Romney’s big plans for ‘In God We Trust’

September 22, 2007

The religious right’s support in the Republican presidential primaries is clearly up for grabs. Rudy Giuliani has the worst “family values” of any presidential candidate in recent memory .John McCain thinks the movement’s leaders are “agents of intolerance.” Fred Thompson was denounced by James Dobson earlier this week.

Mitt Romney has the disadvantage of being a Mormon, which the religious right disapproves of, but he may be the best suited of the GOP’s top tier to win the movement’s support.

And how does he plan to take advantage of the opportunity? By engaging in some of the most ridiculous pandering anyone has seen in years.

[H]e’s going to move “In God We Trust” to the front of the new dollar coins instead of the side. […]

[Romney added,] “I’ll make sure that our future is defined not by the letters ACLU, but by the letters USA.”

I’m sure there have been more shameless campaign pitches by presidential candidates this year, but none come to mind.

Glad that Romney’s not afraid to tackle the big issues. Will have have Tagg design a stamp for us while he’s at it?

  • For Romney, it’s more like “in Mammon we trust…”

    Thing is, who is this proposed monetary mutilation going to impress? Whose life will it change? Think it’ll win him any votes? I haven’t heard anybody complaining that the phrase is in the wrong place on any coins. Talk about a waste of breath…

    These rightwingers are going to make America so sick of their political use of religion that nobody will trust openly religious people anymore. That’s fine with me. The character of politicians is evident by what they do, not their foolish public proclamations.

  • I am going to put in a plug for Bob Altemeyer’s The Authoritarians.

    The present configuration of the political parties is an unusually clean division of attitude and worldview, and it has put all of the right-wing authoritarians in the Republican Party. When you further understand the characteristics of authoritarian personality styles, it is a little easier to understand why an obvious fake like Romney can do so well with Republicans aka right-wing authoritarians. (It is also a little easier to understand the inherent stupidity of many Bush policies.)

  • One should ask Romney if he is serious about criminal counterfeiting. The “In God We Trusts” on the side takes place of reeding the new dollar. It’s used to both detect counterfeits and to prevent coin shaving. Guess scoring cheap political points beats keeping the money supply safe. Wonder what other trade-offs Romney will make?

    Also the side lettering is required by the $1 Presidential Coin Act. Which was signed by Bush without a signing statement. As such there is nothing he can do about it unless Congress amends the law.

  • Since I very rarely use cash or coin anymore (thanks to debit cards, which don’t have any profession of any religion on them), it’s kind of a moot point for me. Am I outraged at this overt display of religiosity? YES!

    I don’t remember where I read it, but since the dollar is going to collapse soon anyway, my biggest concern is how I’m going to pay my mortgage and other expenses when it finally does. All thanks to the current administration’s policies.

  • Has anyone seen a bigger pandering douche bag than Romney? I guess I shouldn’t be surprised but I am. Just when you think Romney’s douchebaggery can’t get any worse he comes up with this gem. You gotta laugh.

  • Wow, it is truly amazing to get a window into the warped mind of a liberal.

    Putting “In God We Trust” on the front of the new dollar coins (great idea in a world of godless maniacs) and saying we are USA not ACLU is “pandering” in your world?

    Not only is this pandering, but this is the WORST PANDERING you have seen so far in this campaign?

    No, the WORST PANDERING of this campaign season was Hillary Clinton telling General P. that his testimony about things improving in Iraq was a lie. Funny how a week later the pentagon released numbers that stated, in fact, violence was down by 50% across Iraq.

    Now THAT was pandering.

    lol, thanks for the laugh though!

  • Here’s something else you wacky liberals don’t get.

    “In God We Trust” is not about a religious belief in “God” at all. It is a statement that says we as a nation based upon goodness. We anchor that by implying this is due to a trust in a Supreme Being. We have a moral center.

    As far as God actually existing or not, the scientific plausibility of a Universal Quantum Consciousness that has achieved self-awareness and has a personality (much the same way a quantum computer would) is very real.

    In other words, is there definitely a “God”? Maybe not, but there could be and to dismiss the possibility out of hand is as backwards as saying the world was flat 600 years agao just because you had never been past the horizon.

    You say that science disproves God when in fact, it may be science after all that actual proves “his” existence. Maybe not, but it is not impossible.

  • The United States is based on trust in a Supreme Being who may not exist but is at least plausible. But this is not a religious belief in a god.

    Ho-kay.

  • mellowjohn

    Why not? Maybe someone should suggest it to Romney. ‘Twould make a great political cartoon!

    But nothing will come of this very strange idea. Romney won’t be elected, so it’s moot.

  • “In God We Trust” is not about a religious belief in “God” at all.

    You’re right, Bill. I don’t get it. It’s way too subtle for me.

