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Summarized by Kent Larsen
Does Bush Owe Mormon Church An Apology Also?
Salt Lake Tribune 2Mar00 N6
By Peggy Fletcher Stack: Salt Lake Tribune
SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH -- After enduring two weeks of criticism from
Catholics for speaking at Bob Jones University, a nondenominational
Christian school in Greenville, South Carolina that condemns both
Catholicism and Mormonism, presidential candidate George W. Bush sent
a letter last week to John Cardinal O'Connor of the Roman Catholic
Church apologizing for his speech there. However, Bush has not sent
any letter of apology to the LDS Church, and most Church members
don't seem to care.
Mormons are "used to people calling us names like that," says U.S.
Senator Bennett of Utah. "We have learned not to get too upset about
it." Bennett says that Bush has probably been advised against sending
a letter, "I would think Bush's LDS advisers -- and I am not one, but
certainly [Gov.] Mike Leavitt is -- would probably tell him not to
bother. It's not that big a deal."
But U.S. News &World Report writer Paul Bedard wrote, as previously
reported in Mormon News [See
http://www.mormonstoday.com/000312/N2BobJonesU01.shtml, that the
failure will cost Bush votes in Utah, "Mormons tell us they'll vote
their anger [against Bush] in the March 10 Utah primary," he wrote in
the current issue of U.S. News.
Chase Rogers, head of John McCain's campaign in Utah thinks Utahns
may take a second look at McCain because of it. But Rogers also added
that Mormons may vote for McCain because he supports California's
Proposition 22 while Bush is "not taking a position" on the
initiative, according to Vicki Varela, Bush's regional campaign
chairwoman.
But the Deseret News' columnist Lee Benson disagrees. He says that
Senator Bennett is right, that Mormons have learned to reserve their
anger for important things, like basketball. He recalls Bryant
Gumbel's "Bo Diddley" comment and says that LDS Church members
generally are laid back, particularly over politics. His view is that
if Bush doesn't do well in Utah, it will be because Utahn's don't
think he's a good politician.
See Also:
Bush at BJU? LDS only get mad in hoops
Deseret News 5Mar00 N1
http://www.desnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,155007784,00.html
By Lee Benson: Deseret News columnist
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