who actually hate mormons. here at liberty, while, you know clearly they have very strong beliefs about mormonism, i don't get a very hateful vibe at least towards my religion but -- but it is clearly -- you know there is clearly an impasse to be reached between mitt romney and the evangelicals, where they may even come out and vote for him and campaign for him, but at a certain point you arrive at a point in the conversation where you believe i'm going to hell and there's not much more to say about it really. >> yeah. >> that's the point they are at. >> just quickly, how is the romney campaign spinning the commencement address? do we know if he will be discussing his mormonism? >> he is not going to be talking about mormonism. he is going to be talking about god in general, and conservatives, same-sex marriage i think they are going to continue their strategy at trying to avoid the subject at all costs, and evangelicals will just get over it and turn out for him in the fall. >> mckay thanks so much for phoning

as you know, mitt romney is mormon. that's actually, that's kind of unnecessary-- he's mormon.othing frightening-- there's nothing frightening about him being a mormon. okay, you've over-corrected. that was an over-correction. i should have qualified that statement. there's nothing frightening about romney being a mormon to me. apparently, some in the republican party's evangelical base think otherwise. >> mitt romney is a good moral person but he's not a christian. mormonnism is not christianity. it has always been considered a cult by the main street of christianity. >> most christians would not recognize mormonnism as part of the christian faith. >> what this would mean for the spiritual health of the united states of america if a worshiper of a false god occupied the white house. >> jon: yes! you would never want someone in the white house who worshipped a different god than you. if i may, as a jew-- ( laughter ) you get used to it. ( laughter ) ( applause ) but of course, those comment were made while romney was still duking it out with real christian candidates. now that

>>> and in our fifth story "outfront," mormons gone mild.college students around the country, and believe it or not every memorial day weekend, single mormons converge on duck beach, north carolina, for their own version. >> it's interesting to be in sort of this concentrated social situation where you have fairly rigid limitations on how we express ourselves. >> you're not going to find alcohol. you're not going to find drugs. >> that was a clip from a film about duck beach. "outfront" tonight two of the directors, steven francen and hadley arch join me. gentleman, good to see you. >> good to see you. >> all right. from the outside, if you were to just show up on duck beach on this memorial day weekend, would it look different than the gather ergs you see in other parts of the country of young people, young single people? >> i think superficially it would look very similar. kind of the, what we say, is they look drunk, but they're not drunk. they're partying and going crazy, but it's pretty tame. >> so these are young mormons but some of th

. >> and a mormon tradition.hy hundreds of mormons are going to north carolina this weekend for spring break. or creates another laptop bag or hires another employee, it's not just good for business, it's good for the entire community. at bank of america, we know the impact that local businesses have on communities. that's why we extended $6.4 billion in new credit to small businesses across the country last year. because the more we help them, the more we help make opportunity possible. ♪... ♪... ♪... choose the perfect hotel uh, nope. just, uh, checking out my ad. nice. but, y'know, with every door direct mail from the postal service, you'll find the customers that matter most: the ones in your neighborhood. print it yourself or find a local partner. and postage is under 15 cents. i wish i would have known that cause i really don't think i chose the best location. it's not so bad... i mean you got a deal... right? [ bird cries ] go online to reach every home, every address, every time with every door direct mai

the mormon church is a very very rich and powerful institution that has already shown he can flip it election result numerous states most visibly with proposition eight in california on the other hand there will be massive amounts of mormon money thrown into this election particularly given that many mormons believe that one of their own is destined by joseph smith's prophecies to become president of the united states and this is their big chance religion and big money two of the most toxic elements of american politics are certain to create a firestorm against president obama question is whether they'll also sin candidate romney in either the process or the blowback this battle against democracy being waged by the very richest people and institutions in america and karl rove is getting really interesting terrible for the nation terrible for democracy but it really interesting joining me now for more on this story and what we can expect over the next six months until november is richard follower rest of strategist and host of the richard follower radio program richard welcome tom goo

