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From CNN's State of the Union, David Axelrod responds to Mitt Romney's carping that the President is taking too long to make a decision on troop levels in Afghanistan. Axelrod should have told King to ask Mittens when those 'brave sons' of his were going to sign up to go over there the next time he interviews him since he's so terribly concerned about sending more troops.

KING: As you know, conservatives have been critical of the president's policy review, saying, ‘why is it taking so long?’. The former Massachusetts governor and Republican presidential candidate, Mitt Romney gave a speech this week in which he said, not only why is it taking so long for the president to decide, but he also said why is David Axelrod, his top political advisor involved in these deliberations? Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROMNEY: I find it incomprehensible and inexcusable that this president invites David Axelrod into national security meetings. Polls and politics have no place at that table. [...] He is the commander-in-chief. What has he been doing? Do you realize he carried out more than 30 campaign visits in this last season, for various Democrats? While he can't make up his mind on Afghanistan, or have enough time to meet with generals. He is out there campaigning.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Let's take them in order. Why is David Axelrod deserve a seat at that table? And why is it taking so long?

AXELROD: Well, first of all, let's be clear. David Axelrod does not have a seat at that table. I have observed these discussions because, as I am today, I have to help communicate the message of the administration. And so it is helpful for me to hear. I have not said a word in any of those meetings.

Now let's take the second part. Governor Romney has to choose one argument or another. Either he has to say he is not paying attention or he has to say he is taking too long because he has been involved in a rigorous review. The president has had hours and hours and hours of meetings with his military commanders, with his national security team, to run through every aspect of this, in order to get it right.

And we've seen in the past what happens when we don't do that; when we don't do the necessary preparations. And he is determined to get Afghanistan right. It is something that Secretary Gates supports. It is something that the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff supports; General McChrystal has been supportive of this process.

You know, I know that Governor Romney has never had responsibility for any decision akin to this, so he just may not be familiar with all that it entails. But I think the American people are being well served by a process that is assiduous and in which every aspect of this is considered. Because, after all, lives of American servicemen are involved here. An enormous investment on the part of the American people, we ought to get it right.

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November 16, 2009 CNN

Romney: The president's inattention and dereliction have reminded me of the Northwest Airline pilots who became so distracted with things of little importance that they lost their way, which is exactly what this president has done in Afghanistan. In this case with greater consequence.

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Chris Matthews cites a recent Gallup poll in the beginning of the segment—Conservatives Maintain Edge as Top Ideological Group—which shows those who would describe their political views as conservative at 40%, moderate 36% and liberal 20%. He goes on to take this leap about just what that poll means later in the segment which Bob Herbert rightly calls him on.

Matthews: There’s a big disconnect here in the polling and I’m looking at the NBC poll, we’re going to have it more here tonight, I’ve looked at the Gallup numbers—here’s the disconnect—the Republican Party is a lousy brand name right now. It is way down below one in five, but on every issue from semi-automatic weapons to traditional values to abortion to every…regulation of business…

Buchanan: Immigrants…

Matthews: …every issue the country is lurching to the right in ideological terms at the same time as the base of the Republican brand. How do you explain that Rob?

Herbert: Are you saying the country’s lurching to the right?

Matthews: On every issue—look at the Gallup polls.

Herbert: I completely disagree with you on that.

Matthews: Ugghh…

Herbert: You’re giving too much credence to this poll. Pat just said a moment ago…

Matthews: Why don’t you look at the polls?

Herbert: …that the Republicans can unite behind all these issues for the off year elections—they can’t even—they haven’t even been able to unite in this upstate Congressional district in the Congressional election that’s coming up next week. You’ve got Republicans lining up behind the Conservative Party candidate who’s putting the knives in the back of the Republican candidate. So where’s the unity?

Never one to let logic get in the way of his preconceived notion Matthews asks if this means the conservatives are more “powerful than ever” if they’re the spoilers in Republican elections. Herbert reminds him that turning the Republican Party hard to the right is not good for them winning elections nationally. Earlier in the segment he also reminded Matthews that Republicans are not leading in a related poll about who Americans trust to run the country.

