate morality and behavior in relationships between consenting adults. Families come in all shapes and sizes and today's families do not resemble the Ozzie & Harriett families of times past. Kathy Kramer, "They need to read up on the subject before 'throwing stones'." I have studied the subject and I find it really frightening.

DWBlakeley Eau Claire, Wis. I hear ya

sandra from ks, I agree. I am already burned out. Enough already. Tell us news, not the latest on what promises all the candidates are promising each day. It's the same every day. Just like every election. If they are in the Senate or House, you can look at their voting records for yourself at www.house.gov or www.senate.gov. Hopefully we can read something other than just he said, she said. Let's look at who donates to the candidates, go to projectvotesmart. Follow the money. Do it yourself if the reporters are too engaged in gossip and innuendo to do it.

Mormons, on balance, live more closely Biblical ideals than do other christian denominations, Catholic and Protestant alike. Everyone knows of the crazy Mormon girl or the slutty Baptist kid, but Mormons, in my experience, are vastly less hypocritical, for what its worth. At least that is what it looks like to this atheist on the outside looking in.

Nothing he said is untrue. The liberal philosophy of not taking personal responsibility for ones actions in life is of great detriment to society. Of equal detriment is the hatred spewed by many (not all) liberals towards anyone who questions the wisdom of marching lockstep towards the great socialist utopia.

As a NON-Mormon, I was not allowed to attend the wedding of my oldest grandson in the Mormon "temple" in Salt Lake City. You have to be a Mormon, get a "temple recommend" that says you are "worthy" to go into the "temple"! Is this family values? And I alays thought that churches were the houses of God and that all were allowed inside - guess not, according to the Mormons. Secrecy, special handshakes, special words, special "garments" - does this sound like a religion to you? My granddaughter lived with me for a couple of years and she was actually physically abused by the Mormon kids on the school bus - was anything done about it? Not until I threatened legal action. Non-Mormons are discriminated against in jobs and the government, since it is Republican and Mormon, does not give non-Mormons any way to fight the discrimination. Talk about a state religion! Live in Utah and see what happens when a so-called religion controls everything.

Marital bliss aside, it is probably less of a "family value" to stay married to one person for life, than it is a family value, to support the daily killing and maiming of America's Troops, in a 1000-year old tribal Civil War, 100% responsible for, by Romney's "evangelical" Godfather, George W. Bush. It is beyond comprehension, how these so called "candidates" can spew, selected family values, and disregard the greatest family value of all, not subjecting the youth of America to a failed debacle in Iraq, which causes them the daily loss of life and limb.

Terry. It's not Adam and Steve, you people always get it wrong. It's Adam and Dabney... and Eve and Steven.

Rich - What exactly are you insinuating? My mother has been married three times. Does that mean that she is any less moral than someone who hasn't been divorced? Oh, and in case this informs your decision - she votes straight Republican ticket every election.

"The liberal philosophy of not taking personal responsibility for ones actions in life is of great detriment to society." Phil - I think you need to broaden that, because it is not just liberals who refuse to take personal responsibility. Exhibit A: George W. Bush.

Vridar, wouldn't you call it hypocracy when someone does not smoke or drink or gamble per their religions beliefs, yet is allowed to own a business which sells liquor, cigarettes and lottery tickets?

Rich. Just put words in your own mouth and stop trying to put them in mine. And you better keep track of your own marraige. When Romney says 'strengthen', he means 'legislate'. Wouldn't want yours to fall outside of his guidelines, now, would you?

Ryan-"issues at hand instead of beating their own drum.". I feel Mitt is just jealous that Bill had a "leg up" and didn't have to "beat his own drum".

My father's side is Mormon and my husband's mother's side is Mormon. I spent most of my youth in a Mormon church, the majority of my friends were Mormon, but I was not a "good" enough Mormon to enter the temple to attend numerous weddings. I have read the Bible and I have read the Book of Mormon. What really bites me is that in the Bible it says that you can not add or take away from this book. What did the Mormons do? They wrote the Book of Mormon. (ANOTHER testament of Jesus Christ.) This is what I really DO NOT understand. Republicans are supposed to be for LESS government, but yet all they do is stick their noses in the American people's lives. So it's really... Republicans stand for less government but only if you are a heterosexual, christian, who makes a lot of money. The rest of us have to deal with someone else's religion and their so called family values to be shoved down our throat. This is a free country, so that means you should be able to marry whom you love, have a single parent household, practice whatever religion you want and to work hard as hard as you can without the government making it even more difficult to make a living. Everyone makes their own choices and they have to suffer the consequences of their choices. I believe in separation of church and state down to the very inner fiber of my being and I think that politics should be the same way. If you are going to be a politician who wants to preach to the American people about what they should believe and how they should live...keep on walking!!

