Stop the Presses: Mitt Romney's Antebellum Ancestors Were Also Mormons

Yeesh.

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.

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.
...
Romney's great-great grandfather, Parley Pratt, an apostle in the church, had 12 wives. In an 1852 sermon, Parley Pratt's brother and fellow apostle, Orson Pratt, became the first church official to publicly proclaim and defend polygamy as a direct revelation from God.

Do we (and by "we" I of course mean the "Associated Press and their preferred party") really want to put 4-generations-removed family affiliations on the table?  We only need to travel one degree of familial separation from Hillary to find a heap of criminal and sexual misdeeds for which she probably doesn't want to be forced to answer.  If we're saddling candidates with the religious persuasions of their ancestors and the practices associated with those religions in centuries past, let's remember that Obama's father was a Muslim, but only before becmoing an atheist.  Plus, he was from Kenya, where natives fought bitterly with the colonizing Portugese about five hundred years ago.  Do we trust that Obama won't embrace Muslim extremism or heathenism or suddenly demand systematic internment of all Portugese Americans?  None of John E'wards' ancestors even bothered graduating from college.  Law and textile degrees aside, won't his long family tradition of limited education impact the level of intellectualism he'd bring to the Presidency?

Again, yeesh.

On the bright side, if these comically distant family ties represent the best stuff detractors are coming up with, Mitt should keep on smiling.

Hat Tip:  Hot Air
Elsewhere:  My Man Mitt