Ex-Mormon Cartoonist Says Romney Not Telling Truth

Heh. I well understand the feeling Mr. Benson must have about being described as an "Ex-Mormon Cartoonist". I myself have been described in newspaper articles as an "Unemployed Motorcyclist". Praise of the highest order! But I digress...

E & P

As an ex-Mormon, Arizona Republic editorial cartoonist Steve Benson has strong opinions about current Mormon Mitt Romney. He said the Republican candidate's recent speech on religion should not be trusted by media people and other Americans.

He told E&P that, in his view, a Mormon believer is required by church doctrine (as dictated by the church's "living prophet") to "obey God's commands" over anything else. He said "Romney, like all 'temple Mormons,' made his secret vows using Masonic-derived handshakes, passwords, and symbolic death oaths that he promised in the temple never to reveal to the outside world" -- and that Romney also secretly vowed to devote his "time, talents" and more "to the building of the Mormon religion on earth."

"When Mitt says he belongs to a church that doesn't tell him what to do, that's false; it's a 24/7, do-what-you're-told-to-do church," asserted Benson, who won the Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartooning in 1993.

That was the year Benson left what he calls the "Mormon cult." [...]

Romney "needs to face an informed member of the media with 'cojones' who has a working and perhaps personal experience with Mormonism," said Benson. "It would be harder for Romney to do his well-practiced duck and dodge."

An informed member of the media with 'cojones'? Fat chance, white boy.

Benson predicted that Romney will not win the Republican presidential nomination. If Romney is nominated, added the cartoonist, he will not defeat his Democratic opponent.

Voters, said Benson, "are not ready for someone in the Oval Office who has committed to absolute obedience to a religion they feel is extremely odd and not in the American mainstream. I trust the rational U.S. electorate, not the weird Mormon God."

I got a sneakin' hunch that the Repug candidate is gonna be None Of The Above, but one thing's fer sure - we damn sure don't need any more Jesus freaks, Godsquadders, or weird racist cultists such as Saints and neocons, in the White House. We got a pretty representative combo of all that right now and it's like to wrecked the joint