Montana governor: Romney family from ‘polygamy commune in Mexico’

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Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer (D) thinks it’s “kinda ironic” that Mitt Romney’s campaign is having difficulty rousing support among Hispanics and American women, since “his father was born into a polygamy commune in Mexico.” Schweitzer was talking to a reporter from The Daily Beast when he made the remarks, and went on to caution, “I am not alleging by any stretch that Romney is a polygamist and approves of [the] polygamy lifestyle, but his father was born into [a] polygamy commune in Mexico.”

Former Nixon cabinet minister and governor of Michigan, George Romney, father of Mitt, was born in Mexico in July of 1907. His parents were monogamously married Mormons who were part of a Mexican colony of Mormons who had fled the United States when the U.S. outlawed “plural marriage” in the late 19th century. The practice is now expressly forbidden by the mainstream Church of Latter Day Saints.

The Romney campaign has yet to address Schweitzer’s remarks, but Lis Smith, spokesperson for the Obama campaign said, “Attacking a candidate’s religion is out of bounds, and our campaign will not engage in it, and we don’t think others should either.”

(image via WikiMedia Commons)

Update 4/20 at 1:53 p.m.: This post originally referred to Schweitzer as a former governor of Montana.