Uh...LDS might be throwing Romney under the bus.

[nolabear]

Gregory Prince is on Lawrence O'Donnell saying he's very upset with how Romney betrays the LDS on that tape. Says Mormonism is progressive and you wouldn' think that based on what Romney has said.


Gregory A. Prince (born 1948)[1] is an American pathology researcher, businessman, author, and historian of the Latter Day Saint movement.


Prince was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. After graduating as valedictorian from Dixie College (St. George, Utah), he served a two-year mission in Brazil for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon or LDS Church) at age 19.[2] Upon returning to the United States in 1969, Prince attended graduate school at the University of California, Los Angeles, receiving a D.D.S. (valedictorian) in 1973 and a Ph.D in pathology in 1975. In 1975 he and his wife, JaLynn Rasmussen, moved to Washington D.C., for a post-doctoral fellowship at the National Institutes of Health. After spending more than a decade at NIH and Johns Hopkins University, he co-founded Virion Systems, Inc. (VSI), a biotechnology company focused on the prevention and treatment of pediatric infectious diseases. Building on discoveries that Prince made as a doctoral student, VSI pioneered the prevention of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) disease in high-risk infants through the use of monoclonal antibody. (RSV is the primary cause of infant pneumonia throughout the world.) VSI's technologies were licensed to MedImmune, Inc., and the collaborative efforts of the two companies and other partners resulted in the approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration of Synagis, a drug that is currently given to approximately a quarter-million high-risk infants throughout the world each year. Prince currently serves as president and CEO of VSI.

In 2009, Prince and his wife established the Madison House Foundation, named after their youngest son who is autistic, for the purpose of addressing the perplexing issues facing adults with autism, along with those facing family members, caregivers and society at large. Prince serves as vice president of the foundation.

Prince serves on the boards of several non-profit institutions: The board of directors of the Dialogue Foundation; the National Advisory Council of Dixie State College; the Montgomery College Foundation Board; the National Advisory Board, J. W. Marriott Library, University of Utah; and the National Advisory Council, Johns Hopkins University School of Education. In addition, he served as a founding member of the board of directors of the Constitutional Sources Project (www.consource.org) from 2005-2009.

In recognition of his lifetime achievements, Prince was inducted into the Dixie State College Hall of Fame in 1999.

Prince was one of several leading figures in Mormon studies interviewed for the PBS documentary The Mormons.[2]

[AZ Progressive]

1. "Says Mormonism is progressive and you wouldn' think that based on what Romney has said. "

Sure, like the time they funded Prop 8 to end same sex marriage in California...

[kestrel91316]

2. Sorry. Mormonism is NOT progressive. It's extreme, dogmatic

patriarchy is anything but.

[ibegurpard]

3. no

Mormonism is NOT progressive.
It encourages an authoritarian worldview. I know...I grew up in it.

[Indpndnt]

4. Progressive?!

Well, okay, then.

[mick063]

5. I was baptized a Mormon

My 87 year old dad was born in Logan, Utah and his mother was born in Smithfield, Utah. That goes back a ways.

I know a thing or two about Mormons.

I will start by saying I am not active in the church and have no desire to be active in the church. But I will say it is dangerous to lump all Mormons together and say they are all the same.

Because they aren't.

There are progressive, Democratic Mormons just like their are progressive, Democratic Catholics. If the Democratic Party is a big tent and wants to include like-minded people, it is dangerous to write off large swaths of people. That would sink you to the depths of what Romney has done.


Check my post history and notice that I wrote a few weeks ago (when for most folks, the race was still clearly in doubt) that Mitt Romney as the face of Mormonism will collectively hurt them. It was all too predictable. Romney was a gaffe machine in the primaries. He was a symbol of the arrogant rich. Why would anyone believe he would suddenly change? The Mormon church spends money and time sending their youth on missions to reach out to people unfamiliar with their faith. Romney has set their efforts back by years. He has hurt them so bad, they may not recover for at least a generation. The Mormon leaders understand this. They are smarter than given credit for.

They have no choice, but to throw him under the bus. They will shed him like a dog shaking off fleas. This is a different animal than Jerry Falwell's moral majority. They are different because the Falwell types would go down swinging defending a GOP candidate. The Mormons will not. They are not nearly as invested in Mitt as you would like to believe. They are collectively more progressive than the Tea billies. I know that isn't saying much, but it is still the truth.

[braddy]

7. Mormons are not progressive-"Mormons prefer Romney by 84% to 13%" In 2008 the Mormon vote

went for McCain by a WHOPPING 75% to 19% for Obama.

You can't find progressive in a group that votes 75 to 85% republican.

[truebluegreen]

6. Some Mormons may be...

but the church is definitely NOT progressive. Anything but.