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People and Politics by Patrick Roberts

Sad Sarah Palin attacks John F. Kennedy for defending his own Catholic religion

Posted on Saturday, November 27, 2010 at 07:27 PM

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Sarah Palin attacks John F.Kennedy on the basis of running away from his Catholic religion in her latest book 'America By Heart.'

She has some cheek, given that Palin is a failed Catholic herself, having given up on the religion of her Irish forefathers and encompassed one of those hip born-again evangelical identities-- you know the ones where Jesus appears in your rear view mirror and converts you.

Palin attacks Kennedy for his 1960 campaign remark that "I am not the Catholic candidate for president.I am the Democratic Party's candidate for president who also happens to be Catholic."

Kennedy made the remarks at a time when many evangelicals believed there was a hot line from the Vatican to Kennedy's campaign.

That was ironic, given that Kennedy was by no means devout and well aware what happened in the 1928 campaign when Irish Catholic Al Smith was destroyed by anti-Catholic sentiment.

Palin is treading on dangerous turf here. She says that Kennedy essentially declared religion to be "such a private matter that it was irrelevant to the kind of country we are."

Worse she claimed that the statement meant that Kennedy "seemed to run away from his religion."

That is complete nonsense, right up there with her defense of our "ally' North Korea.

Kennedy in fact was protecting his right as a Catholic to run for president at a time when that right was under attack from many leading protestant evangelicals.

In 1960 the leading Protestant church figure Norman Vincent Peale, as spokesman for 150 Protestant clergymen, strongly opposed the election of John F. Kennedy as president. "Faced with the election of a Catholic," Peale declared, "our culture is at stake."

It was in that context that Kennedy made his great speech to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association defending his right to be a Catholic and run for president..

"I believe in an America where religious intolerance will someday end -- where all men and all churches are treated as equal -- where every man has the same right to attend or not attend the church of his choice -- where there is no Catholic vote, no anti-Catholic vote, no bloc voting of any kind -- and where Catholics, Protestants and Jews, at both the lay and pastoral level, will refrain from those attitudes of disdain and division which have so often marred their work in the past, and promote instead the American ideal of brotherhood."

It was perhaps among the greatest statements in favor of freedom of religion every issued in America.

Palin has once again proven herself an intellectual pygmy throwing brickbats form the peanut gallery at one of the great figures of our age.

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bluebird1 | Dec 05, 2010, 11:39 AM EST

i dont care a hoot if she personally dislikes the catholic church but she has no right to judge john kennedy and his motives. who made her god?

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maireadinmelb | Dec 05, 2010, 02:09 AM EST

Dont worry Seano they just have to attack you cause there is no logic in their argument, oops I mean rantings!

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seanomelbourne | Dec 03, 2010, 09:36 PM EST

Don't take it to literally Mman> I'm trying to inform the multitudes.

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seamusmoore | Dec 03, 2010, 11:24 AM EST

McNamara31 You may want to read Frank Ragano's deathbed biography "Mob Lawyer" to become a little more informed on who killed JFK, and "St. Bobby (RFK)for that matter. Ragano delivered a message from Jimmy Hoffa to Trafficante in the spring of 1963 that "Kennedy has to go". Years later, Trafficante told Ragano "we killed the wrong Kennedy in '63, we corrected that mistake 5 years later". BTW, all the main players involved in the Kennedy assassinations were Catholic; if you want to know the truth, just follow the money.

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Monsoonman | Dec 02, 2010, 06:36 PM EST

Lad? Grace of "God"? I thought you were an atheist.

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seanomelbourne | Dec 02, 2010, 05:40 PM EST

Palin with a dysfunctional family and a dysfunctional ideology ,who with the grace of God will win the GOP nomination in 2012. She will go the same way as other nominees (Goldwater comes to mind).The same "nuke them or invade them" mentality.

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irishwxman | Dec 02, 2010, 01:15 PM EST

As long as Sarah continues to keep the left wound up and obsessed over her, she is doing her job. I hope she keeps it up. This is actually hilarious.