. >>> and a mormon transition.undreds of mormons are going to north carolina this weekend for spring break. get better results in ap courses. together, they raised ap test scores 138%. just imagine our potential... ...if the other states joined them. let's raise our scores. let's invest in our teachers and inspire our students. let's solve this. diarrhea, gas or bloating? get ahead of it! one phillips' colon health probiotic cap a day helps defend against digestive issues with three strains of good bacteria. hit me! [ female announcer ] live the regular life. phillips'. mine hurt more! mine stopped hurting faster... [ female announcer ] neosporin® plus pain relief starts relieving pain faster and kills more types of infectious bacteria. neosporin® plus pain relief. for a two dollar coupon, visit neosporin.com. mcallen, texas. in here, heavy rental equipment in the middle of nowhere, is always headed somewhere. to give it a sense of direction, at&t created a mobile asset solution to protect and track everything. so

do we see any evidence that mitt romney wants to apply mormon teachings and mormon principles into thei don't think we do but that's a fair question. >> dean, on the other hand running for office you know the unbelievable vitriol that they would face. is that fair? >> absolutely it's not fair. president obama is not even a muslim yet in two states in the sows alabama and mississippi half the republicans think he's a muslim because they hate the muslim. of course they'll go through the occur ron and go through the book of mormon. some say if a woman should be stoned to death or if a person works on the sabbath, they should be killed. what he does as governor of massachusetts, that should be the test. not page 27 of the book of mormon should not be the test. whatever that page says. i don't know. >> cenk: when we come back, is it the and of fish? as in we won't have fish any more? that's a real conversation we need to have when we return. ♪ >> we are in a war against fish what makes sam adams boston lager great is as simple as abc. a, the appearance. amber. [ jim ] b, balance. sam adams

. >> and a mormon tradition.hy hundreds of mormons are going to north carolina this weekend for spring break. usaa e is often handed down from generation to generation. because it offers a superior level of protection, and because usaa's commitment to serve the military, veterans and their families is without equal. begin your legacy, get an auto insurance quote. usaa. we know what it means to serve. are you still sleeping? just wanted to check and make sure that we were on schedule. the first technology of its kind... mom and dad, i have great news. is now providing answers families need. siemens. answers. nno matter what you do. when you're living with moderate to severe crohn's disease, there are times it feels like your life... revolves around your symptoms. if you're tired of going around in circles, it may be time to ask your gastroenterologist about humira. because with humira, remission is possible. humira has been proven to work for adults who have tried other medications... but still experience the symp

were divinely inspired, so that's something you will hear about from many mormons.he white horse prophecy they're not sure what to do with. they know the church doesn't believe it but they connect to it maybe in one way or another and usually just something echoing as a story that doesn't have a lot to do with the every day beliefs. >> you make a note that mitt romney has only touched upon this briefly in 2007 and pointed out it is not official doctrine. in referencing the constitution when the woman said that the president should be brought up on treason, romney responded i happen to believe the constitution was not just brilliant but probably inspired. you ask the campaign to elaborate on that and they did not. >> i sent them several e-mails about this story and didn't hear anything back from them. the church, the lds church did get back to say they don't support this as doctrine. i think what you're seeing is mormonism is such a mystery to so many americans that now that mitt romney as a presidential candidate, the lights will be shined on everything about his li

♪ mormons believe ♪ >> cenk: michael, you saw that.ns? >> they're as fair game as when kennedy was a catholic. as fair game as obama had this pastor. if you're going to talk about this pastor, you definitely can talk about mitt romney church. >> cenk: is it discriminating to talk about the mormons and his underwear. >> as someone raised in the catholic church and to this day are upset in the way that people questioned john f. kennedy's religion, it brings up do you turn off generations two, three generations of mormons one of the fastest growing religions in this country by going after it in the same way that republicans went after catholicism in 1960. when you're talking about a practicereligion practiced by the senate majority leader it's more nuanced than is it fair game. what is the long-term plan and does there need to be one. >> cenk: i think it's interesting to ask, why did mitt romney not care at all that the mormon religion discriminated against black people when he was going to school and he was upset that people even cared a

