In an astonishing display of journalistic integrity, the Toledo Blade led its coverage this morning by asking a question that the mainstream media has taken great pains to avoid: how would the radical, racialist theology of the church Obama attended for two decades, which celebrated the 9/11 attacks on America, and to which he donated great sums of money, affect his policy in office once he was no longer worried about re-election?

Oh–sorry–my mistake. Here’s the actual headline from the Toledo Blade: “Would Mormonism shape Romney policy?“

Yes, on the weekend before Election Day, in a key swing state, in a city where union members were just caught with a truckload of stolen Romney signs, the intrepid journalists of the Toledo Blade have decided that voters needed to know some information about Romney’s Mormon faith. Over 2,500 words of information.

The Blade made no mention of Obama’s religion when it endorsed him for re-election last Sunday. It did note that “There have been lapses in President Obama’s first-term performance. He has not met his goals for reducing unemployment and shrinking the deficit.” It also added that Obama had failed to deliver on key promises from 2008, including immigration reform. 

But hey–let’s talk about Romney’s Mormon faith.

And here’s how we ought to talk about it, according to the Blade:

Calls by The Blade to the Romney campaign seeking to discuss Mr. Romney’s faith and how it would affect his presidency, if elected, were not returned. 

That leaves as an open question whether the practices of the Latter-day Saints are so strongly held by Mr. Romney that he might follow them and try to change U.S. law. The church disapproves of coffee. 

Just as New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg instituted restrictions on soda, could Mr. Romney take our coffee?

First, they came for the decaf skinny vanilla latte…

The article continues with a discussion of Mormon underwear (“Some photographs of Mr. Romney reveal the outline of an undershirt”), the former Mormon practice of polygamy (“Mr. Romney’s great-great-grandfather Parley Parker Pratt (1807-57) had 12 wives and 31 children”), and Mormon missions (“And how might Mr. Romney use the law for his ends? Think of his not joining the military during the Vietnam War era.”)

That is how desperate the leftists in the mainstream media have become. Their bigotry is no longer thinly-veiled, but paraded on the front page. 

Ohio voters are clinging bitterly to their coffee mugs this morning.