I have only known three Mormons and they all three professed to be true Mormans. One of the three seemed pretty true to Mormon religion. The other two smoked,drank alcohol,had extra martial affairs. Just saying I believe the Mormons are like any other Americans,they have to be judged individually.

Yeah, Rich, I do think obeying the "word of truth" while owning a drinking and gambling establishment is hypocritical. But I said that Mormons were, on average, less so, didn't I? Again, you can find many anecdotal instantiations of hypocrisy in any religion, but Mormons are less so than others, on average and this is near to a self-evident fact. For whatever reason--strong social support, rigid hierarchical, patriarchal structure of the church, comraderie derived from status as cult among other christians, etc.--Mormons are better at living their professed beliefs, on average, that is. I suspect, also, that many christian, men especially, are envious of Mormon piety and wish they could control their kids and wives so effectively. The religion itself, I think, is a joke. Joseph Smith says he finds some gold tablets in upstate New York with a second Bible written on them, but then he buries them and says an angel told him to do it and that we are just to take his word for it. How foolish, huh? And yet every year millions buy it and other fantastical imaginings so they don't have to feel so alone or whatever. Why can't we just face the world forthrightly, with the moral sense we were born with, that has evolved in us, that in fact, undergirds the religious trappings that distract us from its simple guidance. As an atheist in America, all this religiospeak is absolutely tiresome and sad. What a distraction from our common moral goals, from our practical, shared concerns.

People sure seem to get caught up on the idea of "on average." Seattle Sue, of course on a personal basis we should judge each person individually. But this does not mean that if one were to be able to zoom out and look at the so-called big picture, that the Mormon religion might not just be better at eliciting obedience to their professed beliefs than, say, Baptists, Catholics, or better than christians as a whole. Relatedly, as a centrist who most often leans left (but right as well, for example, on gun control), I am sick and tired of the P.C. need to declare all things equal, the inability or unwillingness of liberals to make distinctions. Yes, some wars are worse (or better) than others, more or less justified. Not all war is bad, or immoral at least. Yes, some religions are more effective than others on any number of measures. Not all satisfy the same particular cluster of psychological needs in their adherents. Yes, evidence is continuing to accumulate that there are significant differences in the abilities, including mental abilities, of men and women. Men are good at 3-D visualization, better to remember the locations of the best hunting territory; women are better at multi-taskings, to gather, cook, take care of bambinos, etc. Our minds have evolved differences between the sexes whether liberals, or conservatives for that matter, want to admit it or not. And yes, this may mean men are better at mathematics (e.g. 3-D visualization is essential to higher level breakthroughs in math). It may mean that in a complex world of many moving parts and rival factions, that women will be better leaders than men in the 21st century, having evolved a more finely-tuned social sense, a vastly better ability to compromise, which unless we want perpetual or terminal war, we must do. As a centrist liberal who is open to the idea but will not vote for a Republican because the GOP has been hijacked by religious extremists, I say that the Democratic party and liberals in general continue to ignore distinction at their peril. Our planet can not suffer another 8 years of reactionary GOP policies, so I guess I'm just hope the bleeding-heart wing of the Democratic party will keep their s--t together, that is, steer a rational middle course, as we lead up to the 2008 election.

So, according to Romney and his "church", divorce is a no-no, single moms are a no-no, and women should stay in an abusive marriage just to satisfy his idea of what life should be! I raised 6 kids by myself for 13 years and all have turned out good - educated, good jobs, nice families. But I should have stayed with an adulterer just so it would appear to be the "good family"! I know many Mormons who have been divorced and are still active members of their religion. Are they bad? I am sick and tired of people (politicians) trying to legislate personal life. Morality cannot be legislated - if it could, we wouldn't have jails overflowing.

This was a good article that produced some very interesting comments! While I agree that infidelity or more to the point, how we handle infidelity, it having a major impact on society, I am not sure that I want someone telling me what is and isn't morally acceptable. I think we are waaaay past the point of no return on that one!

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