    There’s a better way than words on mammon money to show that we have a moral center and are based upon goodness – we could act like it! Sometimes our national acts are good. Recently it’s been not so good. Abu Gahrib, Guantanamo, torture, extraordinary renditions to secret CIA prisons… But you’ve heard the “wacky liberal” litany, so I won’t take up more bandwidth.

    Romney is pandering. Shamelessly. Flagrantly. Spectacularly. To the holier-than-thou crowd. And a majority of the American people agree with Hillary, that Petraeus’ report was something short of objective. Makes me think that you’re one of the many who suffers from “Clinton Derangement Syndrome.” Ain’t pandering if it’s a fact.

    And what’s with the umbrage over the ACLU? They spend full time defending the constitution. They would be unnecessary if our elected leaders defended it, as they all swore that they would. Damn those ACLU guys – defending that damn Constitution again.

  • Nobody Atoll

    Though I lived around Mormons for a couple of years, I’d forgotten all about them! They certainly are magic, and this proves it:

    [Magic Underpants] were not originally believed to provide any physicial protection. That idea didn’t come until later, when during a barrage of gunfire Joseph Smith died not wearing his garments while John Talyor wearing garments survived. Mormon Garments LDS Church

  • What I don’t like is how they changed the portrait on the dollar coin to George Washington. Before we had Sacajawea, and even better, Susan B. Anthony. Dollar coins were the only U.S. money with women featured on them, and the $1 George Washington bill has been ubiquitous for years. So why now do we have to have him on more money?

  • Bill Romney, er, Mitchell is right about Mitt Romney being right.
    We should put the name of G*d on everything; coins, license plates, business cards, television commercials, underwear, billboards, t-shirts, airliners, military uniforms, submarines, aircraft carriers and guided missiles.

    And see where it gets us.

    Faith in a power greater than one’s self can be marvelous for individuals. Forced adherence to a particular faith by a nation is a shortcut to the dustbin of history.

  • Bill, I hate to disappoint you, but this is what I call an “aggregator” blog. Yeah, The Carpetbagger adds his (often spot-on and entertaining) insight, but he is basing his posts on other sources, to which he provides links.

    Had you followed the links before inserting your foot in your mouth, you would see that the source that originally slammed on Romney and his coin idea was not some radical pinko leftist — it was the National Review Online, which, in case you haven’t been paying attention, bill itself as a Republican/Conservative publication!

    Thanks for playing, though.

  • No, the WORST PANDERING of this campaign season was Hillary Clinton telling General P. that his testimony about things improving in Iraq was a lie. Funny how a week later the pentagon released numbers that stated, in fact, violence was down by 50% across Iraq.

    Yeah that was the report where they reclassified deaths from car bombs, from bullets to the front of the head, from sunnis killing sunnis, and from shiites killing shiites as non-sectarian. If you want to pretend that redefining “sectarian violence” actually means such deaths are decreasing, then by all means, do so.

    “In God We Trust” is not about a religious belief in “God” at all.

    Oh of course not! That’s why if we replaced that phrase with “In Allah We Trust” there would be no outrage at all, right?

    (I like to call that the moron test, because of how quickly that flushes out the morons. Because you personally have no problem with it, you conclude that no one else should have a problem with it. If of course it offended you, you’d go nuts. Like Steve said regarding the San Diego mayor who opposed gay marriage until he found out his daughter was gay, conservatism will be beaten when conservatives have more life experiences.)

    But thanks for some direct insight into the insane mind of a crackpot conservative, Bill Mitchell.

    By the way, how did you get here? You ought to get back to whoring Mitt Romney to other conservatives across the internet. He’s by far the weakest of the republican frontrunners in the general election, you’re really doing us a favor if you help him get the republican nomination.

  • Ummm, zeitgeist, the second link was from the National Review online.

    But thank you for playing. You’ll be receiving a copy of our home game as well as a handy extractor to remove your foot from your mouth.

  • Dennis – not sure what you are talking about – the second one was the one we were discussing, re the coins. Did you look at the NRO article? (They were reviewing his speech, wherein he did the coin pander, and they were – to say the least – unimpressed saying they wish he had given his airplane seat to Huckabee instead.) Having double checked, I’m pretty sure my post at 18 is correct.

  • This is truly in the running for the dumbest thing I’ve heard yet, and it is most certainly pandering. I mean, what constituency is most likely to think that moving the words, “In God we Trust” to the front of the coin is perhps the first step toward legislating religion into all areas of government? Hmmm…that’s a tough one.

