The RNC and Coming to Terms with Mitt

Biggest winner and my vote for GOP nominee in 2016 is Sister Oparowski.  She cracked me up.  What a hilarious couple.  Loved them.

Second best of the three nights goes to the wonderfully produced and highly persuasive video of Mitt.  It was lacking in a few areas (uhm, why was he coming home after being gone for a long time?  Insert- LDS mission.  Why did his parents live in Mexico when he was born?  Uh-just say polygamists.  I get why they were left out, it was just weird to understand it all and realize that others would just see it as huge gaps and wonder these things.)  That being said, it was really well done and made me like Mitt a lot more. (don’t stop reading here- you have to know the full story.)

Biggest loser- Clint Eastwood- what the crap was that?  Embarrassing.

Second biggest loser- Santorum.  I won’t bother you with the details of why I consider him to be one ginormous Pharisee… unless you want to know.  But you probably don’t.

My heart ached a bit for Ann- twice.  First, during her speech I felt she just wasn’t comfortable.  It just doesn’t seem like this is her thing.  I thought she did a great job overall.  Critics have called her a Stepford Wife but I think that when you combine an attractive woman who is well polished and put together and then add in a nervous laugh and somewhat stiff performance- that is what you get.  But I don’t know that she asked for this.  I don’t think it’s by design that she is not talking policy or politics.  It’s not her thing, so it’s better that she not.  But I just get the feeling that it’s SO NOT her thing that it kind of makes me feel bad for her.  In fact, last night as Romney walked in and was shaking hands and made his way to the front, CNN cameras kept going to her.  She looked sad.  If she wasn’t sad, she wasn’t happy.  Maybe she was just tired.  But for a second I thought I could hear her, “for years he was a Bishop and I sat alone, for years he was a Stake President and I attended our ward alone, and now he may become President of the US and I will be alone for the next four years.  There were many who hated his decisions as a Bishop, but half the US is going to hate his policies as President.”  I just get the feeling that she would rather just be hanging out in their home in NH with the grandkids and not have Mitt going around looking for all this responsibility.  Anyway- maybe I am wrong.

And Mitt.  Hmmm…  Here is the thing- he still hasn’t told us what he is going to do SPECIFICALLY about the debt- which is where he is putting all his eggs.  We know he intends to continue to spend on the military.  He says he will repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (did you catch that- Replace?  Replace with what?  His health care plan?  Is it somehow a tremendous savings?)  He isn’t going to touch Medicare or Social Security.  He isn’t going to increase taxes of corporations, the wealthy or the middle class.  (He didn’t mention taxes for the poor either way, but I doubt that is his plan.)  It’s like me and Scott telling our kids we are bankrupt and have to make some BIG changes, some BIG sacrifices- but we are keeping the house and the utility bills (including cell phones and cable), keeping the cars, keeping our retirement plans, keeping our medical insurance etc- which are all very good things to keep.  And our BIG change is switching from Skippy to Jiff peanut butter to save money.  Okay- slightly exaggerated, but HOW exactly is he going to do all this and keep the commitments to these programs and our current tax structure?  Somewhere in there is an answer- and only Mitt knows it- it concerns me that he isn’t sharing it.  I hope it comes out in the debates.

Lastly, it became very clear to me this week why the GOP bothers me so greatly.   I hold the GOP to a higher standard than the Dems.  Why?  Because the GOP has wrapped their platform around religion, faith and morality.  That’s all fine and dandy- but if you are going to do that- then you need to go all the way.  You need to have integrity.  I will fully admit there are lies and devious and deceitful things said on both sides- but only the Right does it in the name of Christianity and that bothers me to my absolute core.  I have been a fence sitter regarding Mitt- giving him the benefit of the doubt for a long time.  He lost my vote when he selected Paul Ryan- but that’s another story for another time.  My disappointment in Mitt came this week when more than once he repeated the lie that Obama waived the work requirement for welfare.  Obama did not.  What he DID do, was grant the States the ability to submit their own State policies for the work requirement.  Of the 21 states that requested this waiver, Utah and Nevada were two of them.  Also, while Mitt was Governor of MA- he requested the same thing.  So it’s not like he was unfamiliar with how it works. He knows the truth and he CHOSE to repeat a lie. Not only that, but giving the option to the States falls in line with the mantra of the GOP- “small government, more agency!"  So Obama does just that and then has it twisted in to a lie about welfare reform.  It’s a small thing really in the larger spectrum of issues.  But for me, it was huge.  He knowingly lied to the public- I have a problem with that.

And so- that has caused me to come to terms with Mitt.  There are many, many, many good people in the Church who are trying their hardest, do their home teaching, pay their tithing and fast offerings, care for their neighbor- but MANY of those good people- I would NOT want to work with or have as a manager at work.  I think in the Gospel sometimes we need to separate the person who lives in the world from the person who is trying to live celestially- even though they both reside in the same human body.  Brother Romney is welcome to visit my ward and my home any day and I would love him and treat him kindly and we would likely become good chums- but on a professional level- I don’t like how he does “his job”.