The "BeliefWatch" column in the front section of Newsweek magazine is often better described as a "Non-BeliefWatch," offering the latest supportive coverage of atheists, humanists, Unitarians, free-thinking leftist dissidents, and "blasphemy challengers." In this week’s "BeliefWatch," Newsweek's Lisa Miller highlights leftist Rocky Anderson, the mayor of Salt Lake City, running down Utah as deluded and denouncing Mitt Romney as a sellout to right-wing handlers.

"There is a culture of obedience in this country, but it's probably no more evident than in most parts of Utah," Anderson told NEWSWEEK in an interview. "That's why we've seen the highest approval ratings here for this entirely corrupt, disastrous presidency." As for Romney, his "opposition to abortion and stem-cell research is a very different Mitt Romney than the one who ran for governor of Massachusetts. I felt that Mitt Romney was a man who could really bring people together in a nonpartisan fashion, who would always stand up for the highest ideals and not worry about the polls ... I can only think this is a man who's caving to what his handlers want him to say."

Miller also highlighted how Mormon voters are more diverse, many of them blue-staters like that "nonpartisan" Romney circa 2002. She declares they’re "almost universally socially conservative," but can be convinced to back liberal Democrats on other issues "like health care." She concluded with Jeff Fox, a researcher at BYU, a researcher of Mormon voting patterns, as they highlighted the progressive Mormon minority. "Most Mormons, he says, have supported the War on Terror, but ‘I for one opposed it completely.’ Rocky Anderson may not be an LDS poster boy, but in some small circles, Mitt Romney isn't either."

—Tim Graham is Director of Media Analysis at the Media Research Center.