Bob Jones supports Mitt Romney

You've probably already heard that Bob Jones, III has thrown his support behind Presidential candidate (and Mormon), Mitt Romney. His reasoning is, "This is all about beating Hillary, and I just believe that this man has the credentials both personally and ideologically in terms of his view about what American government should be to best represent the rank and file of conservative Americans."

I've got several problems with this line of reasoning and, for that matter, with anybody with as much pull as Jones supporting Romney. I'm not going to discuss them in great detail right now simply because I'm crunched for time.

First of all, if it's truly "all about beating Hillary" (a fundamentally flawed reason to support anybody, in my opinion), then perhaps it would be good to throw your support behind somebody who actually stands a chance at beating her! Romney versus Hillary isn't exactly a fair fight. I think the only ticket that the GOP can throw out there that will beat Hillary is a Guiliani/Thompson or Guiliani/Huckabee ticket. There are some things about Guiliani that I truly dislike, but I think he can stomp Hillary...nobody else out there has a prayer.

Secondly, and this isn't referenced directly in the article, but why is it that the only issue that conservatives really seem to care about in this country is abortion? If a candidate isn't pro-life, we pull our support without question. Why not a candidate who is loudly supporting things like a fair tax, smaller government, the sovereignty of the individual states.... Abortion is an important (and polarizing) issue; however, I'm not convinced that it's the right issue to serve as the litmus test for who we'll support for President.

Thirdly, it's baffling to me that Jones sees Romney of all people as the best representation of the ideology of rank and file conservatives. What about Brownback or Huckabee? What about anybody who is not a member of the wackiest mainstream cult in America? For Pete's sake, Jones just threw his support behind a guy who believes that someday he'll become the god of an entire solar system (just like God who, according to LDS theology, was once a man). Romney believes that Jesus Christ and Satan are blood brothers. They )Mormons) believe that God actually had intercourse with Mary to conceive Christ. It seems to me that if you've got some pull in this country (and Jones does) that you would throw your support behind a more stable-minded individual....

More later. I won't be back to bloggin until next week.