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SALT LAKE CITY — Following the suspension of Rick Santorum's presidential campaign, the Republican Party has seemingly skipped the delegate count and has turned their attention to the general election between incumbent President Barack Obama and the presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney.
And with that focused attention comes the partisan bickering, with each candidate making claims about the differences in their campaigns. Despite the differences, however, there is one similarity between Obama and Romney: polygamy is in their family tree.
David Maraniss, an associate editor of The Washington Post and author of an upcoming biography on Obama, traced the family histories of both candidates, finding polygamy in both family trees.
"The line of polygamists in Obama's family can be traced back generations in western Kenya, where it was an accepted practice within the Luo (pronounced LOO-oh) tribe," Maraniss writes. "His great-grandfather, Obama Opiyo, had five wives, including two who were sisters. His grandfather, Hussein Onyango, had at least four wives, one of whom, Akumu, gave birth to the president's father, Barack Obama, before fleeing her abusive husband."
And while polygamy in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is well documented for some members, Maraniss found the Romney family was also involved in polygamy. Romney's paternal great-grandfathers, Miles Park Romney and Helaman Pratt, each had multiple wives.
"Pratt had five wives. Miles Park Romney had four, and 30 children, one of whom was Gaskell Romney," writes Maraniss. "The polygamy stopped at Gaskell, who had a single wife and seven children. One of the children, George, was born in a Mormon colony in the state of Chihuahua, Mexico, although he was nonetheless a U.S. citizen. He was Mitt's father."
Ann Romney more popular than Justin Bieber
Following the comments of Hilary Rosen, where she said Ann Romney "has actually never worked a day in her life," and did not know the "economic issues that a majority of women in this country are facing," a Twitter firestorm unleashed, with Ann Romney starting it off with her first tweet.
The outrage had several Democrats and Republicans calling for an apology that came later in the day from Rosen. Both President Obama and the First Lady condemned the comments, saying motherhood was in fact work.
As a result of the "War on Women," as some conservative pundits called it, Ann Romney was more popular than Justin Bieber on Twitter, who continuously trends well in the United States. At one point Thursday, Ann Romney doubled Bieber in total mentions. Romney also beat out "grilled cheese" on National Grilled Cheese Day.
Rosen attacked for being a lesbian?
The blog ThinkProgress, a liberal blog working in conjunction with the Center for American Progress Action Fund, said conservatives attacked Hilary Rosen's comments because she is a lesbian mother.
"Now, (Rosen's) trying to stick up for other mothers who don't have the luxury of millionaire husbands to help fund their child-rearing duties, and the backlash is getting ugly," writes Zack Ford.
Ford looked to a tweet sent by Catholic League president Bill Donohue who said: "Lesbian Dem Hilary Rosen tells Ann Romney she never worked a day in her life. Unlike Rosen, who had to adopt kids, Ann raised 5 of her own."
"Somehow, Rosen's family is less valid," added Ford, "less worthy of respect because she adopted her children. This insults not just lesbian couples, but all non-birth mothers. In fact, it seems like few even recognize that Rosen is a mother at all, perhaps an inherent cultural consequence of her choice (or lack of choice) to not be a stay-at-home mom."