Of course Pat Buchanan, ever the staunch Sarah Palin fan-boy thinks the party needs more ideological purity and goes on to call the Republican candidate from NY-23 a liberal. As Herbert notes, Buchanan's got a pretty strange notion of who should be called a liberal these days. I would imagine the false memes continually put out by or MSM has a lot to do with people's perception of whether they are liberal or conservative or not, as was reflected in that poll. When people continually hear unions bashed and liberal treated as though it were some sort of dirty word, it's little wonder they might shy from the label.

President Obama has been getting a lot heat since the announcement that the 2016 Olympics would not be coming to the United States. The right has rejoiced in our loss, and Fox News and other right wing media have gone berserk with stories about the Chicago Olympic Committee, and false claims of cronyism and corruption.

Lost down the memory hole was the shame and scandal that tainted the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics. Eventually led by Republican Mitt Romney and his cronies, the 2002 games were plagued by fundraising woes, bribery scandals -- and the committee was also heavily infiltrated by Glenn Beck's Mormon Church:

Romney communicated his intention to take full command of the Olympics on his first day on the job in February of 1999. A century and a half after his ancestors trudged through Emigration Canyon to help pioneer the valley as a land of the righteous, Romney arrived in a cheerless ballroom in a Salt Lake City hotel. Immediately, he raised a rhetorical scythe at the trustees of the scandal-tainted organizing committee.

Much of the damage seemed to stem from decisions made by two previous executives on the Salt Lake City organizing committee, chief executive Thomas K. Welch and vice president David R. Johnson, who embraced the tacit form of influence peddling that greased the international selection process for Olympic sites.

Vowing not to be defeated again, Welch and Johnson funneled through the committee more than $1 million in gifts to numerous IOC delegates for the 2002 Games - a stunning trove of booty that included cash, college tuition, medical-care payments, jobs, lodging, beds and bedding, bathroom fixtures, Indian rugs, draperies, doorknobs, dogs, leather boots and belts, perfume, Nintendo games, Lego toys, shotguns, a violin, and trips to ski resorts, Las Vegas, and a Super Bowl in Miami. Almost no request from an IOC member went unmet.

Shamed by the scandal - in which 10 members of the International Olympic Committee would resign or be expelled for accepting gifts from the Salt Lake committee - Utah's power brokers believed they needed a new CEO wise in the ways of business, the law, and Mormonism.

Enter Mitt Romney, his buddies and the Mormon Church:

Almost as soon as Romney took the job, however, the Mormon Church's role in the Games became a source of contention - a dispute exacerbated by Romney's request for an additional $8 million in loaned property and cash from the church, among other contributions.

Utah's wealthiest businessman, Jon Huntsman Sr., the father of Utah's current governor, assailed Romney for exploiting his ties to the church. Huntsman himself is prominent in the Mormon Church, which is officially known as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

''We've got a chairman who is active LDS, now we've got a present CEO who is active LDS,'' Huntsman was quoted in the Salt Lake Tribune as saying of Garff and Romney. ''They claim they're going out [to] really scour the world to find the best person, and Mitt brings in one of his cronies to be the COO. Another broken promise. Because we've got three LDS folks who are all cronies. Cronyism at its peak. ..... These are not the Mormon Games.' Read on...

Romney came in after the initial bribery scandal, but created plenty of controversy of his own.

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Mike Huckabee is still a favorite among the James Dobson crowd as Sarah Palin was a no show at their Value Voters Summit weekend wingnut jubilee.

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee won the Values Voter Summit's 2012 presidential straw poll Saturday, grabbing nearly 29 percent of the vote in a crowded field.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and Indiana Rep. Mike Pence each won roughly 12 percent of the 597 votes cast.

Four of the top five candidates addressed religious conservatives at the three-day Values Voter conference in Washington this week — the kind of attendance seen as a significant gesture by activists here, especially in an off-election year. Palin did not make an appearance.

Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, which hosted the conference, said Saturday that Huckabee had "potential," but stressed that the former governor's strong showing wouldn't translate into automatic support from the FRC's political action committee. "We want a fully-rounded conservative candidate," he said. "Right now, the door's wide open."

If Palin had showed up and winked at the crowd, her base would have responded in kind, but it's tough going to these things for the quitter. She'll be there in a few years and whip the religious conservative base up into a frenzy.

And Huckabee shows off his foreign policy chops by backing the insane John Bolton over the Pentagon and the White House. There you have it...

