Topic category:  Other/General

The secular extremist-dominated media obviously does not want former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney to become the Republican presidential candidate in 2008, win the election and then appoint justices and judges who will respect the Constitution and follow the law instead of impose the secular extremist agenda under the guise of judicial construction. After all, Governor Romney, businessman and lawyer extraordinaire, is a religious man who rejected secular extremism and came to appreciate that the God-given right to life should not be rejected in favor of a civil "right" to abortion on demand. Governor Romney even mentions God in public and refuses to apologize for his faith, to which he is...faithful. Astute and affable as well as articulate and telegenic, he calls to mind another former governor who likewise came to regret his earlier support of abortion and confounded the secular extremist-dominated media by promoting traditional American values: the late President Ronald Reagan.

A poster at www.electromneyin2008.com was disgusted with what he called "the most outrageous question of the night"--a question about Mitt Romney's faith prefaced by references to a man who refused to shake hands with Mr. Romney because he is a Mormon and a New Hampshire poll suggesting that 10% would not vote for him because he is a Mormon--and declared: "WHAT A PATHETIC ATTEMPT TO GIVE MORE MEDIA ATTENTION TO SOME BIGOT WHO IS BENEATH THE DIGNITY OF MENTIONING, ESPECIALLY BY A MAJOR NEWS OUTLET LIKE CNN. DO YOU THINK THEY’D ASK SENATOR OBAMA THE SAME QUESTION IF SOME IDIOT REFUSED TO SHAKE HIS HAND BECAUSE HE WAS BLACK! THIS ONE WAS UNBELIEVABLE."

I say to those persons (particularly secular extremists) who are trying to use Mr. Romney's Mormon faith against him: KEEP IT UP! Because the bulk of Americans will prefer a faithful Mormon (or Methodist, or Jew, etc.) to a presidential candidate pretending to be faithful. So please keep giving Mr. Romney the opportunity to demonstrate that he is both faithful and fit to be president in these troubled times. (Note: Senator Majority Leader Harry Reid is a Mormon. Him, I oppose. But NOT because he's a Mormon. I'm Catholic, but, for heaven's (and America's) sake, give me a good person of any religion instead of a faithless one of any religion, especially my own, pretending to be faithful and mocking the tenets of his or her faith for perceiving political advantage, like Democrat Senator John Kerry or Republican Mayor Rudy Giuliani.)

Remember the 2004 presidential election? A pro-abortion "Catholic" by the name of name of Kerry lost the "Catholic vote" and the presidency to a Methodist by the name of Bush, because enough people realized Kerry was mocking his professed faith in order to play politics. For a "Catholic" presidential candidate to lose the "Catholic vote" takes some doing: fellow Democrats Al Smith and John F. Kennedy each got about 80% of the "Catholic vote" against Quaker Republicans Herbert Hoover and Richard Nixon.

Remember the 2000 presidential election? Democrat Senator Joe Liebermann's Jewish faith was not a handicap, because people respected him as a bona fide man of faith.

There are some blinded by religious bigotry, to be sure, but they will not decide America's presidential elections.

What is important is not whether the President is male or female, or Baptist, Methodist, Catholic, Mormon or Jewish.

What is important is that the President exemplify the values that have made America the greatest nation in the history of the world and not try to make God and religious values unwelcome in the public square.

Governor Romney exemplifies and that will be generally appreciated, despite the lies.

To those who charge Governor Romney with flip-flopping on some issues, I say: I WANT people to learn and welcome genuine conversion; Governor Romney has demonstrated his capacity to learn as well as his fidelity to his basic principles; a candidate who is uneducable is unfit; and Mitt Is The Best Fit!

During the New Hampshire Republican presidential debate on June 5, 2007, Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney faced the possibility of prejudice against him based on his faith unflinchingly.

CNN's Wolf Blitzer: "Governor Romney, there was a recent poll here in New Hampshire. Ten percent said they wouldn’t vote for you because you’re a Mormon. And last week we saw that picture of that man who refused to shake your hand because you are a Mormon. What would you like to say to the voters out there tonight about your faith, about yourself and about God?"

MR. ROMNEY: "Well, President Kennedy some time ago said he was not a Catholic running for president; he was an American running for president. And I’m happy — a proud member of my faith.

"You know, I think it’s a fair question for people to ask, 'What do you believe?' And I think, as you want to understand what I believe, you could recognize that the values that I have are the same values you’ll find in faiths across this country.

"I believe in God, believe in the Bible, believe Jesus Christ is my savior. I believe that God created man in his image. I believe that the freedoms of man derive from inalienable rights that were given to us by God. And I also believe that there are some pundits out there that are hoping that I’ll distance myself from my church so that that’ll help me politically, and that’s not going to happen. (Applause.)"

BRAVO!

What does it profit a man to gain the world if he must lose his soul in the process?

Defying temptation to which others (both Democrats and Republicans) have succumbed, Mr. Romney flatly refused to compromise his faith for political advantage and demonstrated presidential character in the process.

The contrast between Mr. Romney, the monogamous Mormon, and former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, the twice divorced and thrice married "Catholic" who put the interests of NARAL and Planned Parenthood above his soul, is stark.

Newsdayreported virtually simultaneously that Mr. Giuliani sidesteps questions of faith, refuses to discuss whether and how often he goes to church.

Newsday: "In a survey [by Associated Press] of presidential candidates in both parties, Giuliani, a Catholic, was the only one to refuse to say how often he attended services, and he also declined to name a church of which he is a member."

Giuliani campaign: "The mayor's personal relationship with God is private and between him and God."

Mr. Romeny responded that he attends services weekly at a Mormon temple in Belmont, Mass.

