I had to laugh when I saw this article from the Associated Press.
While Mitt Romney condemns polygamy and its prior practice by his Mormon church, the Republican presidential candidate's great-grandfather had five wives and at least one of his great-great grandfathers had 12.
My first thought was "Duh!" Romney's great-grandfather was probably alive in the 1880s, and his great-great-grandfather was probably around 1850. That was when Mormons defended polygamy. What on earth does 19th century skeletons have to do with the 21st century campaign of Mitt Romney.
It's been noted for some time that digging into every possible negative or foolish word or deed by a politician--no matter how long ago such speech or actions were made--will eventually drive out good politicians and leave us with a bunch of milquetoast jerks that nobody wants to elect. I can't help but think searching in people's family trees is an even worse idea.
One can assume that a person is responsible for their own behaviors (whether it is hanging a Confederate flag in your dorm room or using cocaine). But what on earth is a person supposed to do about events that took place four generations ago?
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