JW Marriott thanks Romney for bringing attention to Mormons, praises lifesaving "holy undergarments"

[highplainsdem]

This happened at the LDS church in Wolfeboro, NH, and the Romneys were at the church for the service. According to the article, reporters with the Romneys said they showed little reaction to Marriott's testimony.

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/09/jw-marriott-thanks-romney-for-bringing-attention-to-mormonism/

BOSTON — The head of the prominent Marriott hotel chain and fellow Mormon J.W. Marriott thanked Mitt Romney today during a Mormon church service for bringing “positive attention” to the religion, which is often considered to be shrouded in mystery.

-snip-

Marriott spoke about an interview he did in the 1990s with CBS News’ Mike Wallace for “60 Minutes,” retelling a story about the undergarments many practicing Mormons wear, another subject the Romneys have never discussed.

“Of course the one question that they put on the air was, I understand Mormons wear different underwear, and I said yes, and he says, “Do you?’” Marriott recalled.

Marriott explained that he told Wallace at the time that the underwear looks like a “T-shirt and a pair of boxer shorts” and that it prompted him to tell a story about an instance he believes the garments saved his life.

“I’d been involved in a very serious boat accident, here in New Hampshire. I caught fire; my polyester pants had burned off all the way to my waist. But my undergarments from my waist down to my knees had not even been singed. There was not a mark on them. And I said, these holy undergarments saved my life,” Marriott said.

-snip-

[Bluenorthwest]

1. Interesting bit of trivia...for some time during the early days of 'in room movies' Marriott was

in fact the largest distributor of pornographic motion pictures in the United States. Yes indeed.

[nc4bo]

2. Had many 1st thoughts but decided it may be in poor taste to type them out...

Btw, yes very interesting trivia indeed.

[SoCalDem]

3. Polyester melts..

his story sounds odd to me.

[riderinthestorm]

4. His story sounds like bullshit to me

[nc4bo]

6. Yes, indeed - there is certainly that. nt

[highplainsdem]

11. I agree, but many Mormons believe their underwear provides not only spiritual protection against

"evil" and "temptation" but also physical protection against fire, accidents, and even bullets.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_garment

According to the LDS Church, the temple garments serve a number of purposes. First, the garment provides the member "a constant reminder" of the covenants they made in the temple. Second, the garment "when properly worn...provides protection against temptation and evil". Wearing the garment is also "an outward expression of an inward commitment" to follow Jesus Christ.[7] General authority Carlos E. Asay adds that the garment "strengthens the wearer to resist temptation, fend off evil influences, and stand firmly for the right."[8]

The nature of the protection believed to be afforded by temple garments is ambiguous and varies between adherents.[9] Researchers who interviewed a sample of Latter-day Saints who wear the temple garment reported that virtually all wearers expressed a belief that wearing the garment provided "spiritual protection" and encouraged them to keep their covenants.[9] Some of those interviewed "asserted that the garment also provided physical protection, while others seemed less certain of any physical aspect to protection."[9] In Mormon folklore, tales are told of Latter-day Saints who credit their temple garments with helping them survive car wrecks, fires, and natural disasters.[1]

http://www.salon.com/2012/07/07/are_mormon_underwear_magic_salpart/

In Mormon folk religion, Garments have special powers. Stories are told of wearers being saved from bullets or a fiery death in a car crash. One story tells of a Mormon soldier during WWII who was killed by a Japanese flame thrower – but his Garment survived intact. The stories go back to Joseph Smith himself, who died in a hail of bullets without his Garment on. His companion, Willard Richards, who was wearing his, emerged unscathed. Mormon historian Hubert Bancroft described the incident in his 1890 “History of Utah”: “This garment protects from disease, and even death, for the bullet of an enemy will not penetrate it. The Prophet Joseph carelessly left off this garment on the day of his death, and had he not done so, he would have escaped unharmed.”

Today such accounts are not investigated or endorsed by the church authorities. The Catholic hierarchy has an established procedure for assessing claims about weeping statues or a miracle cure, but the Mormon hierarchy largely ignores stories about the real-world protective powers of the white underwear. In 1988, Mormon authorities asserted that the Garment serves as a protection “against temptation and evil.” Unfortunately, ordinary believers may take the broader protective power of their Garments seriously, sometimes with painful consequences.

What's especially intriguing to me about Marriott's acceptance of this Mormon folklore is that he might also accept another bit of Mormom folklore, the White Horse prophecy, and apply that to Romney:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002237275

[EC]

14. And cotton burns from edges in.

So even if fire touched the undies, it would only catch fire from the edges.

[COLGATE4]

15. No. If the undergarments are made of cotton.

It's the same principle with US Navy uniforms. Those for land use have polyester (which inhibits wrinkling). But for use on shipboard, only cotton uniforms are allowed, in case of fire. Polyester burns and melts, making any contact with a fire much more serious.

[ProSense]

5. OK, that's

just plain weird.

