And I thought we kept being told that it was the evangelical Right that would be questioning Romney's religious beliefs and spouting anti-Mormon rhetoric. It isn't -- it is Al Sharpton!

"As for the one Mormon running for office, those who really believe in God will defeat him anyways, so don't worry about that; that's a temporary situation," Sharpton said Monday during a debate with Hitchens at the New York Public Library's Beaux-Arts headquarters.

So -- will the sensitivity police get after the so-called civil rights leader? or does he get a pass on this, like he does on anti-white, anti-Jew, anti-Asian comments in his past?

This is not to say that disagreeing with Mormon beliefs/theology is an act of bigotry -- it isn't, and I do (including in a conversation with a dear Mormon friend yesterday). However, the sort of marginalization of Mormons Sharpton is talking about seems to cross more lines than skepticism about that faith. Would such a statement stand unchallenged if it wer made about a Muslim candidate by a conservative Christian leader?

MORE AT My Man Mitt (including video), Jawa Report, Free Constitution, Blog-o-Fascists