Brandon Flowers calls Mitt Romney a bad Mormon

The return of Brandon Flowers brings back to attention the second highest profile Mormon. And he's been having a pop at the highest profile Mormon:

"I think Romney would even admit that he wasn't a great ambassador for [the Mormon Church]," Flowers said in an interview with the Daily Beast. "His answers weren't great, and it made it even worse; it seemed like he was hiding something. But there's really nothing to hide. You can find out what you need to find out! It's all there."

It's true that there's a lot of information that you can find out about Mormonism, because even the anti-Mormon MM Outreach site lists "facts the Mormons won't tell you" while admitting that, erm, it sourced most of these facts that the Mormons won't tell you came from the Mormon Church website.

The Washington Post has some sympathy for Romney:

But in Romney's defense, from 2008 to 2012, the percentage of Americans who said they would not vote for a generally well-qualified candidate their party nominated who happened to be Mormon was between 17 percent and 24 percent, according to Gallup polling. Only gays or lesbians, Muslims, and atheists had a higher percentage on that question.

Actually, if you're less hobbled by your religion than by a rejection of religion, or your sexuality, you might think that you're not that hard done by, but let's just sit that to one side.

Let's just focus on something else, though. Brandon Flowers is proud to be a spokesperson for Mormonism.

If he wants to take that role on, let's ask him about how the time the Mormons of Utah tried to ban same gender marriage in California. Let's ask him about why the church then tried to cover up what it was doing. Let's ask him about the church's support for "religious freedom" laws that are basically legalising discrimination.

If we wants to be the poster boy for Mormonism, let's ask him the difficult questions.

Madonna/Romney crossover fans upset

Madonna endorsed Barack Obama from the stage last night. Oddly, it didn't go down well with the whole audience in New Orleans. The AP reports:

Madonna drew boos and triggered a walkout by several concertgoers after she touted President Barack Obama on her "MDNA Tour" in New Orleans.

Really? Walkouts? Now, American politics is a strange beast, but walking out upon hearing Madge endorse Obama suggests that your love of Romney is pretty deeply ingrained. To flounce away from an eye-wateringly expensive gig just because someone said 'vote Obama' implies that you bleed GOP.

Which obviously leads to a follow-on question: if you're that deeply committed to conservative values, what the hell are you doing at a Madonna gig in the first place?

It's like vegetarians flouncing out of a tour of Bernard Matthews factories when they're offered some Turkey Twizzlers to taste.

Still, faced with people booing and walking out, Madonna stuck to her guns, of course.

Drawing boos in touting Obama over Republican Mitt Romney, Madonna followed: "Seriously, I don't care who you vote for ... Do not take this privilege for granted. Go vote."

Of course she didn't.

Romney joins the Pirate Party

It's not unusual for political candidates in the US to get themselves involved in copyright bother, but Mitt Romney is taking things to a new level.

This isn't the embarrassing tshirt using an uncleared font.

Oh, no.

Romney actually owned shares in one of the biggest dodgy video sites in all of the Internet, Youku.

Yes, having sent China so many American jobs, Romney also helped underwrite Chinese piracy.

If he does win in November, at least the RIAA and MPAA lobbyists will know Mitt understands how people make money from unlicenced online content.

This is what the news always looks like to Mitt Romney