The Mormon Versus the Moron

Gov. Mitt Romney is proving to be pretty unflappable on the stump, and that's a good trait for any presidential candidate. Given the explosion of his campaign experienced by George Allen following his "macaca" moment, candidates will have to be very, very careful how they respond to hecklers or other critics.

Romney was confronted in Florida by a man who decided to challenge him on his religion, and he handled is pretty well:

...But his warm welcome at the massive, heavily Republican retirement community was marred when one man attacked him for being a Mormon.

"You sir, you are a pretender. You do not know the Lord, you are a Mormon," the man shouted, drawing boos.

Romney responded calmly.

"Let me offer just a thought," he said. "One of the great things about this great land is we have people of different faiths and different persuasion, but we need to have a person of faith to lead this country."

Romney, 59, drew a standing ovation for the poised reaction to the attack. But the incident highlighted a potential obstacle to his efforts to win over social conservatives in the party...

Think what you want about Mormanism, but in a country where there is supposed to be freedom of religion, and where there is no religious test for the office of president, these kinds of attacks are simply unAmerican. They violate the basic tenets of our Constitution.

If you do not wish to vote for someone because of their religion, that's certainly your right. But it seems to me that the critic in this case was attacking Romney's character based on his religious beliefs, and that's just ignorant.

It's also a lousy way to win Mormons over to the Christian faith.