On days when we feel that the RWCM is unfair to Democrats, it sometimes, er, turns the stomach to realize that, in fact, they also eat their own, and they eat their own in particularly unpleasant and smeary ways.
(Full disclosure: I am not a Romney fan, or even a Republican, but the too-obvious appearance of this "Romney's family really liked polygamy" backgrounder bugged me and I thought it was worthy of note)
Witness this heartwarming faith-based news story about Mitt Romney from the AP: "Romney family tree has polygamy branch". As far as I can tell this fine piece o' reporting entered the AP stack just in time for some strategic Sunday faith news placements.
Polygamy was not just a historical footnote, but a prominent element in the family tree of the former Massachusetts governor now seeking to become the first Mormon president.
Yup, Romney's not polygamous now or anything, but let's play off the current polls and make sure we try to make the public as squeamish about Mormons as we can. They're polygamists, you know. In case you didn't know, now you know!
While Mitt Romney condemns polygamy and its prior practice by his Mormon church, the Republican presidential candidate's great-grandfather had five wives and at least one of his great-great grandfathers had 12.
It runs in the blood, I tell you.
Romney's great-grandfather, Miles Park Romney, married his fifth wife in 1897. That was more than six years after Mormon leaders banned polygamy and more than three decades after a federal law barred the practice.
Those Mormons. Even though Mitt himself condemns this practice, you see how his family was willing to break the law.
Romney's father, former Michigan Gov. George Romney, was born in Chihuahua, Mexico, where Mormons fled in the 1800s to escape religious persecution and U.S. laws forbidding polygamy. He and his family did not return to the United States until 1912, more than two decades after the church issued "The Manifesto" banning polygamy.
"When you read the family's history, you realize how important polygamy was to them," said Todd Compton, a Mormon and independent historian who wrote a book about the polygamous life of the church's founder, Joseph Smith. "They left America and started again as pioneers, after they had done it over and over again previously."
Polygamy. Really important to the Romneys. You read it here first.
The Romney campaign had no comment for this story.