What's a Sunday without another Bobble Head session.

Meet the Press: "White House senior adviser David Axelrod will discuss President Barack Obama's agenda with host David Gregory. From the other side of the aisle will be former Gov. Mitt Romney (R-Mass.) and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.).

ABC's "This Week," David Axelrod along with Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), a major player in the health care debate from his perch as ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee.

"Face the Nation" Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour gives his first Sunday interview since succeeding Sanford as chairman of the Republican Governors Association last week. Also, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, will sit down to provide her perspective on Iran, Iraq, North Korea and Afghanistan.

"Fox News Sunday." Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) debate health care reform. Army Gen. Ray Odierno, will give an assessment as American forces prepare to withdraw from major cities.

State of the Union" Gen. Ray Odierno along with Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R-Minn.) and BP Capital CEO T. Boone Pickens, the Texas oilman who's been pushing wind and natural gas as major power sources.

Please lend us your tips and comments...

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Boy, somehow you could just see this coming when people started asking where Gov. Mark Sanford had disappeared to:

COLUMBIA, S.C. - During a Wednesday news conference at his office in Columbia, Gov. Mark Sanford admitted to having an extramarital affair — information that surfaced after his recent, secret trip to Argentina.

The married father of four emotionally apologized to his wife and staff, saying, "I've let down a lot of people."

Sanford said he met the woman almost eight years ago, but "about a year ago, it sparked into something more than that."

The governor said his wife and family have known about it for the past five months.

He also announced that he was resigning as chairman of the Republican Governors' Association.

Earlier, the South Carolina governor told a newspaper he was in South America, not hiking the Appalachian Trail as his staff had told the public to explain his sudden absence. He said he "wanted to do something exotic" to unwind after losing a fight over federal stimulus money.

Well, that scratches Sanford from the ranks of GOP possibles for 2012. That leaves Newt Gingrich and Bobby Jindal and Sarah Palin, who've self-inflicted similar but perhaps less egregious wounds, and Mitt Romney, who is looking increasingly like the winner by default.

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That Richard Perle and Frank Gaffney, two of the neocon cheerleaders for the disaster in Iraq, would blame President Obama for the election fraud in Iran is unsurprising. That once and future Republican White House hopeful Mitt Romney of all people would parrot the charge is hilarious. After all, from his repeated conflation of Shiite and Sunni to his aborted crusade for disinvestment from Tehran and other jaw-droppers, Mitt Romney's pronouncements on Iran have been a comedy of errors.

Just days after he slammed President Obama's unprecedented and widely praised address in Cairo, Romney appeared on ABC News' This Week with George Stephanopolous to lay Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's apparent sham reelection at Obama's feet:

"The comments by the president last week, that there was a robust debate going on in iran, was obviously entirely wrong-headed. What has occurred is the election is a fraud, the results are inaccurate, and you're seeing a brutal repression of the people as they protest. ... It's very clear that the president's policies of going around the world and apologizing for America aren't working. ... Look, just sweet talk and criticizing America is not going to enhance freedom in the world."

Of course, comic pandering to the Republican Party's conservative base won't enhance freedom in the world, either. And to be sure, it certainly hasn't helped candidate Mitt Romney in the United States.

Consider, for example, Romney's 24 hour disinvestment campaign in early 2007, an effort cut short by revelations his own former employer had recent business dealings with Tehran.

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Mitt Romney, ever the proud champion of the private insurance companies did his best to spread some more fear on This Week about the United States ever getting a single payer health care plan, or even, heaven forbid, that "Trojan Horse" public option. George Stephanopoulos actually hits Romney with a good question about just how well his MA plan has worked out and why.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Except, Governor, you bring up the Massachusetts plan. And you're exactly right. And most studies have shown that Massachusetts has done a very good job of expanding coverage with this plan but has not done as good a job of controlling costs.

And some say that's because of the absence of a public plan. Alan Sager, professor of health policy at Boston University has said that health spending per person in Massachusetts has increased faster than the national average in seven of the last eight years.

ROMNEY: Massachusetts is an expensive state to do a lot of things. But the key thing I can tell you is this. What's happened to the health insurance premium for people buying insurance in Massachusetts? It's been cut in half.

For an individual, a young male, let's say 35 years old, buying insurance in Massachusetts for themselves, the premium has been cut in half since our plan went in place.