    I, for one, would not be troubled at all if “In God We Trust” disappeared from our currency altogether – I don’t read my currency, other than to see the numbers on the bills, and the size of the coins tells me all I need to know about what I have. The language provides me no special comfort as I shell out for all of life’s needs. I don’t think the language protects me in any way. And having heaps and piles and stashes of it does not seem to equal someone who is more religious, or who adheres more strictly to the tenets of his or her religion.

    The truth is that this is a nation that is not “under God;” look no further than the people who brought you a war that is costing 500,000 of “In God we Trust”-emblazoned dollars every minute. Look at the people who would deny health insurance to children because they think it might lead to national health care. Look at the people sitting in government agencies and departments, who would rather keep the corporations happy and counting all their “In God We Trust”-engraved and printed money than they would enforce the laws and regulations that are supposed to keep food, water, air, drugs and all manner of products safe.

    Seems to me that for a lot of people – many of whom are in the current administration, and many of whom want to be in the next one – the motto ought to be “With God I Can Get Over.”

  • As is there was any doubt which party was the “godless party”, these comments serve as proof.

    No, they just seem to be proof of which party wants to make religion a campaign slogan, and which party wants to, you know, live up to the ideals of Christianity. Jesus spoke often about looking out for the poor, welcoming all kinds of people, and forgiving sinners. This may surprise you, but he actually didn’t favor tax cuts for the rich, pre-emptive wars, and hating the gays.

    See, unlike the religious hypocrites in the Republican Party, I actually read and understand the Holy Bible.

    On this instance, you might want to revisit the Book of Matthew, Chapter 6, Verses 5-8:

    “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.”

  • “In God We Trust” is not about a religious belief in “God” at all. It is a statement that says we as a nation based upon goodness.

    Actually, if you look at the debates over when “In God We Trust” was made this country’s official motto — in 1956 — it wasn’t about showing our goodness, it was about showing how we were different from the commies.

    The commies were godless, therefore we had to show we were godly. And what better way to show your love of God than stamping a catchphrase on money?

  • We anchor that by implying this is due to a trust in a Supreme Being. We have a moral center.
    …
    In other words, is there definitely a “God”? Maybe not…

    And ‘maybe’ godful rightwingers don’t have morals.

    No, I’m pretty sure they don’t.

  • I take it having his likeness wearing a crown with “Mitt, by the grace of God” stamped on it didn’t test too well.

  • I welcome a frank and open discussion of the batshit insane ideas Romney claims to believe were revealed to a guy in the desert in the 1800s and have now become cherished American traditions shared by all.

  • I think Dobson is seriously considering endorsing Mitt Romney. Not that he approves of Mormonism, but most people (including Dobson) really looking at Romney don’t feel like he’s earned the flip-flopping label the media has given him as much as they say, and I think Dobson secretly trusts/likes Romney and believes Romney is a capable politician with some core values, even though Dobson abhores his religion. One thing is for sure: Romney is probably the only top tier contender who really believes in God (albeit one that is different is some respects from the Protestant version). Is a Mormon worse than an atheist? Because if “by their works you shall know them” all the other candidates are atheists and its a question people have to ask.

  • Aardvark,
    Coin shaving went out with gold and silver coins, there is no real reason to have milled edges on coins nowadays. However, this is just another “Flag Burning Amendment” political tool to sway really religious people to vote for him.

  • I love how conservatives insist that government should have little or no role in establishing job security, health care, or educational support for its citizens. But weighing in on the eternal truths of spirituality? Yes, that’s the province of congressmen and senators.

    I guess I’m going to have to talk to my pastor about getting health insurance for the kids.

  • I think Dobson is seriously considering endorsing Mitt Romney.

    I don’t.

    Dobson isn’t going to be endorsing ANYONE this cycle unless and until he’s assured that that person will win the Republican nomination. And even once a winner is ordained, he still might hold off because there’s a really good chance that the Republican is going to lose in the general election anyway.

    Dobson is all about Dobson’s political power – he can give a flying rat’s behind about anything else. Endorsing losers does NOT enhance one’s political power in the Republican Party – you have to show that your endorsement makes a candidate a winner.

    That’s the real reason Dobson hasn’t endorsed anyone yet despite Hucakabee and Brownback both looking like they’d line right up with Dobson’s agenda – Dobson doesn’t think they’re winners. Of course, this means that Dobson is actually politically impotent – if he had real pull in the GOP whoever he nominated would get a boost into the “potential winner” category. Dobson’s power is all stagecraft and bluster – his endorsement means squat. But he’ll hold back and find someone in 2012 to endorse – once he knows that person will both be a winner and be able to mouth the right social conservative talking points without looking like an idiot.

  • Yes ,America does believe in God. And thank God for Mitt Romney .There is a
    sleeping giant in America who is just about to wake out of sleep.God will arise
    and defend His people. Mark it down.

    • Comments are closed.