By Ezra
When my great-great-grandfather was 14, he stole a wagon. At 22, he over-imbibed from a wineskin and had impure, though partially humorous, thoughts about a nearby goat. These thoughts were never acted upon, but they existed nonetheless.* So here's the question: am I a thief? A sexual deviant? Is the guilt from these events sexually communicable and endlessly heritable? Or does the fact that I am a different person and find goats useful for nothing beyond purely platonic petting absolve me?
Rare is the individual who would even imply that guilt jumps generations, who would stare at me suspiciously and whisper about my ancestors to cast aspersions on me. Sadly, those individuals work for The Associated Press. I can't add much to the LeMew, Shakes, or Atrios on this one, save to echo Duncan's warning that "Romney's going to find out that it's not important whether you're a 'person of faith.' What's important is that you're a person of the right faith [and] it's time to be honest about that."
And we should be honest about more than that: If you're not of the right faith, the press will ruthlessly root out the quirks and eccentricities of your beliefs -- the same ones that are beyond reproach or comment in "mainstream" religions -- in order to unsettle the electorate. They will play to prejudice, never against it. The cynicism of the Romney story is breathtaking. I don't believe for an instant that Jennifer Dobman or Glen Johnson believe the marital habits of Mitt Romney's great-great grandfather have a shadow of relevance to Romney's tendencies, proclivities, or beliefs. They're perfectly aware that Romney has had exactly one wife ("By their works ye shall know them.")
What they do know is that there is a certain subsection of Americans who won't be so fair, who'll be subconsciously or overtly repulsed, who will e-mail this story to all their friends, who will move from not understanding it to slowly distorting, who will create chain letters about the hidden polygamy of Mitt Romney, who will inveigh against him from church pews. They know this story will resonate, even if only among ugly communities that the reporters would be ashamed to ever overtly aid. They will play to prejudice because it sells, and they can play to prejudice because Mitt Romney doesn't believe the right things. And this is how Mitt Romney will be Gored. not because they hate them, but because, above all, reporters want their stories to resonate, and playing to prejudice -- whether it be anti-intellectual or anti-Mormon -- does.
*None of this is true, at least so far as I know. My great-great-grandfather was a mensch.
