Contact: Brian Appel
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Writing in Slate, Boston Phoenix political writer Adam Reilly — who has reported extensively on Massachusetts Governor and Presidential aspirant Mitt Romney — has offered a comprehensive assessment of Romney’s awkward efforts to sell his Mormonism to the non-Mormon public. Reilly’s conclusion: Although Romney tells a mean polygamy joke, the Bay State governor has a far bigger challenge than Roman Catholic John F. Kennedy did in 1960. Mormonism, a/k/a the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, “seems strange because it’s new, which makes the human agency behind it especially palpable,” Reilly argues. He continues: “In contrast, the passage of time has given the weirder aspects of other faiths a patina of sanctity. In a perfect world, Romney could point this out to any and all anti-Mormon voters, perhaps using some lighthearted religious banter to drive the point home: So, are you Catholics still praying to little bits of saints’ bodies, or what? But now that Romney’s a social conservative with national aspirations, such a move would be political suicide.”