Great-grandson of a polygamist

By Michael J.W. Stickings

Why, it's Mitt Romney, of course. As the AP is reporting, "the Republican presidential candidate's great-grandfather had five wives and at least one of his great-great grandfathers had 12": "Romney's great-grandfather, Miles Park Romney, married his fifth wife in 1897. That was more than six years after Mormon leaders banned polygamy and more than three decades after a federal law barred the practice."

Ooh. Ahh.

Look, I have my own problems with Mormonism, I'll admit. And I think that Romney, a would-be social conservative who wants to blur the line between church and state, should be required to answer for his religious beliefs -- insofar as they are relevant to a run for the presidency. Is it enough for him to say that his beliefs are private? Perhaps. But if he runs on a moralistic platform -- and it seems that he wants to -- an examination of the religious foundations of his morality, of the morality which he intends to impose on the American people, is necessary.

But I tend to agree with Ed Morrissey on this: The polygamy of a great-grandfather, however loathsome in and of itself, has nothing to do with Romney's White House bid. The AP story does indeed smack of desperation, but it is hardly a surprising effort to dig up dirt in Romney's family history. This is what presidential candidates subject themselves to, and this is what a significant part of the media do. And there will be more of it. For Romney and for all the rest.

Let Romney be held accountable for his own beliefs, however, not for the disreputable practises of his ancestors.