So Mittens quotes one of the least expensive groups to insure's premiums going down as an example of just how swimmingly the Massachusetts plan is working out. How about this instead Mitt? From the report:

By mandating that uninsured residents purchase private health insurance, the law reinforced the economic and political power of health insurance firms. Thus, the reform augments the already high administrative costs of health care. Moreover, the agency that administers the new law (the “Connector”) adds an extra 4 to 5 percentage points to the already high overhead of private health insurance policies.

The reform failed to reduce overreliance on expensive, high-technology services. Indeed, some of its provisions such as changes in Medicaid rates and cuts to safety-net providers (who do more primary care) have further tilted health spending toward expensive, high-technology care.

A single-payer system of non-profit national health insurance could save about $8-$10 billion annually in the state through reduced administrative costs. This money could be used to cover all of the state’s uninsured residents and to improve coverage for those who now have insurance, without any increase in total health care costs.

The Massachusetts reform law is not providing universal access to care, even in a state with highly favorable circumstances, including previously high levels of spending on health care for the poor, high personal incomes, and low rates of uninsurance. It is not a model for the nation.

You can read the rest of the report here: Massachusetts’ Plan: A Failed Model for Health Care Reform

Romney also seemed to have a little bit of trouble telling the difference between Medicaid and Medicare. Leave it to someone who doesn't want to give an honest answer about anything to try to conflate the two. The country needs single payer, no matter how badly the Mitt Romney's of the world want to try to terrify everyone about it.

Full transcript below the fold.

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Fifty People, One Question--By the end of the day, what do you wish to have happen?

I have simple needs, I really do. I have no desire for a bigger home or a newer car. I don't want jewelry, designer clothes, a maid, or any other "keeping-up-with-the-Jones" status symbols. But sadly, the things that I do want seem far more unreachable than the possibility of getting those things. I want to see an honest debate in media over issues that concern Americans. Not pundit after pundit asserting some opinion as fact or some politico drumming up some stupid strawman that never gets questioned by the purported journalist hosting the show. We're at it again this week, with the ongoing topic of Sonia Sotomayor's nomination, Iran's election and health care reform topping the list. Perhaps rather than focusing on the crooks and liars in the media, we should start a blog of moments of honest debate...nah, there'd be next to no content.

ABC’s “This Week” - Kathleen Sebelius, Mitt Romney. Roundtable: Ron Brownstein, Kimberly Strassel, Donna Brazile, George Will.

CBS’s “Face the Nation” Sen. Mitch McConnell, Sen. Dick Durbin

NBC’s “Meet the Press” – Vice President Joe Biden. Roundtable: Joe Scarborough, Mike Murphy

NBC’s “The Chris Matthews Show” – Panel: Katty Kay, Claire Shipman, Helene Cooper, Norah O’Donnell. Topics: Why is Obama a more elusive target for Republicans than Bill Clinton was? Why do women report higher job satisfaction even if they are paid less? Meter Questions: Will President Obama's policies be a riper target than his personality for Republican critics? YES: 12 NO: 0; Will Senate Republicans attack Sonia Sotomayor as a liberal or show deference to her? YES: 10 NO: 2

CNN’s “State of the Union” - Kathleen Sebelius, James Carville and Mary Matalin, Sen. Ben Nelson, Sen. Susan Collins, Sen. Kent Conrad

CNN’s “Reliable Sources” - ABC News President David Westin on "The New Normal" -- a network-wide series devoted to what life will be like after the recession ends.

CNN’s “Fareed Zakaria GPS” - This week, the big story is the Iranian elections. What should the world expect from Iran? What will the outcome mean for Iran's relations with the U.S. and the rest of the world? And can real reform come to Iran?

“Fox News Sunday” - Sens. Chris Dodd and Charles Grassley. Thomas Donahue, the head of the Chamber of Commerce.

So, what's catching your eye this morning?

"President" Newt Gingrich on Da Ali G Show

Oh look, President Newt Gingrich is on the Sunday shows. Again. Gosh, I'm so glad that the media is around to tell us just who embodies the change for which we voted. And looking around, it's no better on any other show: former Bush attorney Ed Gillespie on This Week, former governor Mitt Romney on Fox News and every single milquetoasty DINO booked (I'm looking at you, Feinstein and Specter) is paired with a camera-hogging, sound-byte ready (if fact-negligible) Republican like John Kyl, Mitch McConnell or Lindsey Graham. Hello: reality-based community to media--it's 2009, not 2000. Catch the hell up already.

