Exta! Extra! Story about Mitt's ancestors (Yes, really)

It looks like Barack Obama isn't the only one being victimized by stupid reporting about his religion and background. This morning, I read something on AP that had me laughing. Here's part of a story about Mitt Romney's ancestors:

Polygamy was not just a historical footnote, but a prominent element in the family tree of the former Massachusetts governor now seeking to become the first Mormon president.

Romney's great-grandfather, Miles Park Romney, married his fifth wife in 1897. That was more than six years after Mormon leaders banned polygamy and more than three decades after a federal law barred the practice.

Romney's great-grandmother, Hannah Hood Hill, was the daughter of polygamists. She wrote vividly in her autobiography about how she "used to walk the floor and shed tears of sorrow" over her own husband's multiple marriages.

Romney's great-great grandfather, Parley Pratt, an apostle in the church, had 12 wives. In an 1852 sermon, Parley Pratt's brother and fellow apostle, Orson Pratt, became the first church official to publicly proclaim and defend polygamy as a direct revelation from God.

Romney's father, former Michigan Gov. George Romney, was born in Chihuahua, Mexico, where Mormons fled in the 1800s to escape religious persecution and U.S. laws forbidding polygamy. He and his family did not return to the United States until 1912, more than two decades after the church issued "The Manifesto" banning polygamy.

"When you read the family's history, you realize how important polygamy was to them," said Todd Compton, a Mormon and independent historian who wrote a book about the polygamous life of the church's founder, Joseph Smith. "They left America and started again as pioneers, after they had done it over and over again previously."

B. Carmon Hardy, a polygamy expert and retired history professor at California State University-Fullerton, said polygamy was "a very important part of Miles Park Romney's family."

Hardy added: "Now, very gradually, as you moved farther away from it, it became less a part of it. But during the time of Miles Park Romney, it was an essential principle of the Romney family life."

And exactly how is this relevant to Mitt's life now, or his candidacy for president? It should come as no surprise that I feel this is total, steaming b.s.; I don't think candidates should be harshly judged on what they did in their childhoods, much less what their ancestors did 100-150 years ago.

This is such a freakin' non-story. I wouldn't vote for Romney for many other reasons (his McCain-like penchant for switching sides on issues for political benefit chief among them), but what the heck his ancestors did or believed in surly is no reason to not vote for someone.

For instance, it's quite possible that a few of my ancestors participated in slavery in some way. I don't know, and I don't care, but if some enterprising reporter decided to dig into it, it's certainly possible that proof could be found. So, if I'm a candidate for dog catcher and that story breaks, does that mean I support(ed) slavery? C'mon - this is so stupid.

Romney is probably shaking his head this morning, just like I am and probably millions of other people.

I wonder when these idiotic and moronic news channels are going to get around to real reporting?

I'm not holding my breath.