Twenty-First Century Bigotry

Lawrence O’Donnell is a repellent media figure. On Friday’s McLaughlin Group, the far-left commentator delivered an unhinged rant against Mitt Romney and the Mormon faith. O’Donnell denounced Romney’s speech on religion as “the worst political speech of my lifetime” and called Joseph Smith, the founder of the LDS church, a “lying, fraudulent criminal.” You really have to see it to believe it:



O’Donnell’s theme, along with attacking Romney on the ground that his great-grandfather was a polygamist, was that Mormonism is a “racist” religion because it formerly did not permit blacks to become priests (the Mormons have a lay priesthood). One of the several ironies here is that O’Donnell is a Democrat. The Democratic Party was so committed to upholding the institution of slavery that it split the country and ignited the Civil War. Following the war, the Democratic Party enforced segregation through Jim Crow laws in the South for another hundred years. So, is O’Donnell a racist because he is a Democrat? In the broad sweep of American history, when it comes to wrongs perpetrated against African-Americans, the Democratic Party is the unchallenged champion. Mormons aren’t even on the charts.
To comment on this post, go here.