ABC's "This Week" - Sens. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., and John Cornyn, R-Texas; Ed Gillespie, former Bush White House counselor.

CBS' "Face the Nation" - Sens. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Jon Kyl, R-Ariz.

NBC's "Meet the Press" - Pre-empted for the French Open.

NBC's "The Chris Matthews Show" - Panel: Gloria Borger, Dan Rather, John Heilemann, Katty Kay. Topics: Has President Obama solidified a lasting majority for the Democratic Party? How should Republicans respond to Obama, and who are their promising stars? Meter questions: Will Senate Republicans attack Sonia Sotomayor as a liberal or show deference to her? YES: 10 NO: 2; Is Obama winning the national security policy debate with Cheney? YES: 11 No: 1.

CNN's "State of the Union/Reliable Sources" - Sens. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas; Gillespie; Sameh Shoukry, Egypt's ambassador to the U.S.

CNN's "Fareed Zakaria GPS" - In a speech in Cairo this Thursday, President Obama called for a "new beginning" for relations between the U.S. and the Muslim world. Fareed brings together a panel of experts from around the Muslim world and the region to react to and analyze the speech...and what it means for U.S./Arab relations. Plus, author Michael Lewis on the economic crisis and the future of Wall Street.

"Fox News Sunday" - Sens. Arlen Specter, D-Pa., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.; former Gov. Mitt Romney, R-Mass.

So, what's catching your eye this morning?

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It's Sunday and you know what that means. Bring on the Bobble Heads. The common theme of the day, the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor.

Fox News Sunday: "Sens. Arlen Specter, D-Pa., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.; former Gov. Mitt Romney, R-Mass."

Meet the Press: "Sens. Patrick J. Leahy, D-Vt., and Jeff Sessions, R-Ala.; Anne Mulcahy, chairwoman and CEO of Xerox Corp.; Jim Owens, chairman and CEO of Caterpillar Inc.; Eric Schmidt, Google Inc. chairman and CEO."

This Week: "Sens. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., and John Cornyn, R-Texas; Ed Gillespie, former Bush White House counselor."

Face the Nation: "Sens. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Jon Kyl, R-Ariz."

State of the Union: "Sens. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas; Gillespie; Sameh Shoukry, Egypt's ambassador to the U.S."

Leave us your tips and comments in the thread below. We'd be lost without them.

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From The Cafferty File:

Add Mike Huckabee to the growing list of Republicans publicly taking one another down as they fight for the soul of the party. The former Arkansas governor and presidential candidate is blasting some GOP leaders.

Huckabee writes on Fox News’ web site:

“It’s hard to keep from laughing out loud when people living in the bubble of the Beltway suddenly wake up one day and think they ought to have a listening tour; even funnier when their first earful expedition takes them all the way to the suburbs of Washington, D.C.”

Huckabee is referring to the National Council for a New America, formed by folks like Jeb Bush, Mitt Romney, and John McCain. Their first meeting was held at a Northern Virginia restaurant.

Huckabee also suggests the party is at risk of becoming as “irrelevant as the Whigs” if it moderates its policies. That sounds a lot like what Dick Cheney and Rush Limbaugh have been saying. These right-wingers are not helping the Republican Party to portray itself as more moderate and inclusive.

Huckabee’s a lot more likable than Limbaugh or Cheney, but the message is just as shrill; and at the end of the day… it seems like Republicans are self-destructing without any help from the Democrats.

Meanwhile speaking of the former vice president, his daughter is picking up right where he left off. Liz Cheney suggests President Obama appears to be siding with terrorists for agreeing to release photos showing alleged abuse at U.S. prisons in Iraq and Afghanistan during the Bush administration.

President Obama has now ordered government lawyers to object to the release of these photos because he says it could endanger our troops.

Here’s my question to you: How damaging is it for the Republicans to continue to criticize each other publicly?

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CNN's Candy Crowley reports on the recent infighting among GOP leadership. Seems we've got Mike Huckabee slamming the "listening tour". Mitt Romney is not happy with Michael Steele for his comments about Mitten's Mormonism.

