The Wirthlins are Mormon. Why am I not surprised?

UPDATE: New video and commentary here: Liberty Sunday: Defending Our Freedom Against Multiple Generations of Wirthlins

I thought I was on to something new and interesting regarding the Wirthlins' connections to the LDS hierarchy and a certain GOP presidential campaign and assorted anti-gay hate groups ...

Apparently not.

Below are three links to folks who beat me to the punch.

Considering that the Wirthlins have already been previously exposed as nothing more than bought-and-paid-for operatives in all of this, I'm gonna go work on something else now.

1) http://www.themuss.net/section_main/index.html

When this latest bit of Mormon intrigue made headlines, I was just getting over last Sunday’s gay-bashing telecast from the Tremont Temple-on-the-Boston Common. There was Mitt, Olympic torch in hand, and the Joe Wirthlins of Lexington, the Mormon family suing the school district because it uses same-sex-marriage- friendly books, sharing the dais at an event promoted by Mormon vehicles like Legacy Law Foundation, Meridian Magazine and its Family Leader Network, of which Dick Wirthlin, the Republican pollster and Mormon leader emeritus and granduncle of the Wirthlins of Lexington, was an agent provocateur. Only a cynical reporter would make something of this remarkable coincidence...

A year later, the same school dismissed a similar request from Joseph Robert (Robb) and Robin Wirthlin, whose second grader was read a fairy tale - not part of the curriculum -- about a young prince in search of a princess who falls for her brother.
...

The story should end there. But, the 2008 Presidential campaign has already begun. Someone is bound to make something of the fact that the Wirthlins are devout Mormons, in fact Robb is the namesake grandson of Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin, an apostle of the church. He is also the grand-nephew of Richard (Dick) Wirthlin, the media-savvy Washington opinion pollster who served Ronald Reagan, the Republican Party, Massachusetts Governor and likely Presidential candidate Mitt Romney, the Mormon Church, and had a hand in founding organizations that oppose same sex marriage.
...

Even though the Wirthlins deny any connections to advocacy groups opposing same sex marriage. He says "it's been years" since he talked to his celebrated grand uncle and has never met Mitt Romney, he concedes the coincidences are enough to make a grad student's head hurt all the way to November, 2008.

Update: Despite their denials of a prior association, in a June 2006 newsletter to members of The Legacy Law Foundation, Mrs. Harmer-Dionne noted that she and the Wirthlins have been long-time good friends.

2) http://massresistancewatch.blogspot.com/2007/04/mfi-pimps-for-homophobia.html

A quick search of the Legacy Law Foundation shows that it is out of Utah and has someone on their board with a familiar name (Victoria Romney) could it be a relative?

The Wirthlins are the people who initiated this lawsuit against the town of Lexington, why, all of a sudden is MFI saying this is a fight against the ACLU? What kind of smoke and mirrors are they trying to throw up?

3) http://www.miketidmus.com/blog/2008/10/25/the-wirthlins-hit-the-road-for-hate/


**********

Robin and Robb Wirthlin are upset.

And why shouldn't they be?

I mean, have you ever tried being Mormon in Massachusetts?

If you're not careful, your narrow-minded non-Mormon neighbors just might elect you governor.

Such persecution ... when does it ever end?

And when did the Wirthlins' battle against their oppression actually begin?

With their starring roles in this recent Prop 8 ad?



Or perhaps much earlier?

The Bay Area Reporter decided to find out.

Robin Wirthlin is a dutiful, if somewhat dour, stay-at-home wife and mother. Robb Wirthlin is a handsome, bright, hard-working military father with an MBA who is seeking a doctorate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 2006, their son Joey, then 7, had, according to his parents, his innocence snatched from him the day his teacher read him a fairy tale. And the villain - what else? Same-sex marriage.

Now the Wirthlins are working very hard on behalf of the Yes on 8 campaign appearing in a TV ad and traveling up and down the state on a bus tour in order to convince Californians that these out-of-staters know what's best for residents of the Golden State.

The Wirthlins story is simple as told by them. They were only trying to protect their son and felt wronged by the overwhelming opposition of their community and the First District Federal Court.

What the couple and the Yes on 8 campaign do not mention, however, was that the Wirthlins were members of a political organization pressing for an amendment to the Massachusetts Constitution that would ban same-sex marriage before the teacher read the book King and King to their son, according to a 2006 article by Michael Meade of 365Gay.com. The Wirthlins, it seems, were looking for a reason to sue in Massachusetts...

In the suit, the Wirthlins said the school was attempting to indoctrinate their children about an "immoral lifestyle." The suit complained that school officials bypassed their parental rights to raise their children how they wish, and in doing so, violated their civil rights.

The Wirthlins lost their legal battle - the U.S. Supreme Court just declined to hear the case, letting the lower court ruling stand - but they are far from losing the war. They are part of the out-of-state effort by the Mormon Church, whose members have contributed millions of dollars to the Yes on 8 war chest, to pass Prop 8.

Chip White, a spokesman for Yes on 8, confirmed that the Wirthlins are members of the Mormon Church.

The Wirthlins admit that their son already knew children of same-sex couples at Estabrook, even before the book was read to him, but claim that "kids don't pay attention to other kids' parents, they just do things like play on the playground." When asked by the Bay Area Reporter if they had a message for the estimated 52,000 California children with same-sex parents, Robin Wirthlin shrugged her shoulders and said, "no."

Read the entire article here.

And when you do, please keep in mind:

Richard Peterson, the most-recognized face of the Prop 8 campaign, is Mormon.

Sonja Eddings Brown, the spokeswoman for the Prop 8 campaign, is Mormon.

Glen Greener, the campaign's dark mastermind (he of 'Six Scary Consequences' fame) ... is Mormon.

And the money - $19.15 million in recent Prop 8 campaign donations (77% of all donations since July 1st) - is Mormon.

If the Wirthlins - along with so many other Mormon operatives and donors seeking to eliminate marriage equality in California - feel motivated to deny equal marriage rights because of their religious beliefs, I wonder how and why it is that these Mormons do not?


UPDATE: Bay Area Reporter follows up here.