Bob Jones University Leaders Endorse Romney!

As reported in the WSJ.com Washington Wire, Robert R. Taylor, Dean of the fundamentalist Christian Bob Jones University College of Arts and Sciences, a school with a history of anti-Mormon rhetoric, yesterday endorsed Mitt Romney for the Presidency of the United States. Excerpts from that report:

“The fact that I’m seen as a Religious Right person would hopefully get others to step out for him,” Taylor said in an interview in Greenville, S.C., the university’s hometown.
Taylor’s endorsement, which he said he plans to announce in the near future, marks a stunning move for such a high-placed academic at Bob Jones University. In 2000, Bob Jones III, then president of the university, wrote a public letter that referred to Mormonism and Catholicism as “cults which call themselves Christian.”
Taylor acknowledged that endorsing a Mormon for president risked alienating the university’s conservative donors and alumni. But, he said, “we’re not electing a pastor — we’re electing a president.”

This should give pause to those pundits who opined that Romney could not garner support on the Christian Right. [HT: Hugh Hewitt]

UPDATE: The Washington Wire updated its story at 5:35 pm on 10/16 to report the following amazing development:

This afternoon, Bob Jones III, chancellor of the university, told the Greenville News that he, too, is endorsing Romney. “This is all about beating Hillary [Clinton],” Jones told the newspaper. “And I just believe that this man has the credentials both personally and ideologically in terms of his view about what American government should be to best represent the rank and file of conservative Americans,” he said. “If it turns out to be [Rudy] Giuliani and Hillary we’ve got two pro-choice candidates, and that would be a disaster.” Jones, when asked whether Romney’s Mormon faith was a problem for him, replied: “What is the alternative? Hillary’s lack of religion or an erroneous religion?”