"Would a polygamist President's junior wife be the Second-First Lady?"

[cthulu2016]

"Would a polygamist President's junior wife be the Second-First Lady?"

This is an example of the sort of "levity" Mitt Romney thinks the campaign needs.

Mitt says his birther joke was okay because the audience loved it. Well, if Obama said that about first ladies at a Democratic rally it would surely draw gales of laughter.

If Obama said that at a Democratic rally it would be a joke only because it plays into a prejudice about Romney that is not supported by facts, but potent because he is a Mormon. Just like the birther "joke" plays into a lie about Obama that is potent because his father was from Kenya.

Hilarious! See, just what the campaign needs... according to Romney.

And innocuous, of course, because Obama has never said Romney is a polygamist. Obama has always said that Romney has only one wife.

It would just be Obama making a point to the people of Michigan that he has only one spouse, just like them. That's all. And who could complian about that?

_________________

On the off chance anyone misses it—the OP is not suggesting mocking Mitt's religion, it is noting that by Mitt's stated standard, doing so would be the same kind of "harmless levity" as Mitt's birther joke.

[yellerpup]

1. Joe could say that.

I wouldn't like to see Obama stray from the issues into tit-for-tat, but I'd love to hear this repeated over and over on comedy and news shows. I think it is an effective joke.

[cali]

3. I decidedly would not.

it plays into ugly bigotry. do you endorse that shit? Guess so.

[cthulu2016]

4. Just for the record, I wasn't suggesting anyone actually say it.

Just making a point.

(But it is kind of funny to picture an interview with the Fourth-First Lady.)

[yellerpup]

7. I took it as funny.

Just desserts.

[darkangel218]

10. ok lol. im at work watching the clouds and wind moving in

Storms have something so beautiful about them. So much energy ..

[darkangel218]

2. I dont think the Mormon church

Supports polygamy anylonger. From what I read they stopped endorsing it a long time ago.

[cthulu2016]

6. And Obama was born in the USA.

The point of the OP is Mitt saying his birther "joke" was the kind of levity the campaign needs.

I am not suggesting that anyone mock Mitt's religion, merely noting how outrageous it is for Mitt to say his birther joke was innocuous fun.

[Cleita]

8. They don't and it's illegal in the state of Utah.

However, there is a somewhat strange tolerance of the practice. The mainstream Mormons know it goes on and usually they turns a blind eye towards it unless there is some kind of trouble, or a scandal erupts and polygamists are involved.

[BumRushDaShow]

9. As a devil's advocate position

It doesn't matter because as long as you have people like Warren Jeffs around and places like this -



then the broad-brushing that people like Rmoney do to others can be done to him because polygamy DOES exist among sects of his church - him being a descendant of such a sect thanks to his great-grandfather.

This sort of linking is par for the course for them.

[jsr]

5. Don't they rotate them

in and out of the lineup?

[ThoughtCriminal]

11. I was going to say "2nd Lady"

But that one is used for the wife of the Vice President.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Lady_of_the_United_States

I suggest using letters:
1st Lady-A
1st Lady-B
1st Lady-C
.
.
.
etc. The Greek letters if the alphabet is exhausted. I think that would handle any plausible scenario.

[limpyhobbler]

12. "It's ok to tell ethnic jokes as long as you put quotation marks around them"

Because the quotation marks demonstrate that you are not actually saying it, but just using it as an example of what a person would say if they wanted to be a jerk.

[Care Acutely]

13. And conversely, an Obama campain official could say that he was only

"Reiterating the fact that Obama only has one wife."

Kind of like Romney was only pointing out his Michigan roots. Cause that was so very believable.