From Rexburg’s Standard Journal :
Idaho gubernatorial candidate Rex Rammell will be mixing what he calls doctrines from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints into his gubernatorial campaign in a series of meetings slated for LDS elders only. In January, Rammell will kick off a series of special meetings targeted specifically at “faithful priesthood-holders of the LDS Church” to discuss the so-called “White Horse” prophecy.
Borrowing a line more commonly used by the LDS leadership to explain Mormon temple ceremonies, the candidate described his rallies as sacred, not secret :
“There is nothing secret about the meeting — it’s just the sacred nature of the things we will be talking about,” said Rammell. “We are going to talk about (LDS Church founder) Joseph Smith’s prophecy that the Constitution will be hanging by a thread and that the Latter-day Saint elders will step forward and save it.”
Mormon women are barred from holding the LDS priesthood, but the GOP hopeful provided a further explanation for their exclusion from the campaign meetings:
Rammell said that though LDS women were not invited because of lack of space, he hopes that the men will take the message home to their wives.
And what message might some critics take home from Rammell’s announcement? As the Standard Journal notes: “In the past, Rammell has been criticized for using his faith to further his campaign.”
Whether the aspiring Republican is guilty of that in this instance will be the subject of in-depth follow-up coverage by the Standard Journal, just as soon as its reporters have obtained the ecclesiastical clearance required to attend Rammell campaign events.
(image h/t Steven Pope)
In other political news:
Utah native and Brigham Young University alumnus Matthew S. Petersen has been elected to serve as chairman of the Federal Election Commission in 2010.
David J. Harmer, Mormon congressional candidate: The Spirit prompted me to run, because I am strong like Captain Moroni.
(Gen. JC Christian, patriot, provides additional commentary: Captain Moroni for Congress)
And … Meet Ben McAdams, Utah’s newest state senator:
Ben McAdams, a senior adviser for Salt Lake Mayor Ralph Becker, will become Utah’s newest state senator …
McAdams, who is married and the father of three children, told the delegates he would work for fairness and equality.
“I plan to be a visible ally for gay and transgendered Utahns,” he said. “We are agents of change.“
More Mormons like Ben McAdams, please.
This is me, rolling my eyes so hard that I’m almost toppling backwards.
“Lack of space” my butt. I just hope all those women who arent’ invited realize that their ballot really is secret (and sacred, come to that, in a much more real sense that anything this guy could talk about) and cast their votes for someone else…anyone else…when the election comes around.
If the Constitution is “hanging by a thread”, it’s because people like him are trying to twist all the principle, all the meaning, out of it.
Elaine
Are you pulling our legs?
The last paragraph before the flip is snark.
Everything else is straight outta Idaho.
One of those blog posts you read, convinced that it’s just a bad attempt to pull your leg, and then it turns into a desire for it to “Please let it be an attempt to pull my leg”.
And now, just the sad realization that it’s actually true… WTF just doesn’t quite seem to cover my true feelings.
Don’t be sad. Rammell’s chances, even in Idaho, are next to nil.
There’s a much better chance that in the time it took you to read this story at MSP it had already taken on a life of its own.
And that’s good. And fun.
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/rex-rammell-begins-planning-how-fulfill-mormon-prophecy
http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2009/12/mormon_prophecy.php
http://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/ahc27/idaho_gubernatorial_candidate_rex_rammell/
But you read it here first. Happy Holidays!
Yay! Excellent investigative reporting, as always! 😀
I say ex the dork. Although for reasons I never understood my church rarely exes people who truly harm it like this piece of work. I guess because they’d have to start near the top?
I thought you all were channeling The Sugar Beet with this one.
More proof of the axiom, “truth is stranger than fiction.”
.
This is a spoof, right?
Or is it the beginning of a Made In America Mormon Taliban faction?
No room at the inn. LOL KEEP OUT! NO GIRLS ALLOWED! — he hopes the men will take the message home to their wives LOL!
Is this guy’s name really Rammell or is it Rommel reincarnated from the Nazi party of WWII who said, In the absence of orders, go find something and kill it
.
Godwin’s law? Really?
Update: Rex Rammell describes official LDS church disapproval of his tactics as “ridiculous” (video):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIrwD3DiniM
OK, so he didn’t mention the LDS church specifically, but an LDS church spokesman did release this statement in response to the brouhaha:
Rex Rammell:
Here is what is insane about the white horse “prophesy.” After the constitution supposedly gets saved by mormon elders? . . . The Second coming comes and the US government is overthrown (along with its constitution of course) and replaced by a theocracy with Jesus as the titular leader but the day to day beauracracy will be run by . . . that’s right, mormon priesthood holders.
I’m sorry, but when your plan is to take over the U.S. government and replace it with a theocratic dictatorship, pardon me for calling bs on your faux patriotism.
Yeah, this bit of Mormon folklore is too insane even for SLC.
Kim Farah, spokeswoman for the LDS church, has now issued this statement:
Thanks, Kim. Seriously. I’ll be packing that sentence of yours to my family reunion next year, because I already know what my uncles will be packing. Loonies like Rex aren’t doing me any favors when it comes to getting out of that friendly family get-together in one piece.
That man is a dork.