Huntsman: Mormon or Not?

by Michael Sean Winters

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Joelyn Singley, of Utah, was pleased to find that the question she sent into ABC actually made it into their interview of former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman: Is he a Mormon or not?
She wasn't as pleased with the response. "I feel he’s dancing around it. It’s not important to me if he’s a practicing Mormon or not. I just want a straight answer. He just sounds like every other politician out there who dances around hard questions. It’s really not a hard question," Singley said.
This is a classic case of a politician's in-bred caution gets the better of him. People can understand that when discussing complex policy issues, sometimes it is the better part of wisdom to hedge an answer. But, when asked about something this straightforward and personal, why the hesitation?
The question is not rhetorical. Evangelical Christians consider Mormons heretics and Huntsman is trying to position himself a smidge closer to the GOP's evangelical base than his co-religionist Mitt Romney. Whatever you think of Romney, and I don't think much, at least he has never run, or better dogded, questions about his faith. My guess is that Huntsman is being too clever by half. For evangelicals, there is one thing worse than a believing Mormon and that is a believing Mormon trying to pull one over on them.

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