Romney's Testy 'Mormon Video' Goes Viral

A video of Mitt Romney irritably defending his faith went viral this week, a sign that Democrats are likely reveling in his ill temper and Mormon beliefs during the last days of the campaign, the Washington Post reports. Romney gets irate in the 2007 video when his interviewer—Jan Mickelson of WHO-AM in Des Moines—asks why Romney's past defense of abortion rights didn't contradict Mormon values. "You’re trying to tell me that I’m not a faithful Mormon," says Romney at one point.

Quizzed about Christ's return, Romney says Mormons believe Christ "will reign from two places, that the law will come forward from one place, from Missouri and the other will be in Jerusalem." But evangelicals are supporting Romney despite his beliefs, notes the Post, especially after Billy Graham said Mormonism was not a cult. So are liberals deluded in thinking the video has any impact? "A lot of people are saying this is a last-ditch effort by people who oppose Romney to bring out the Mormon card, to bring out the weirdness," says one Mormon scholar. (More Mitt Romney 2012 stories.)