Day: January 29, 2008

4:28 p.m.: I thought the media weren’t releasing any results until the polls closed in the Panhandle’s Central Time Zone. MSNBC has early results up that show McCain slightly ahead of Rudy.

4:32 p.m.: Keith Olbermann explained that the numbers MSNBC is reporting were released officially by the state of Florida.

5:12 p.m.: The MSNBC anchors can’t decide what to call the Democratic contest since it is not officially a primary. There’s a saying that the only real opinion poll is a ballot so let’s just call it the “Florida Democratic Opinion Poll.” In that poll, Hillary Clinton leads Barack Obama by about 100,000 votes, with 22 percent of precincts in.

Exit polling found that 400,000 Democrats voted early, some as early as Dec. 20, and most of these were for Hillary Clinton. Of voters today, 69 percent said they made up their minds before last week.

Oh yeah, and John McCain is ahead of Mitt Romney by 9,603 votes.

5:40 p.m.: Latest Dem numbers: 447,003/49 percent Clinton – 264,096/29 percent – 137,178/15 percent.

5:40 p.m.: In her victory speech for what she called a “vote of confidence,” Hillary Clinton says Florida’s delegates should be seated at the convention.

In a new Christian-nationalist video voter guide from the hate group, Focus on the Family, an FOTF official falsely claims that Mitt Romney said Mormons are not Christians — but then amazingly proceeds to give a tacit endorsement for president to the infidel Romney over Mike Huckabee, an evangelical politician, or the Democratic candidates, all of whom are Christians in good standing.

It is fundamental to Christian extremist ideology that non-believers, including Jews, Muslims and, apparently, Mormons, are without redemption and will spend eternity in hell.

It is illegal for nonprofit organizations like FOTF to endorse candidates.

In the video, Tom Minnery, an FOTF “policy analyst” says:

Mitt Romney has acknowledged that Mormonism is not a Christian faith. I appreciate his acknowledging that, but on these social issues, we are so similar and that is true.

In fact, in Romney’s “faith speech” late last year, he said:

There is one fundamental question about which I often am asked. What do I believe about Jesus Christ? I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the Savior of mankind. My church’s beliefs about Christ may not all be the same as those of other faiths. Each religion has its own unique doctrines and history. These are not bases for criticism but rather a test of our tolerance. Religious tolerance would be a shallow principle indeed if it were reserved only for faiths with which we agree.

It is passing strange that a Christianist organization like FOTF would tacitly endorse a non-believer since it is fundamental to extremist ideology that non-believers, including Jews, Muslims and, apparently, Mormons, are without redemption and will spend eternity in hell. The fact that FOTF will support an infidel like Romney over the Democratic nominee, even though both leading candidates, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, are Protestant Christians, is evidence of the shallowness of the religious conviction of groups like FOTF, whose real mission is to support rightwing political causes.

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