Grasping at Straws, or Hope Springs Eternal

The LDS Church has released its typical election-year statement about the church being officially non-partisan. But this year a small modification to the normal statement has Utah Democrats and their Dead Tree Media allies all a-flutter. Apparently the Church has added this line:

"Principles compatible with the gospel may be found in the platforms of all major political parties."

With typical overreach, Utah Democrats have automatically interpreted this to mean it's okay to be an LDS Democrat and thus votes from LDS members should come rolling in this fall. Of course it says nothing of the sort, but when you've been a rump opposition party for so long you begin to imagine all kinds of improbable things.

It's rather insulting the way Utah Democrats automatically assume that the only reason LDS members don't vote for them is due to some Svengali-like brainwashing on the part of Republicans. The very idea that a simple statement from the LDS First Presidency would automatically translate into votes reveals just how much contempt they hold for the average Mormon. It's especially doubtful that any Mormon would vote for Democrats as long as the best-known Democrat in the state is such an arrogant, left-wing, anti-Mormon bigot.

If the Democrats truly wanted to gain LDS votes, they'd ditch the University of Utah/Park City hard-left Liberals who run the party, along with their devotion to issues such as gun control, abortion, and gay marriage. There's not much chance of that happening, though; the fact that Rocky Anderson is still a Democrat in good standing shows they simply don't "get it".