Romney speech a hit — on blogs, talk radio

• "Romney simply offered a series of paragraphs that, while well-phrased, led to no coherent conclusion.... mostly, he offered a caricature of Clintonian triangulation. On the liberal side, Romney endorsed the separation of church and state, supported the tolerance of those with different beliefs, and found something to admire in Catholicism ('the profound ceremony'), Lutheranism ('confident independence'), Judaism ('ancient traditions'), and Islam ('frequent prayer'). On the 'conservative side,' he proclaimed that 'secularism' is a religion, decried the un-churching of Western Europe, and declared that 'freedom requires religion.'"— David Kusnet, former presidential speech writer, The New Republic

• "Romney's knock on the 'religion of secularism' was pure pandering to the religious right. I hope Romney's eloquence about 'our grand tradition of religious tolerance and liberty' persuades voters who need convincing that it would be terribly divisive if his Mormon faith were a factor in how he fares in the primaries. I wish he had felt less need to water down his boldness with politically convienent assertations that would also divide us, just in different ways." — E.J. Dionne, Washington Post Writers Group

• "It's hard not to be impressed with the speech former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney gave Thursday on faith and religion. He displayed a deep, intuitive understanding of the proper role of religion in public life, while dispelling the notion that his Mormon beliefs are somehow aberrant. It's also hard not to be perturbed by the whole affair. Why is it that the dynamics of the presidential race compelled this candidate, and this one alone, to give this speech?" — USA Today editorial

• "How unfortunate it would be if he were rejected on the basis of such irreducible doctrinal differences. The Mormons seem the very embodiment of 'family values,' and you couldn't invent a religious culture that lived more consistently with Biblical messages. ... On the scale of American problems, the Mormons don't even register." — Wall Street Journal editorial