and i'm going to kick us off. >> good here is jean with mormon fun facts. >> first of all the mormonmanufacture is going to be a god in the after life and rule over his own planet with at least a hundred wives. >> that's better than a hundred virgins. >> newt gingrich just switched to mormonism now, because he is a little fickle with the wives. i'm catholic no i'm not. oh, my god, i get a planet? >> second of all the book of mormon written by joseph smith despite that nobody else ever saw the golden tablets, but the wrote the book of more mons and the mormons believe that over the bible. this should make the heads of evangelical christians spin -- >> i have an old jenny cream ail can from 1978 can i start my own religion. >> you can. >> why not a religion based on beer. >> ummm beer. >> you have to be qualified to translate what it says on the label. >> i have something metal from upstate new york. >> okay. and another fun fact. people like to say that polygamists are only part of the break-oif sects, but there is an estimate that there is somewhere around 10,000 polygamists in the u

the mormon thing, since it is a new religion for the presidency, we haven't had a mormon president yet and he is a very religious guy, are they going to play that? i've heard people say things like, if you even say the word "weird" you're saying mormon. but does use strange language and he said i read "the new york times" cover story about this whole dirty ad campaign about jeremiah wright and read it on the aircraft. he talks like a conehead. like he's speaking earthling. i don't know how you run against a guy like that. is that a way of saying he's mormon? >> nobody has said aircraft in a long, long time. it will have to be very subtle and perhaps it will be the same way they treated mccain's age. there will be some way of just sort of showing him to be out of touch. chris: wagon train somewhere? how do you think they're going to go negative? what's a dirty version of jeremiah wright coming from the obama people? >> the obama people aren't going to do that. they're going to stick with the bain attacks and not touch the mormonism thing. that's their end. race card. chris: above the be

treated by the mormon religion. i don't think mitt romney wants to have that conversation considering that he was an elder and his dad was an elder and they did not embrace african-americans . >> i think roland martin makes a good point. it didn't hurt president obama's campaign whatsoever. but herman cain did talk about a situation, romney had a response of the super pac and made a decision as to whether or not he would attack reverend wright in his campaign. >> it's very clear i repudiate that effort. i think it's the wrong course for a pac or a campaign. i hope that our campaigns can respectively be about the future and about issues and about a vision for america. i've been disappointed in the president's campaign to date which has focused on character assassination. i just think that we're wiser to talk about the issues of the day, what we do to get america working again. >> cenk: i love that for a couple of reasons. one, after the republicans planned a character assassination attack on president obama, it's how

if there isn't an opportunity as a mormon for governor romney to say we as mormons have been ostracizeded for 180 years, my grand father driven out of the country for his sexual preferences. seems there is an historical connection that he could say i understand, perhaps. >> congressman, i would ask you, is the mormon community let down by the fact that mitt romney has effectively put his religion in the closet? >> no, not at all. in fact t mormon community has a hard time talking about hair religion because we tend to be a community that doesn't wear our religion on our sleeves. sometimes you try to distinguish between your religious life and your private life and you don't talk about your religious life in your everyday affairs. so i think there is a hesitancy. there has been a lot of persecution of the church. i think people just are reluctant to talk about it. but i think if he talked about it, i think he would be more welcome and people would understand where he's coming from. it's important for him to express his belief in jesus christ as his savior and people would understand that

you know, mormons and baptisms for the dead or special mormon undergarments.here's really a mix of reactions. they're really eager for americans to find out more about their religion, but they're worried they're finding out that the most salacious things as opposed to the most meaningful. >> dan, thanks so much. appreciate that. of course, you can check out those stories and more on our belief blog at cnn.com. >>> it is the topic of discussion. black churches across the country today. but does the president's endorsement of gay marriage force mitt romney to reaffirm his position. er is different but centurylink is committed to being a different kind of communications company by continuing to help you do more and focus on the things that matter to you. try capzasin-hp. it penetrates deep to block pain signals for hours of relief. capzasin-hp. take the pain out of arthritis. >>> this week the romney campaign wants to return the focus to the economy. the republican presidential candidate did reaffirm his position on marriage at a commencement ceremony, at liberty