Former Democrat presidential hopeful Al Sharpton declared earlier this year that "those who really believe in God" will defeat Mr. Romney.

With the likes of Sharpton and the handshake refuser against him, Mr. Romney is on his way to the White House, because, like Senator Liebermann, he is a genuine person of faith and Americans prefer such people to the faithless and the phonies.

National Review Online's Kathryn Jean Lopez's 2006 article entitled "Romney vs. Harvard" deftly demonstrated that Governor Romney has the character, courage and competency a President needs.

The article confirms that Governor Romney refused to do what was politically and personally tempting: support embryonic stem cell research and human cloning. (Some politicians can resist anything but temptation.)

Ms. Lopez:

"...Governor Mitt Romney stole a little thunder from determined human-cloning advocates at Harvard and in the Massachusetts statehouse.... [A legislator had] introduced a bill that would allow government and privately funded embryonic-stem-cell research and so-called 'therapeutic' cloning in the Bay State. Romney announced that he would oppose any legislation that would allow for the creation of new human embryos for scientific experiments. He told the Times that 'Some of the practices that Harvard and probably other institutions in Massachusetts are engaged in cross the line of ethical conduct.'"

Ms. Lopez reported that Governor Romney had "presented a compromise position," supporting "experimentation on surplus frozen embryos from in-vitro fertilization procedures. But proponents of embryonic-stem-cell research refuse to meet him there. They want it all."

Governor Romney would not be steamrolled.

"As Romney put it in a press conference..., 'All of the rhetoric has been, "We are throwing away embryos — surplus embryos — that could be used for stem-cell research and that makes no sense."... And now, now that I've said, "Ok, I support that," now [the other side says], "No, that's insufficient. How could you possibly limit it to that?" Well, that's what they've been asking for.'

"In other words, Romney has called their bluff.

"As [the legislator] said...: 'We should do everything we can to make sure it happens here.' But his 'it' is unnecessarily extreme. On the very same day, in fact, in the pages of his hometown paper, the Boston Globe, it was reported that University of California at San Diego researchers had discovered 'cells in the heart that can create new muscle cells, raising hopes that doctors may find dramatic new ways to treat heart disease, the nation's leading cause of death.' Not uncharacteristic of the stem-cell debate writ large, the big-money and big-mouth voices behind 'stem-cell research' are narrowly focused on embryos, not on the available — and in many cases more promising — alternatives."

Ms. Lopez pointed out that Governor Romney was putting principle above interest: "Romney himself...is in a unique position for a politician facing this issue — and for that reason perhaps one of the best spokesmen for his side in the state. His wife, Ann, who he is not shy to say is one of his key advisers on these ethical issues, has M.S. So the hope of stem-cell research is one that hits close to home for the governor — and, tactically, takes some of the sting away from the usual 'heartless Republican' accusation hurled by proponents of the all-or-nothing approach."

Ms. Lopez praised Governor Romney's principled approach: "Romney has started out of the gates playing it straight. 'I am in favor of stem-cell research. I am not in favor of creating new human embryos through cloning,' he told the press.... Whether honesty will be enough to get him a coalition that will support a ban on cloning or sustain a veto of the Harvard wish list remains to be seen."

Whether traditional values, including honesty, will carry Governor Romney into the White House remains to be seen. But I expect to see it, rather than secular extremism and religious bigotry prevailing. Of the viable presidential candidates, Governor Romney is the cream of the crop and therefore he should come out on top.

Michael J. Gaynor

Biography - Michael J. Gaynor

Michael J. Gaynor has been practicing law in New York since 1973. A former partner at Fulton, Duncombe & Rowe and Gaynor & Bass, he is a solo practitioner admitted to practice in New York state and federal courts and an Association of the Bar of the City of New York member.

Gaynor graduated magna cum laude, with Honors in Social Science, from Hofstra University's New College, and received his J.D. degree from St. John's Law School, where he won the American Jurisprudence Award in Evidence and served as an editor of the Law Review and the St. Thomas More Institute for Legal Research. He wrote on the Pentagon Papers case for the Review and obscenity law for The Catholic Lawyer and edited the Law Review's commentary on significant developments in New York law.

The day after graduating, Gaynor joined the Fulton firm, where he focused on litigation and corporate law. In 1997 Gaynor and Emily Bass formed Gaynor & Bass and then conducted a general legal practice, emphasizing litigation, and represented corporations, individuals and a New York City labor union. Notably, Gaynor & Bass prevailed in the Second Circuit in a seminal copyright infringement case, Tasini v. New York Times, against newspaper and magazine publishers and Lexis-Nexis. The U.S. Supreme Court affirmed, 7 to 2, holding that the copyrights of freelance writers had been infringed when their work was put online without permission or compensation.

Gaynor currently contributes regularly to www.MichNews.com, www.RenewAmerica.com, www.WebCommentary.com, www.PostChronicle.com and www.therealitycheck.org and has contributed to many other websites. He has written extensively on political and religious issues, notably the Terry Schiavo case, the Duke "no rape" case, ACORN and canon law, and appeared as a guest on television and radio. He was acknowledged in Until Proven Innocent, by Stuart Taylor and KC Johnson, and Culture of Corruption, by Michelle Malkin. He appeared on "Your World With Cavuto" to promote an eBay boycott that he initiated and "The World Over With Raymond Arroyo" (EWTN) to discuss the legal implications of the Schiavo case. On October 22, 2008, Gaynor was the first to report that The New York Times had killed an Obama/ACORN expose on which a Times reporter had been working with ACORN whistleblower Anita MonCrief.

Gaynor's email address is gaynormike@aol.com.