Skip to content
Main Street Plaza

A Community for Anyone Interested in Mormonism.

Main Street Plaza

A Community for Anyone Interested in Mormonism.

Steve Benson lays into Romney

profxm, December 20, 2007June 21, 2011

Here is a not widely circulated interview with Steve Benson talking about Romney’s conflict of interest. Intriguing read.

Politics

Post navigation

Previous post
Next post

Related Posts

Would you vote for a Mormon for president?

October 12, 2011October 12, 2011

An article in Slate argues that anti-Mormonism is part of the next frontier of prejudice in this country. While the Republican presidential candidates have been quick to condemn anti-black prejudice (such as the word “Niggerhead” painted onto a rock at Perry’s family’s leased hunting camp) — because it’s easy to…

Read More

How Dare They: The Romneys’ Sense of Entitlement

August 15, 2012

I am not really tuned in to the presidential election. Not as I think I should be. I am, after all, a bit of a political junkie. But I listen to the news on NPR, and I catch the headlines on the Internet, the New York Times, Huffington Post, the…

Read More

New Maine Marriage Polling Numbers

September 30, 2009May 17, 2011

x-posted from Daily Kos by permission. Guest post by Jesse Connolly, campaign manager for the (Maine) No on 1 campaign. A new public poll from Democracy Corps was released yesterday, showing us with a slight lead in this race of 50% to 41%, a significant jump from kos’s numbers from…

Read More

Comments (18)

  1. C.Biden says:
    December 20, 2007 at 3:13 pm

    Romney has also lied about his father “marching with Martin Luther King.” http://tiny.cc/ZjDnW

  2. Hellmut says:
    December 20, 2007 at 4:01 pm

    Is that true? That would be a stupid lie because it can be so easily checked.

    We do know that George Romney was bold enough on civil rights to earn the rebuke of Apostle Delbert Stapley who actually threatened Romney with the specter of divine retribution.

    I guess, I am willing to interpret “marching with King” loosely.

  3. exmoron says:
    December 20, 2007 at 4:42 pm

    I hadn’t heard that Romney lie. That’s awesome!

  4. C.Biden says:
    December 20, 2007 at 5:44 pm

    oops. wrong link
    http://tinyurl.com/2stypo

  5. C.Biden says:
    December 20, 2007 at 5:48 pm

    I guess he “saw” it with his “spiritual” eyes.

  6. Seth R. says:
    December 20, 2007 at 6:40 pm

    What’s “interesting” about the interview? I failed to find anything much of interest. Unless you find a paint-by-the-numbers exmormon.org bitter rant number 26 interesting…

    Love how Benson can’t seem to make up his mind. One moment he’s implying that we ought to be very afraid that Romney is going to kow tow to Salt Lake and drag the country in directions it doesn’t want to, the next moment he is noting how the LDS faith is one of political convenience that adapts to the demands of the popular culture.

    So which is it?

    Are Mormons weird scary people who will poison the font of American democracy?

    Or are they just boring tools who will do exactly what mainstream America wants them to do?

    Wish some people would pick a theme and stick with it.

  7. Hellmut says:
    December 20, 2007 at 6:53 pm

    Goodness, Seth. Now I actually have to read Steve Benson to see if he is actually that stupid.

  8. chanson says:
    December 21, 2007 at 1:15 am

    My reaction to Benson’s article is about the same as Seth’s: it’s Steve Benson’s usual exmormon.org schtik hits the mainstream press.

    It’s reasonable to expect the public to be aware of Romney’s temple oath and take it into consideration when voting for him. That said, I don’t think that in reality world the oath poses any particular danger. The LDS church is such a conservative and slow-moving organization that there’s no way the bretheren would ask Romney to do anything out of the ordinary — certainly nothing that would offend his buds in the religious right anyway. At worst LDS Inc. will expect the same kind of favoritism/cronyism that politicians give their friends, oath or no oath.

    p.s. the “marching with Martin Luther King” lie is hilarious!!! Particularly the part about seeing it with his spiritual eyes. 😉

  9. Guy Noir Private Eye says:
    December 21, 2007 at 11:27 am

    SR: Benson is not the problem here; MR’s well-publicised flip-flopping is.
    It seems that the angst of ‘Mainstreaming’ vs ‘We’re Special’ has snarred another victim…
    If any doubt, read GBH’s eassay along the lines of “We don’t worship the same Christ’

    Sadly, this will continue until the president of The Corp. / GAs / COB comes out with a defunitive stmnt (oh Yeah), that’s the lurch MR and others are in..Nothing Serious, Right???

  10. Seth R. says:
    December 22, 2007 at 7:39 pm

    Guy, as someone who actually takes Mormonism seriously, Romney has been pissing me off for quite a long time now. You’ll brook no argument from me on that score.