i'm a mormon. proud to be a mormon. and russell pearce was in a heavily mormon district in arizona. and i was offended by his bigotry and his approach to hispanic people. i come from a very right wing republican family. i, myself, have right of ging gas khan. i will tell you that when this immigration became an issue in arizona one of my brothers called me up and said, daryl, let's join the group that goes down with their guns, let get our guns and go down the board somewhere force the border policy. and i said, now my brother is a businessman, and i being a lawyer thought, well, let me think about this a little while. and so i began to study it out and to write write an essay whi available i think on the website, or if you don't have it if you go to my bio in the thing, just right to daryl williams and i'll send you a copy of the essay, i wanted to study out what it was that made z emotional and exercised about this and i concluded after doing my study, like i was preparing to go to the courtroom, that our immigration policy made no sense and no, i wasn't going to joint the minutem

that is what brigham young is to mormon.mmered home the themes of family ethic. >> religious liberty is the first freedom in our constitution . justice for the persecute compassion for the needy and sick. and mercy for the child waiting to be born, there is no greater force for good of the nation than christian conscience. >> he did avoid mentioning his mormon religion and choosing to talk of faith in broader terms. >> this unprecedented for someone who is mormon to address the university? >> yes, he is not the first mormon to speak and members of other faiths have spoken there as well it is unprecedented for a mormon ruping for a higher office. christian evangelicals are the base. but several maintain that mormons are not christians. there is differences between mormonisms and christianity . someone who doesn't recognize those differences is ignorant of mormonism and christianity. >> romney got the loudest applause stating that it is the marriage of one man and one woman. this is one area that christian evangelicals and mit

they are teaching about mormonism along with the occult movement shows how they view mormonism and mittthere was a lienne in the speech, romney acknowledging theological differences where usually, it seems like his appeal has been to say to social conservatives, i am one of you. and by acknowledging that that seemed to get a good response, that he wasn't trying to do this dance because a lot of the problem that evangelicals seem to have with mormons is this whole cult issue, mormons trying to say that they are full-fledged christians and evangelicals not believing that. >> that's an interesting point because in 2007, he gave a sort of similar speech to, you know to kind of try to make this mormon issue go away. >> right. >> he did try to appeal to their shared christianity and said, you know, i am a crist just like you. i believe in jesus just like that. you. that did not go well because if you believe mormonism is a cult you don't want to hear this guy say, no. no. no. we are the same. so this time around, he tried to steer clear of that. he said, look we have different face but we are

robert jeffers of dallas is vocal against the mormon religion saying mormons are not christians. >> mormonismthelogical cult and i hold to that and there is vast mean moronism and christianity and the only person who doesn't recognize that is both ignorant of moronism andism. >> he got applause when he talked about marriage being a relationship between one man and one woman. quite a contrast to president obama who supported same-sex marriage. >> troubling new reports out of syria that the u.n. brokered peace plan is in danger of collapsing. massive twin suicide bombing and killing 55 people in damascus and injuries others. syria government is blaming islamic militants for all of the regime is using the bombings as a excuse to put force back on the streets. joining us is ambassor bolen. >> glad to be here. >> talking about what is at play. the situation gets worse and the brokered peace collapses, what happens? >> i think the seize fire that former u.n. secretary general kofi annan collapsed. it is a vaguely worded agreement. the syrian violated and no way to practice or monitor it. it was a m