New Obama Ad ‘Son Of Boss’ Pushes Romney On Taxes
A new ad by the Obama campaign, “Son of Boss,” opens up a new front on Mitt Romney’s taxes. In addition to suggesting Romney may have paid no taxes at one point, the ad highlights clashes between the Marriott Hotel chain, where Romney was a longtime board member and chaired its audit committee, and the IRS. The federal government determined the company used a scheme to generate “fictitious” losses in order to lower its tax burden.

http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entries/new-obama-ad-son-of-boss-pushes-romney

CNN: Did Romney enable Marriott International's abusive tax shelter?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021093850

[nc4bo]

7. and this too. nt

[highplainsdem]

8. Thanks! I was about to add the link to that topic about Romney enabling that Marriott tax shelter.

[ProSense]

12. Maybe the reason these two

have no scruples is because they believe in "holy undergarments."

Good grief!

[frazzled]

9. J.W. Marriott Chicago just killed 3 people and sickened others with Legionnaire's Disease

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-08-31/news/chi-3rd-death-tied-to-chicago-legionnaires-outbreak-20120831_1_legionella-3rd-death-disease

Not exactly good timing for a bounteous endorsement.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

10. In gym class when I thought I was being kidded for having holey underwear

I never realized I was actually being praised when I was a kid.

[Live and Learn]

13. Do Mormon's believe in the hording of wealth on earth?

I know none of these asshats believe in Jesus or they would be giving all their money away in hopes of standing a chance to enter the kingdom of heaven. Why do the religious rich always forget to mention that passage?

[highplainsdem]

16. For early Mormons, the ideal society was socialist. See this Salon article:

http://www.salon.com/2012/04/15/when_mormons_were_socialists/

Mitt Romney and City Creek (an upscale mall in Salt Lake City) represent the culmination of a great transformation within Mormonism. As an outcast faith, early Mormons experimented with communal living and alternative marriages. This original brand of Mormonism was typified by their rugged frontier prophet and polygamist outsider Brigham Young. In 1848, Young famously declared, “There shall be no private ownership of the streams that come out of the canyons, nor the timber that grows on the hills. These belong to the people: all the people.”

-snip-

Ironically, while Romney would prefer to discuss wealth inequality in “quiet rooms,” the topic consumed both Joseph Smith and Brigham Young’s sermons and writings. For a short time in the Book of Mormon, the Nephites abandoned their love of riches and established “Zion” — a classless utopia that “had all things common among them; therefore there were not rich and poor, but they were all made free.”

The Nephite story provided the template for Smith and Young’s social experiments with communalism. They would both try repeatedly to replicate the mythic Zion. Smith repeatedly told his followers, “if you are not equal in earthly things you cannot be equal in obtaining heavenly things.” Young also championed wealth redistribution, “We have plenty here. No person is going to starve, or suffer, if there is an equal distribution of the necessaries of life.”

-snip-

But how would the poor fare under the first Mormon president? By all accounts, not well. Romney has eagerly endorsed Paul Ryan’s budget plan to slash $3.3 trillion from programs that benefit low-income Americans. Furthermore, Romney refuses to consider increased taxes on millionaires or a modest increase on the taxable rates of capital gains. He encourages the wealthy to hoard their riches while the poor continue to struggle. It’s a familiar story he should know. Samuel the Lamanite continues to cry out to Romney in sacred protest, “The day shall come when they shall hide up their treasures, because they have set their hearts upon riches; cursed be they and also their treasures.”

-snip-

[Live and Learn]

24. Thank you for that answer.

It is obvious that none of these guys/gals believe in the religions that they pretend to uphold.

[smirkymonkey]

17. Am I the only person who thinks this discussion is entirely insane?

I can't even beleive that holy underwear is part of the national discussion.

[highplainsdem]

18. When those undergarments are brought up by a top Romney donor, in Romney's presence during

a church service with media also in attendance, and what that donor says about the holy undergarments turns up in lots of news stories, then yes, it does become part of the national discussion.

My best guess is that Mittens cringed when his friend and donor brought up the subject, though.

[smirkymonkey]

19. Sorry, but this is just f-ing whacked.

I can't even beleive that this is up for discussion. My head is spinning.

[ProSense]

20. .

[highplainsdem]

21. I agree it's bizarre. I can still hardly believe it was brought up during that service, with the

Romneys and media present, and brought up by a powerful Romney donor.

This subject of "magic underwear" has to be among the top few details of the Mormon faith that Romney does NOT want mentioned in news stories now. I'm sure he doesn't want to be asked about Mormon undergarments, especially about whether he believes, as Marriott obviously does, that they're "holy undergarments" and can save lives.

[LeftyMom]

23. The garments having protective powers are a very common but unofficial folk belief.

In much the same way that Catholic lore used to involve all sorts of strange tales about trans-substantiated communion wafers bleeding or pulsing like they had heartbeats or reacting to painful stimuli, they seem to be a folk belief that's built up over to prop up a rather odd official belief people might otherwise question.

[BeeBee]

22. For your consideration....

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-07-26/god-and-gay-marriage-what-chick-fil-a-could-learn-from-marriott