  11. Guy Noir Private Eye says:
    December 23, 2007 at 9:42 am

    SR: I took it seriously also (mission, TMarriage, etc)…
    do you see, can you acknowledge the built-in friction that mainstreaming is causing? That LDS is struggling with many distractions that keep some ppl spinning, keep some/many away from the Basics …what I call the Core Essentials of Christ-Like living.
    Even IF they’re writtten down someplace, they’re lost in the on-the-ground application?
    Of course, that’s JUST MY Opinion…

    Merry Christmas TO ALL!

  12. Guy Noir Private Eye says:
    December 23, 2007 at 10:40 am

    MITT TAKES A DIRECT HIT…

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071223/ap_po/romney_anti_endorsement

    MR is ‘just’ a symptom regarding mainstreaming…
    If the LDS presentation wasn’t so tighly scripted (by correlation)… who knows where things like this would go?

  13. chanson says:
    December 23, 2007 at 11:16 am

    I wish the A.P. had provided a link to the original article. The only strike against Mitt this synopsis cites is the fact that Mitt has changed position on some issues, which is not a priori a problem, given that total inability to reconsider one’s position has been a major problem with the current president. The origional article may have had some more serious analysis, but we’ll never know if we can’t read it…. 😉

  14. Seth R. says:
    December 23, 2007 at 12:35 pm

    Here you go Chanson:

    http://www.concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071222/OPINION/712230301

  15. Hellmut says:
    December 23, 2007 at 3:08 pm

    I feel sorry for Mitt Romney. Having observed him since his first race for United States Senate, I am pretty sure that he is a smart and reasonable person.

    Unfortunately, he has been trying too hard and comes off as salsey. I also think that my friend John F. is right that somebody who wants to double Guantanamo really should not be president.

    I would not count Romney out though. He has been working diligently on his Iowa organization. His method is to pay community leaders small monthly amounts ranging from two- to five hundred dollars. That’s very smart.

    It will be interesting to see if it works even though the candidate is past his peak.

  16. chanson says:
    December 25, 2007 at 5:04 am

    Thanks Seth! The actual article makes some very good points.

  17. Kate says:
    January 14, 2014 at 3:55 pm

    Poor old Steven Benson. Clutching at straws and using bashing and lies to try to make everyone as miserable as he is. I truly pity the old fool. I am sure his poor wife has had quite the life also living with the old coot.

  18. chanson says:
    January 15, 2014 at 12:58 pm

    @ 17 Considering that Steve Benson doesn’t post here, I guess your comment doesn’t count as a personal attack. Yet, somehow, I feel like if you’re going to dredge up a post that’s more than six years old, ideally, it should be because you have something of substance to add to the discussion.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Mormon Alumni Association Books

Latest Comments:

  1. Collecting Nominations for William Law X-Mormon of the Year 2025!!! – Main Street Plaza on Congratulations 2024 X-Mormon of the Year: Nemo the Mormon!!!November 27, 2025

    […] he needs to do is make the news by getting excommunicated, like “Nemo the Mormon” did last year. […]

  2. Collecting Nominations for William Law X-Mormon of the Year 2025!!! – Main Street Plaza on Congratulations 2024 Brodie Award Winners!!!!November 26, 2025

    […] ask: “When is RFM going to win?” Well, he has won — plenty of Brodie Awards (see 2024 for…

  3. Donna Banta on A pox on the PoX policy, ten years onNovember 5, 2025

    If Oaks meant to imply anything by picking a counselor with a gay brother it was, "See, we can hate…

  4. @Monya_PostMo on A pox on the PoX policy, ten years onNovember 5, 2025

    See post and comments at Latter Gay Stories - heartbreaking! No loving God was involved in that policy https://www.facebook.com/search/top?q=latter%20gay%20stories

  5. chanson on A pox on the PoX policy, ten years onNovember 5, 2025

    I remember when the PoX was rolled out, and the tales of its horrible effects. So, now I guess same…

8: The Mormon Proposition Acceptance of Gays Add new tag Affirmation angry exmormon awards Book Reviews BYU comments Conformity Dallin H. Oaks DAMU disaffected mormon underground Dustin Lance Black Ex-Mormon Exclusion policy Excommunicated exmormon faith Family feminism Gay Gay Love Gay Marriage Gay Relationships General Conference Happiness Homosexual Homosexuality LDS LGBT LGBTQ Link Bomb missionaries Modesty Mormon Mormon Alumni Association Mormonism motherhood peace politics Polygamy priesthood ban Sunstone temple

Awards

William Law X-Mormon of the Year:

  • 2024: Nemo the Mormon
  • 2023: Adam Steed
  • 2022: David Archuleta
  • 2021: Jeff T. Green
  • 2020: Jacinda Ardern
  • 2019: David Nielsen
  • 2018: Sam Young
  • 2017: Savannah
  • 2016: Jeremy Runnells
  • 2015: John Dehlin
  • 2014: Kate Kelly
  • 2013: J. Seth Anderson and Michael Ferguson
  • 2012: David Tweede
  • 2011: Joanna Brooks
  • 2010: Monica Bielanko
  • 2009: Walter Kirn

Other Cool Sites!

WasMormon.org
©2025 Main Street Plaza | WordPress Theme by SuperbThemes