and the reverend from first baptist dallas has been saying mormons are not christians. >> mormons isological cult and i still old to that, there are vast differences between mormonism and christianity and the only person who doesn't recognize those differences is somebody whose he' ignorant in both mormonism and christianity. >> reporter: now, romney got the loudest applause when he talked about marriage, stating quote, marriage is a relationship between one man and one woman. a contrast to president obama who this week announced his support for same sex marriage. from the new york news room. >> jamie: a big admission from jp morgan chase admitting a 2 billion dollar mistake was make. to hurt our economy, can the same thing happen again? we'll get inside analysis next. get ahead of it! one phillips' colon health probiotic cap a day helps defend against digestive issues with three strains of good bacteria. hit me! [ female announcer ] live the regular life. phillips'. having one of those days? ] live the regular life. tired. groggy. can't seem to get anything done. it makes for one, l

you are putting mormonism on the table. you are putting on the table how african-americans were treated by the mormon religio religion. i don't think romney wants that conversation considering he was an elder and his dad was an elder. >> dana: isn't it interesting that romney's faith is able to be in question but any question of president obama past relation with who he calls his mental and spiritual advisor is off-limits. i'm curious that one of the people brought up mormonism. >> andrea: right. cureosly, the three people that watch martin beshaer's show a month before got to see him go on a rant about mormonmism. saying he could either keep lying and win the white house and bring eterm damnation or tell the truth. he is holding up the book of mormon. >> greg: keep doing that. i found that arousing. >> andrea: we'll get fan mail from england saying i have a terrible accent. imagine if someone held up the quran. he is saying that romney is lying. we can't say the word liar or say that barack obama is lying. a huge double st

will his mormon faith become an issue in the fall campaign? evangelicals are split. >> i think it will. just as much as the jeremiah wright issue was in 2008. >> if they bring it up, they lose. i think if he brings it up first, he loses. >> i believe in my mormon faith. i endeavor to live by it. >> in 2007 romney gave a speech explaining his faith. advisors say it's not likely he will do one this year. some evangelical leaders point out that romney's story of family, fidelity and personal conduct is more in line with evangelical ideals than many past presidents. >> it's not just that they agree with everything romney stands for. they believe every day of the week and twice on sunday he is far more combatabl combatable we views and what is important of that. >> if romney hopes to energize evangelicals to come out in no. says jonathan falwell this needs to be the starting point of a long conversation. >> it is something they have to do until november. >> lynchberg, virginia, john roberts, fox news. >>> massachusetts schools are now safe for cupc

so i see quite a contrast between that and the mormonism. >> well, i'm not sure. there is a contrast, but i'm not sure they're parallel. look, the "new york times" story about the fred davis pitch to joe rick ets, and it's importants to indicate that when this became public the super pact dough denounced and said it wasn't under serious consideration. to see a republican strategist put on paper that kind of an ugly thorough attack, the kind of stuff that normally you would say would only be pushed by people on the real fringes of the republican party, conspiracy they'rists trying to divide using race. to see this put forward in a detailed pitch, a detailed plan at the highest levels to the tune of $10 million to put that message out, that's fascinating. that's news. it really does speak to the sleazy side of the super pact economy that we're going to be seeing throughout this cycle. >> i do want to clarify that "the times" reporters went to the spokesman for joe rickets, and they said we haven't made a final decision. this is under consideration. then the next day

that's a mormon model. get married young. building education and family. is this too much throwing the candidates on the couch and psyc psychoanalyzing them or is there something we can learn. >> i don't know if it is throwing them too much on the couch, i was thinking about lenore, i was thinking i want to know more. the problem is i can't seem to map what his personality is. hearing about his mother helps me say here is where this person is. he is probably a little closer to his mom than some of the policies he is saying now, so that gives me a little bit of hope about him in a certain kind of way. i think we know a lot about president obama's mother because she has been so much a part of the story because he has told that story, even though he is telling his father's story, his mother is part of that story as well. what's important is to look at him, see how she shaped him. i always think about her being the anthropologist. that's why he looks at people a certain way. he studies, wants to see what you're doing, he can figu