BLITZER: Republican infighting getting a little bit uglier right now -- top GOP players lobbing verbal bombshells.

Let's bring in our senior political correspondent, Candy Crowley -- Candy, you've been watch this unfold for a while.

CROWLEY: Absolutely. And here's the latest edition of what's turning into a novel.

The GOP hierarchy chose Michael Steele as chairman of the RNC because they saw him as a symbol of inclusion and a gifted spokesman. Certainly, Steele has been saying what's on his mind. And that's the problem.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CROWLEY: After three-and-a-half months as chairman of the GOP, Michael Steele could put out a C.D. (ph) of greatest hits. He accused conservative fave Rush Limbaugh of ugly conversation, so mangled a question on abortion, he sounded pro- abortion rights -- which he is not -- and accused Republicans of being disingenuous in criticizing Democrats for the bank bailout program.

Now, his explanation of why former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney did not win the Republican presidential nomination.

STEELE: It was the base that rejected Mitt because of his switch on pro-life from pro-choice to pro-life. It was the base that rejected Mitt because it had issues with Mormonism.

CROWLEY: Suggesting that the most reliable Republican voters are intolerant is what's called being off message. And honestly, if someone has to criticize the GOP, most Republicans would prefer it be a Democrat. Romney's one-time rival John McCain on damage control.

MCCAIN: But I think the fact that Mitt Romney succeeded as much as he did and remains an important and central figure in our Republican Party, and I wouldn't be surprised to see him run again as a testimony, I think, to the inclusiveness of the Republican Party.

CROWLEY: Romney world mildly objected. Sometimes a spokesman said when you shoot from the hip you miss the target. In a partial oops, a Republican Party spokesperson issued a statement. Chairman Steele, it said, regrets the way his comments have been interpreted.

Still, Romney and McCain is the latest in what some see as an unsettling string of Republican on Republican assault bringing us to '08 wannabe Mike Huckabee. Writing on the Fox News website, Huckabee launched another rocket as a new Republican group, a kind of mini think tank to help rebuild the party begin with grassroots outreach, organized by Congressman Eric Cantor, headliners include Romney, Jeb Bush, John McCain and Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal. Huckabee wrote it was hard to keep from laughing out loud what he considered an inside the beltway group wanting to go on a listening tour. He also said it was sad that Jeb Bush has suggested the party needs to get past Ronald Reagan and the hits just keep on coming.

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Michael Steele is fighting with more Republicans. This time it's with Mitt Romney:

In an unusual move for the person tasked with being his party's top cheerleader, Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele is shining a light on the political vulnerabilities of one of the GOP's top figures and a likely frontrunner for the 2012 Republican nomination — former presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

Now Romney's team is hitting back.

Steele, guest-hosting on Bill Bennett's radio show Friday, cast doubt on Romney's conservative bona fides and blamed the Republican base for rejecting Romney last year because "it had issues with Mormonism" and was unsure of Romney's commitment to opposing to abortion rights. Those comments aren't sitting too well with Romney's political team.

"Sometimes when you shoot from the hip, you miss the target," said Romney spokesman Eric Ferhnstrom. "This is one of those times."

Romney's Mormonism was a turn-off to some of the religious right. Remember when Focus on the Family took down an interview with Glenn Beck because he's a Mormon?

Colorado-based Focus on the Family pulled an online interview with conservative television host Glenn Beck after concerns were raised about Beck's Mormon faith.

Gary Schneeberger, vice president of media and public relations for Focus on the Family Action, said that "differences in the Mormon faith and the historical evangelical faith are not inconsequential."
Beck's interview with CitizenLink.org, Focus on the Family Action's Web site, touched on his Christmas memories and his recent best-selling book, "The Christmas Sweater."

On Dec. 22, Underground Apologetics, a Wisconsin-based group dedicated to helping Christians "defend their faith," criticized Focus on the Family for not mentioning Beck's membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in its online interview.

"While Glenn's social views are compatible with many Christian views, his beliefs in Mormonism are not.

Check out the book by Jon Krakauer called Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith if you want to learn a bit about Mormon beliefs. I'm reading it now and it's intense. Many people don't know anything about their beliefs or practices and the fundamentalists that it spawns.