• Subliminals.

    Not the actual billboard, but close enough. And since when have there ever been black mor...oh wait.
    Courtesy of the Reporter Herald

    I noticed a billboard along the side of the road today, as I was slowly clawing my way through rush-hour traffic. And it wasn't like any other billboard. Just three panels featuring three people who seem like everyday stock photograph models normal Americans, aside from three words along the bottom of each panel: "I'm a Mormon."

    Yep. A campaign to normalize the image of Mormon folks, so they won't continue to be seen by the evangelical and Methodist crowds as a bunch of freaky little devils-incarnate. If one wasn't careful, one would assume this could be in response to indirectly normalize the image of the GOP Establishment's preferred candidate, the magic underwear-doning Willard "Mittens" Romney. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints says this campaign's timing with the GOP presidential nomination campaigns and Romney's own bid for the nomination are merely coincidental. Sure.

    The reticence of the protestant-based religions in the southeast and other regions to accept Romney, along with other unfortunate events, led to Newt Gingrich becoming the newest Flavor of the Moment™, getting a spectacular bump in the polls. If this (indirect) attempt to make Romney palatable to the GOP's flyover supporters doesn't pan out, the Establishment may be forced to either a)accept Gingrich and mold him for their own purposes, or b)find a way to conveniently spike his nomination push, most likely by using the same ticking time bombs that blew Herman Cain's campaign to smithereens. Wonderful, glorious smithereens. "Ginger White?" Seriously? If The Onion doesn't get it's shit together, it'll be out of business by the end of next year.

    Crawling along in traffic, I wonder if anyone who actually had a mind to take a look at that billboard would put two and two together and ponder why the Mormon image suddenly needed a jump-start? Probably not. Most people would rather follow America's Next Top Model or listen to empty-headed pundits expel calorie-free opinions in attempt to feel self-important.