Romney's Secret 'Push'?

It is no secret that the issue of religion is a touchy one for Mitt Romney. Many pixels have been posted, and ink spilled as to whether or not the Mormon candidate should deliver a JFK-like speech to directly address the role faith may play if he is elected president. So when the news broke that coordinated telephone calls, known as "push polling," were being made to Iowa voters disparaging Romney and his Mormon faith, the outcry was textbook outrage:

"Whatever campaign is engaging in this type of awful religious bigotry as a line of political attack, it is repulsive and, to but it bluntly, un-American," Romney spokesman Matt Rhoades said. "There is no excuse for these attacks. Governor Romney is campaigning as an optimist who wants to lead the nation. These attacks are just the opposite. It's ugly and divisive."

Here's Romney's direct response to the matter.



Of course, crying religious discrimination now sounds a bit odd, considering yesterday's revelations that Romney himself would not be inclined to appoint a Muslim to a cabinet-level position. But let's return to the calls. Naturally, every other GOP campaign has denied any knowledge of who was behind them. Rest assured, however, that the investigation into those responsible has indeed been undertaken, and it is the press that is leading the way.

Kudos go out to The National Review's Mark Hemingway, who, using good old-fashioned gum-shoe methods, has discovered the following:

Shortly after reports of Romney being targeted in a push poll emerged, the firm was identified as Western Wats, which is based in Utah and has a number of Romney contributors on the payroll. Western Wats was founded by Ron Lindorf who has ties to the business school at the Mormon-owned Brigham Young University, Romney's alma matter (Lindorf has since divested himself of the company).

Furthermore, Hemingway writes that there's ample evidence showing that Western Wats "may be directly tied to the Romney campaign."

After reading the NRO piece, the Romney campaign was fuming, and issued another statement:

Let me be perfectly clear: our campaign was not and is not involved with any efforts to engage in alleged push polling calls against our own candidate.

You may be asking yourself, why would Romney's campaign do something as counter-intuitive as attack its boss? Christopher Hitchens, God love him, sums it up pretty neatly:

You encourage the raising of an awkward question in such a way as to make it seem illegitimate. You then strike a hurt attitude and say that you are being persecuted for your faith. This, in turn, discourages other reporters from raising the question. Yes, that's the three-card monte.

So you see, Romney may have had his JFK moment after all, albeit with smoke and mirrors.

---

---