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SingleDonald | Dec 01, 2010, 04:04 PM EST

Well said, Sheilah, except the last part. As my user name says, I have never been married, thus have no kids. Still, I can't see Sarah having monitored her oldest daughter, Bristol, as closely as you have advocated. Older high school/younger college students have to take responsibility for their own actions. Sarah couldn't monitor Bristol 24/7. I'm sure you are not advocating a return to parents chaperoning dates, as was done in some European-American cultures, a while back. I'm sorry Bristol got pregnant at 17, but she DID have the baby, rather than have an abortion. Her pregnancy says that this can happen to any unwed teen, regardless of race, ethnicity, or economic/social status. Let's hope other teens, boys as well as girls, use her as an example to be more careful with their girlfriends/boyfriends.

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Sheilah | Dec 01, 2010, 03:33 PM EST

Sarah is indeed out of her league talking about JFK's defense of his Catholic religion. She could never appreciate his finesse and discernment in choice of words. I heard recently desceased Ted Sorenson (JFK's counsel) describe their road trips on the campaign trail. Outside of the NE, "anti-Catholicism was truly entrenched and mean even as late as 1960". JFK absolutely did just the opposite of shirking from this bias. He hit it dead on in Houston and elsewhere. He opened the door of diversity to many set in their ways of status quo thinking. He inspired nationally and globally. Whereas, Ms. Palin quit the Governorship of Alaska. So who ran away. She either couldn't or wouldn't hold up to her responsibilities to the voters of Alaska. She is self-serving "I'm nationally known now, time to write a book, make lots of money onf the lecture trail" As for her strong family values,I'd say she failed in her parental responsiblities to her own daughter who she should have kept a closer watch on.

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irishwxman | Dec 01, 2010, 07:41 AM EST

Hey brondell...save our country from her?? Who will save it from Obama??

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ChiChione | Nov 30, 2010, 05:20 PM EST

Kudos, Patrick! I am not quite sure if Sarah Palin is the dumbest person on the face of the earth or the most ignorant. Either way, I do not understand how she has such a following. Every time she opens her mouth something stupid comes out! For example, when she was McCain's running mate she made a comment about research into fruit flies. Her comment was something like "Fruit flies, can you imagine spending money on Fruit Flies?" She had no idea that the research on Fruit flies was helping a form of cancer. She constantly makes fun of things she does not understand. Unfortunately, there are enough uneducated or ill-informed people in the USA who would elect her as President in 2012. Imagine President Sarah Palin! Perhaps her equally dumb friend, Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann of Minnesota will be Vice President! All I can say is God help America if that happens!!!

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brondell | Nov 30, 2010, 03:50 PM EST

Well Patrick, the usual Copperheads are hissing at you again---keep up the good work: detailing Palin's ignorance and bigotry will perhaps save our country from her.

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SingleDonald | Nov 30, 2010, 01:56 PM EST

I am saddened to learn that Sarah is "born again"! I, as a Catholic, have always believed that, having been baptized as a baby, I have no need to be "born again"! Kudos to Patrick for his analogy that hip evangelicals are, "...the ones where Jesus appears in your rear view mirror, and converts you". Those people don't believe in "mortal" or "venial" sins. To them ANY transgression (or that which is taken to be a transgression) will "send one to hell", unless he/she begs God's forgiveness! Whet lunacy!! Did you know that the father of Bob Jones, the head of Bob Jones University, once said that he would rather see a saloon on every corner, than a Catholic in the White House? It was his people who brought on Prohibition, yet booze on every corner was preferred to a Catholic President!! As to JFK, I feel he did an excellent job in downplaying his Catholic faith, in favor of "the American ideal of brotherhood", during the 1960 presidential campaign.

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McNamara31 | Nov 30, 2010, 01:56 PM EST

It is the same type of rhetoric that Palin espouses that caused the death of Kennedy in Dallas. Anyone who has seen the Kennedy "Wanted for Treason" posters that were hung around Dallas in the days before his visit knows the same stoking the flames of bigotry was going on there as it is in America with the Palin style of politics in 2010. She is a blight on the on American political process and if she looked like Margaret Thatcher no one would have listened to a word comimg out of the mouth of this ill prepared reality queen.

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NedoftheHill | Nov 30, 2010, 12:33 PM EST

Yes - liberals love Catholics who are "by no means devout". I would venture that Ms. Palin's stances on many issues of culture and morality are aligned far more with Catholicism than those less-than-devout Catholics such as Nancy Pelosi, Ted Kennedy, Mario Cuomo.

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