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Romney ancestor fled Army, joined LDS Church
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The other is to keep alive the chickenhawk slur. See, not only did his sons not serve, but his ancestors deserted and became polygamists. Connect the dots, folks, he's clearly unfit to serve as president!
Can't wait to see the articles on other candidates' great-great-grandparents. Oh wait--there aren't any.
And in reference to the previous commentator ("Is there a cowardice gene?"), when I clicked on the comment page it brought up an ancestry.com ad which says "Maybe it runs in the family...Meet your ancestors." I'm not kidding.
This will make all forget that he built a strong and successful company oversaw the Olympic mess through to a fantastic result, and governed in a seemingly solid manor in Mass.
Come on writers. I am constantly incensed of what is called "news" today. If I held that same standard of my long dead relatives to myself I would be marked as a slave trader today. Wait, maybe I am. I mean I actually make my kids work hard depriving them of their constitutional right to do nothing and learn nothing.
Step up Davidson, give us real news. Write of the critical things actually affecting our current living circumstances.
Wilcken saw poor protection by U.S. troops, which allowed Mormon militia to burn forage in front of the approaching army. LDS soldiers also burned many of the federal supply wagons and ran off the army's livestock."
Professional, disciplined soldiers do not carry on in such a fashion.
As for the point of the story, I also do not see how such a story has any impact on Mitt's campaign. Unless the author of the story was just trying to fill column space. If Lee Davidson was to research his family history, he would more than likely find some ancestors that have done worse than what Carl Wilcken had ever done.
Just for the record, according to my military file, I have 22 years of military service between the regular army and the active reserves.
You are asking about the point of an article about seminars about history at a Utah stat historical conference???
The "point" of the article IS the article. It is meant to inform people about some part of the past. In this case, one of the ancestors of a candidate for President.
Regarding your implication of cowardice, if the article is correct, it would seem Mr. Wilcken, a decorated veteran of some very brutal campaigns in Europe, chose to align himself with a more honorable party after enduring the association of too many undsciplined and loutish soldiers who openly discussed engaging in immoral and illegal acts of murder and rape. He then risked capture and imprisonment, if not execution, to do it.
Subsequently, he was apparently deemed of such high and stout character that he was entrusted with defending the lives of some of the most beloved people among the Mormons.
None of those things seems to indicate the least bit of cowardice. Certainly not like someone asking some smarmy question about someone else’s character while hiding behind the oh-so brave moniker of “Anonymous”.
What is your point with this story?
I've never been gutless enough to flee the Army though.
It may have only been the Texas Air National Guard, but at least President Bush had enough courage to serve his country, unlike Mitt Romney.
Deseretian
Somewhere in my woodpile, I have an ancestor who "jumped ship" on Lake Superior...Guess that makes me the off spring of an illegal alien???
In another part of my family woodpile, I have no doubt, an ancestor who ripped that tag off of his pillow...egads...off to the Point of the Mountain for us...bwahahahahahahahaha
Go...Mitt...GO
Esto es sin perjuicio de considerar que dicho antepasado obró bien, en aquella circunstancia.-
No es bueno emitir un juicio de valor sobre hechos históricos con criterios y perspectivas actuales.Para intentar ser objetivos , debe el historiador o quien aprecie la historia ubicarse en el contexto socio-cultural para comprender exactamente lo ocurrido. Pero mas allá de este punto , me parece absurdo , hasta rÃdiculo que se exhume lo que hizo un pariente hace un siglo y medio , para disminuir o tratar de deteriorar la imágen de un candidato.Creo que ello habla de la pobreza , de la carencia de verdaderos argumentos contra las ideas y la figura del sr. Romney.Constituye además , la utilización de esta clase de argumento, llamado "argumento ad hominen" , en latÃn "argumento contra el hombre" por antonomasia al argumento contra las ideas.En todo caso una campaña electoral debe ser una contienda de ideas ,entonces no puede descalaficarse una idea por medio de la descalaficicación del hombre.En este caso , la descalificación no es siquiera por un acto innoble o supuestamente innoble , del propio candidato, sino por un acto ejecutado , llevado a cabo en otras circunstancias ,de un pariente lejano y por un hecho ocurrido hace 150 años
Creo , para bien de los estadounidenses , que los candidatos y la prensa debieran exponer las ideas de los mismos , para luego, el pueblo elija bien.-
Cowardice gene. Hadn't considered that. Guess I'll have to change my vote.
As pointed out, this kind of 'digging for dollars' reporting got old a loooong time ago.
PLEASE stop trying to make news, and get back to reporting it.
But geez, this is 150 years ago, get on already!?! Do you really care if a presidential candidate is descended from a slave or a slave owner, from a US army deserter or Mormon president bodyguard?! That's moot to me, I care about his ability to lead the country.
1. The United States has been fighting militant fanatical religious groups forever
2. People who "hear voices" are more suceptible to joing fanatical religious groups
3. The irony that the reddest state has a war named after itself
4. Mitt Romney, like many mormons, has polygamist ancestors. Maybe Utah should stop persecuting them
5. America is a theocracy and the candidate's religion matters so much that we have to analyze 150 years of their family history
As a Viet Nam vet I refuse to vote for draft dodgers. That included Slick Willie, Bush Lite and it includes Mitty.
It all smacks of ridiculous desperation. People see Romney's qualifications and clean record of behavior, and get freaked out because he actually has the chops and the character to do the job. Anyone poking about the [Hillary] Rodham family tree for dirt or assessing the other candidates' worthiness based on their hair (even Hillary's) would never be taken as a serious journalist.
As for Romney's flip on abortion, it is true that he is entitled to change his mind but I think he lied during the debates against Ted Kenndey. Mitt claimed that he had a close relative suffer from an illegal abortion which is why he chose to support legal abortions. CLOSE RELATIVE=RICH MORMON. I do not see an active Mormon get an illegal abortion. Nor do I see a wealthy women getting an illegal aboriton. She would have flown to a country where abortion was legal and have had it performed in a safe, surgical setting. his story makes no sense.
Especially great stuff like this desertion episode. This potent family heritage would inspire Prez Rom to act in a very aggressive way. Right?
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