Reid: I agree Romney has 'sullied' Mormonism

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said during a conference call Monday that he agreed Mitt Romney had "sullied" their shared Mormon faith with his comments about "47 percent" of Americans, secretly recorded during a fundraiser earlier this year.

Reid was discussing an op-ed published in the Huffington Post by Gregory A. Prince, who argued that voters should "not judge Mormonism on the basis of the Mitt Romney that was unveiled to the public this week."

"He is not the face of Mormonism," Price wrote.

Reid, on a conference call with reporters, said he agreed with Price, according to the Salt Lake Tribune.

"He said that Romney has sullied the religion that he, Prince and Romney share," Reid said. "And he’s so disappointed that, in his words, ‘It’s a good religion and he’s hiding from it.' "

Reid has been among the most vocal critics of Romney throughout the presidential campaign, suggesting frequently that Romney might not have paid income taxes and criticizing the Republican presidential nominee from the Senate floor. 

Last week, Reid teed off on Romney's "47 percent" comments during a seven-minute-long speech on the Senate floor.

"This week we learned that Mitt Romney only wants to be president of half of the United States," Reid said. "He'll only worry about how the other half lives, I guess."

On Friday, Romney released a notarized letter from his accountant affirming he had paid an effective rate of at least 13 percent in taxes every year since 1990, a move seen as a direct rebuttal to Reid's frequent charges that he avoided paying taxes. 

Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) told the Tribune that Reid was taking his criticism too far in connecting politics to Romney's faith.

"Harry Reid seems to be making this way too personal and consequently throwing the religion under the bus for his own personal gain," Chaffetz said. "That’s not where anyone should be going with this. He’s taking this two steps too far."

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