Dag just posted a great and very logical piece about how Mitt Romney's Mormon beliefs will make it tough for him to get the Republican nomination, given the fact that voters tend to distrust Mormons and dislike Mitt. Although I see the point, I'm pretty sure Romney's Mormonism isn't going to make much difference in either the nomination race or the race for the presidency--unless the Dems decide to make an issue of it, which seems unlikely. Here's why.

The Lucrescenti (man, I so want that term to catch on!) want Mitt Romney to be president. And they're not going to let some little issue like what religion he is stand in the way of buying up enough votes to get him in there. Remember, these people are NeoCons; they don't exactly believe in anything. Therefore, they're ready and willing to "help" ordinary Americans see things in a slightly different light, as long as it's the light that gets their guy elected.

So, get ready for a whole new "grassroots" spin that maybe a fella's religion ain't so important as long as he's a Godly man and has "American" values. Get ready for the Koch brothers to tell us all what that means...

Get ready for "Americanism" to slip the surly bonds of Christianity, which has become kind of inconvenient anyway, now that the public has seen Michele Bachmann and a few other Evangelical Tea Partiers up close and personal. It'll be surprisingly easy to bamboozle Christians on this one--if the new rhetoric is even vaguely similar to the old rhetoric, most Evangelicals won't even notice. They're conditioned to believe that America=God=Capitalism, and that the meanings of the words are pretty much interchangeable. Getting rid of the litmus test of Christianity as Evangelists know it has the added advantage of attracting more Jews and maybe even a few Muslims if they're "American" enough. That's good stuff, right up there with attracting a few Black Conservatives here and there. (Watch for snark here.)

Get ready for "American" to look a lot more businesslike in the runup to this election. Get ready for a few of the more "tell-it-like-it-is pundits" to mention that one thing about those Mormons is that they're organized and good with money. And when I say "tell-it-like-it-is pundits" I mean Republican pundits like Ann Coulter and Laura Ingraham. Maybe Glenn Beck if he gets his show working again.

 Get ready to hear that the main thing you need to know about Jesus now is that he would never let so many people be without a job--no, no, he'd get in there and turn on the trickle-down, full blast!

Get ready for disapproval to shift heavily toward "Atheists" or Almost-Atheists. They're Just Not American enough. (And much too fair-minded!) Why, they're practically socialists. Mitt and the preacher from Alabama may not be able to agree on what makes a man a Christian, but by golly they darn sure know what makes a man an American. (And by God, if you don't know what that is, then you're probably one of those Atheist Socialist Liberals, so we're not gonna tell you.)

Get ready for "cooler heads" to talk about how we really should be getting on with the business of running the country so everybody can choose their religion in peace. (This is a line that Democrats are apparently too dumb to use to good effect; Republicans won't make that mistake.)

It'll be nauseating, it will have no connection with historical fact or economic reality (facts, after all, can be checked, so it's better to just not use 'em,) and it will be incredibly effective at rallying the Republican base around the Mittster.

See, the reality is that it IS time to get down to the business of releasing some of the capital that the Lucrescenti's been hoarding, and drop it back into the economy to create some jobs and change things up a bit. But the big boys are not going to release that capital to an African American Democrat. Why would they, when total victory is so close at hand, courtesy of a Democratic Party that hasn't made a convincing case for what it really means to be an American?

So it's got to be Mitt. Maybe with Huckabee or some other Christian guy as VP. Whatever, you know? Who cares if the public doesn't like him much--they'll like him a lot more once they figure out that Mitt Romney's Jesus might have a couple million jobs in his pocket.

You have to figure that Romney's Mormonism didn't stop him from running a pretty left-leaning state in a pro-business way that made most people reasonably happy. The Lucrescenti can portray him as the insider who knows how to work with the Godless Democrats Who Run Everything but still holds true to his Christian-ish values. That's how they'll buy those votes.

"So cast your ballots, Republicans, get back to being good Americans, and go about your business. Sorry about that bank bailout and recession, here's a low-paying non-union job to make up for it, and other than that there's nothing much to see up here in the 1% room. If you need us, try us at our new place in Dubai, and we'll let you know when we need you for our next war...."

It's important to remember that the NeoCons never left the building. And Mitt, ladies and gentlemen, is their man. So get ready for the Koch-upation.